Granola vs Read AI
Granola and Read AI side by side: what each one is, what it costs to start, and whether you can try it free. Everything below comes from the vendors' own sites and other public sources, not from hands-on testing.
At a glance
| Granola | Read AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Productivity | Productivity |
| Starting price | Free; paid plans from $14/mo (checked October 2026) | Free; paid plans from $15/mo (checked October 2026) |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Profile | Read profile | Read profile |
Prices are in US dollars unless shown otherwise. Confirm the current price on the vendor's site before you buy.
Key differences
Both list a free tier, so you can try each before paying.
Granola has the lower starting price ($14/mo against $15/mo for Read AI). The cheapest plan rarely has the same limits or features, so compare plans before choosing on price.
Both are in our Productivity category.
About each tool
Granola
AI meeting notes app that captures device audio without a bot joining the call. Free plan with 30-day history; Business is $14 per user a month.
Who it is for
Individuals and teams who want meeting notes without a recording bot in the call. Business suits teams that need integrations; Enterprise adds SSO and compliance controls.
Strengths
- A free Basic plan at $0
- Captures device audio without a bot joining the meeting
- Apps for desktop, iOS, Android and Apple Watch, with multi-language support and custom templates
- SOC 2 Type II certified, with a data processing agreement offered on all plans
- Per the vendor, audio is not stored after transcription
Limitations
- API access and Notion, Zapier, HubSpot, Attio and Affinity integrations need Business
- SSO, SCIM, HIPAA workspaces and Salesforce need Enterprise
- Data is stored on AWS servers in the United States; the vendor says EU data residency is not yet available
Read AI
AI notetaker that records, transcribes and summarizes meetings. Free plan has 5 reports a month; Pro is $15 per user a month billed annually ($19.75 monthly).
Strengths
- Read AI lists a Free plan with 5 meeting reports and transcripts a month, summaries for meetings, email and messaging, a personalized meeting coach, and basic integrations.
- All paid plans are listed with unlimited meeting reports, unlimited storage and workspace access; Pro adds priority report processing and 100 minutes of audio or video uploads a month.
- Premium integrations on paid plans are listed as Notion, Salesforce, HubSpot, Jira, Confluence, Zapier and webhooks; the page also mentions an API, an MCP server, Claude and ChatGPT.
- Enterprise adds audio and video playback, video highlights and dedicated support; Enterprise+ adds domain capture, SAML SSO, SCIM, a custom data retention policy, HIPAA compliance and workspace onboarding.
- Read AI's security overview says it holds SOC 2 Type 2 certification, is GDPR compliant, uses TLS 1.2 in transit and AES-256 at rest, and does not use customer data for model training unless a user opts in.
- Read AI lists annual volume discounts of 10% at 100+ licenses, 15% at 500+ and 20% at 1,000+, and separate education pricing.
Limitations
- The Free plan is capped at 5 meeting reports and transcripts a month and a 1-hour maximum meeting length; reports you own and reports shared with you both count, and reports over the cap show as out of quota until you upgrade (past 30 days are reprocessed on upgrade).
- On Free, text versions of reports are kept for at least 1 year and recordings are deleted 180 days after the meeting; downgrading to Free also removes integrations, webhooks and the For You page, and deactivates a workspace you own.
- Read AI's data page says its Customer Experience Improvement Program is opt-out by default, which sits awkwardly beside its statement that model training needs explicit opt-in. Data is stored in AWS us-east-1 (Northern Virginia).
