Granola is a Mac app that records meeting audio straight from your computer's system audio, so it works with any meeting platform like Zoom, Teams, Webex, or Slack Huddles without needing a bot to join your calls. During meetings, you can type quick notes or keywords in the app, just like you would in Apple Notes. The app captures both your typed notes and the meeting audio at the same time.

After your meeting ends, Granola takes the recorded audio and your typed notes to create what it calls "enhanced" meeting notes. These enhanced notes are broken down into clear sections like key takeaways, action items, and next steps. The app takes your quick notes and builds them out using the audio to fill in details you might have missed or didn't have time to write down.

The app comes with templates you can customize for different types of meetings, so your final notes follow whatever format works best for you. There's also an AI assistant that lets you ask questions about the meeting or request specific outputs like email summaries or follow-up drafts based on what was discussed.

Users look for alternatives to Granola because...

I don't have access to user reviews or feedback about Granola from the information provided. The details I have only cover the product's features, not what users actually think about it or what problems they run into.

To give you an honest picture of user complaints, I'd need to see actual user reviews, forum posts, or other places where people share their real experiences with Granola. Without that feedback, I can't tell you what specific issues users have reported.

How Circleback can help

People choose Circleback because it offers a complete, cloud-based solution that removes many of the roadblocks that can hold back other meeting note-taking tools. Unlike solutions that need constant manual input or only work on certain operating systems, Circleback gives you an automated experience that works smoothly across different devices and meeting setups.

Works everywhere you do

While Granola's Mac-only approach might leave you stuck when you're working from different locations or devices, Circleback's web-based platform means you can access your meeting notes from anywhere. This flexibility is especially helpful for people who work from different places and might join meetings from various devices throughout their day.

Less work, better results

The automation difference becomes clear when you think about your daily workflow. Some tools require you to actively take notes during meetings to get good results, but Circleback can create thorough, organized summaries without any work from you. This means you can focus completely on participating in conversations instead of worrying about capturing key points, knowing that important details, action items, and decisions will be automatically pulled out and organized.

Consistent quality every time

For teams that want consistency and standardization, Circleback's AI approach makes sure meeting documentation follows reliable patterns and captures essential information no matter who's attending or running the meeting. This solves the quality issues that can happen with tools that need more manual input.

Fits into your existing workflow

Circleback's integration options often go beyond basic note-taking, connecting with popular productivity tools and CRM systems so meeting insights flow naturally into the workflows you already use. This complete approach to meeting intelligence, rather than just note enhancement, makes it a more strategic choice for organizations that want to get the most value from their meeting time and actually follow through on commitments.

The end result is a solution that works better across different situations, team sizes, and technical setups while making meetings less mentally taxing for everyone involved.

Circleback provides best-in-class AI meeting notes and automations

Circleback provides best-in-class AI-powered meeting notes and automations. We support over 100 languages and automatic participant identification in both in-person and online meetings.

• Automatically-identified and assigned action items

• AI-enabled search across all meetings

• Automations with 100+ app integrations

• Industry-leading security with SOC 2 Type II, EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, and HIPAA compliance

• Ability to capture both online and in-person meetings with desktop and mobile apps