# Fathom vs Granola: pricing, features, and which is better > Fathom and Granola compared across pricing, capture, speaker labels, recordings, notes, sharing, automations, integrations, AI-agent access, and administration. - Canonical HTML: https://circleback.ai/compare/fathom-vs-granola - Structured JSON: https://circleback.ai/compare/fathom-vs-granola.json - Comparison directory: https://circleback.ai/compare - Language: en-US - Editorial perspective: Neutral competitor comparison. Circleback appears only as a clearly labeled third option. ## Short answer Fathom is for durable online recordings, highlights, and clips. Granola is for actively written notes and a polished document with no retained source media. The useful buying test is to run both products on the same external call, internal planning session, and noisy in-person meeting. Compare the result, the sharing defaults, and the work that still has to happen by hand. ## Fathom at a glance Fathom is easy to love for online calls: unlimited free recordings and transcripts, quick summaries, clips, assigned action items, CRM sync, and a focused interface. Its new Mac experience adds useful bot-free modes, while Windows parity and a generally available in-person app are still arriving. **Best for:** Individuals and sales teams that live in Zoom, Google Meet, and Teams and want a generous free plan, fast summaries, clips, and CRM-friendly workflows. **Less ideal for:** Companies that need proven iOS/Android or in-person capture today, broad cross-platform botless video, a workspace-wide task board, or a cross-channel context graph. **Price:** Free; Premium from $16/user/month annually Free includes unlimited recordings and transcripts but only five advanced AI summaries per month. Paid prices are per user/month: Premium is $16 with annual billing or $20 month-to-month; Team is $15 or $19 with a two-seat minimum; Business is $25 or $34. Enterprise is custom. **Free option:** Yes: unlimited recordings and transcripts, with five advanced summaries per month. ### Fathom strengths - Unlimited free recording and transcription is unusually generous for a solo online-meeting workflow. - Fast, polished summaries, highlights, clips, playlists, assigned action items, and CRM sharing. - Public API and MCP support make the meeting library available to custom tools and agents. - Action items include assignees and transcript evidence, and an Asana integration can synchronize assigned work automatically or on demand. ### Fathom tradeoffs - Fathom’s current pages disagree about iOS availability: the product overview says in-person capture is live, while the help center and launch page still describe the official app as pre-download or coming soon. Treat it as a staged rollout until your account can use it. - Chromebook, Linux, Android, tablet, phone call, webinar, and breakout support remains limited or absent. The current Fathom 3.0 bot-free experience is Mac- and English-only; Windows users remain on the older experience for now. - Bot-free video is currently available for Zoom on Mac. Google Meet support is still described as coming, Teams support depends on how the call is joined, and the bot remains the broadest cross-platform path. - The free plan’s advanced AI summaries are capped even though raw recordings and transcripts are unlimited. - Fathom may use de-identified meeting data to improve its in-house AI models unless the user or Team Edition administrator opts out. Third-party model providers are prohibited from training on it. - All Fathom data is US-hosted. Custom retention is Enterprise-only, applies one policy to the whole team, and is currently configured through support rather than self-service. ### Choose Fathom when - You want a generous free online-meeting recorder and rarely need in-person capture. - Clips, highlights, fast summaries, and simple CRM delivery are the center of the workflow. - You are comfortable keeping the bot for video and named-speaker fidelity. ## Granola at a glance Granola is intentionally calm: no meeting bot, no recording library, and a polished collaborative notepad. It now has Windows, iOS, Android, Apple Watch, integrations, an API, and MCP—so the old “Mac-only solo app” framing is wrong—but it remains a personal, document-first layer rather than an automatic company-wide meeting system. **Best for:** People and small teams who actively take lightweight notes during calls and want AI to expand them into polished documents without saving audio or video. **Less ideal for:** Companies that need recordings and clips, automatic capture, consistent named-speaker transcripts across every device, workspace-enforced sharing, bulk transcript export, service-account agent access, or operational automations across every function. **Price:** Free; Business $14/user/month; Enterprise from $35/user/month, billed monthly Granola currently bills monthly rather than offering an annual discount. Basic is free but only the last 30 days of history remain accessible. Business adds unlimited history, advanced AI, integrations, MCP, API, billing, and user management. Enterprise adds SSO, retention, organization sharing/API controls, training defaults, and participant notifications. A workspace uses one tier and every active member of a paid workspace is a paid seat, although someone who only opens a shared note link does not need a seat. **Free option:** Yes, with a rolling 30-day accessible history. ### Granola strengths - A calm bot-free experience that combines human notes with AI-generated structure. - No durable source recording: audio is processed for transcription and then deleted, which some privacy-sensitive teams prefer. - Windows, iOS, Android, Apple Watch, person/company pages, cross-meeting chat, integrations, API, and MCP make it much more capable than early reviews imply. - Granola can extract source-linked action-item text with owner and date labels, and paid users can route note output into task systems through Zapier. ### Granola tradeoffs - No replayable audio/video, timestamped moments, or clips after processing. - Android and Apple Watch now cover in-person capture, but their launch pages do not document the same multi-speaker labeling that Granola explicitly documents for iPhone. iPhone also cannot capture audio from another calling app; integrations and several settings remain desktop-oriented. - Automatic start for all meetings is still under consideration. Transcript segments can now be copied and redacted, which corrects an older product limitation. - Bulk CSV export omits transcripts, and admins cannot export the entire workspace; each person exports only their own notes. - MCP is OAuth-only, has no service-account/API-key path, and cannot directly access Team-space folders. Users must move a note to My Notes and share it explicitly, which changes its default visibility. - Free and Business accounts permit anonymized customer data to be used for Granola model improvements by default unless users opt out. An administrator-enforced organization-wide opt-out is an Enterprise feature. - Notes and transcripts are retained indefinitely by default. Configurable transcript retention is Enterprise-only; SSO is also Enterprise-only and documented for organizations with at least 50 seats. - Granola deliberately aims for a concise collaborative document. In our editorial judgment, the result is often too thin for a coworker who was not in the meeting and needs the notes to stand alone. - Granola can extract owner and date text into a note, but it does not automatically create and assign native action items to users. Actions remain note content unless a team builds a Zapier handoff; there is no workspace-wide task board with assignees, status, due dates, and completion tracking. ### Choose Granola when - You want a notepad first and do not want to retain source recordings. - Your users are on Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, or Apple Watch and are happy to start notes themselves. - The quality and feel of the final note matters more than a large automation and media system. ## Feature comparison | What matters | Fathom | Granola | | --- | --- | --- | | Capture options | Available with limits — Meeting bot or bot-free transcript, audio, and Zoom video on Mac. The bot remains the broadest mature path. Eligible Mac users can choose bot-free transcript-only, audio plus transcript, or Zoom video; Google Meet bot-free video is still coming and Teams behavior varies by how the call is joined. Fathom says the bot-free modes preserve speaker attribution and action items. | Available with limits — Manual bot-free desktop, phone, and Apple Watch capture. Granola listens locally without a bot and combines typed notes with the transcript. It does not currently offer an “always automatically start every meeting” setting. | | Desktop and mobile | Narrow or indirect — Mac for the new bot-free experience; Windows on the older path. Fathom supports major online platforms on computers, but its current 3.0 rollout is limited to Mac and English-language meetings. Windows remains supported through the older bot-based experience. Official pages conflict on whether iOS in-person capture is already live; Android, Chromebook, Linux, phone calls, webinars, and breakout rooms are not normal supported paths. | Broad support — macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, and Apple Watch. Desktop is the full experience. iOS and Android cover in-person conversations, and Apple Watch can start an in-person note with one tap and sync it to the phone and desktop apps. iPhone also supports outbound speakerphone calls but cannot capture another app’s audio; integrations and several workspace settings remain desktop-oriented. | | In-person capture and speaker labels | Narrow or indirect — iOS is staged; the old room workaround cannot separate speakers. Fathom’s marketing overview says its iOS app captures in-person meetings, but the help center and current launch page still call it coming soon or pre-download. In the older workaround, every room voice is attributed to the Fathom user rather than separated. Verify iOS access and room-speaker labeling in the actual account before rollout. | Broad support — Phone, Apple Watch, and laptop room capture. The iPhone app handles in-person conversations, identifies up to ten speakers, and can place outbound speakerphone calls. Android and Apple Watch also capture in-person meetings, though their launch pages do not promise the same speaker-label behavior. Desktop does not diarize individual voices: its transcript uses Me and Them for microphone versus system audio. iPhone cannot transcribe another calling app running on the same phone. | | Recordings, playback, and clips | Broad support — Unlimited AV, playback, highlights, and clips. Fathom has polished review and sharing for online calls. Video no longer universally requires the bot, but the current bot-free video path is limited to Zoom on Mac rather than equivalent across every supported platform. | Not documented — No retained audio or video. Granola deliberately deletes audio after transcription. That is a privacy benefit for some teams and a hard limitation for anyone who needs playback, evidence, clips, or coaching review. | | Notes, action items, and search | Broad support — Fast summaries, assigned action items, Ask Fathom, and team search. Summary quality and speed are core strengths. Paid AI action items identify assignees and link to the source moment; the API also returns completion state and assignee metadata. Fathom presents action items inside each meeting rather than documenting a workspace-wide task dashboard. Advanced summary types and some AI capabilities are plan-limited even while base transcription is free. | Broad support — Concise attendee notes, extracted actions, and cross-meeting chat. Human notes influence the generated document, and paid plans support broad chat across meetings, folders, people, and companies. Our editorial judgment is that the output is polished but thin and assumes the reader attended, rather than documenting enough context to stand alone. Granola can extract owner- and deadline-aware action-item text with transcript citations, but it does not create and assign native tasks to users. Those actions remain note content rather than a workspace task system, and there is still no source recording for playback. | | People, companies, and context | Available with limits — Meeting and customer-call library. Fathom organizes team calls and customer context well, but does not center a broader email/calendar/person/company knowledge layer for all departments. | Available with limits — People and company pages built from calendar contacts. Granola groups meetings around people and companies, with chat across those groups. Directory entries are inferred from calendar data and cannot be manually added, so imperfect associations can happen. | | Automatic sharing and workspace defaults | Broad support — Organization and team visibility defaults, plus attendee auto-share. Admins can set auto-capture and visibility separately for external, internal, and unscheduled meetings at organization or team level, including whether users may override the default. Individuals can also send a summary, a recording, or both automatically—but the audience is every calendar invitee, including people who did not attend. | Narrow or indirect — Private by default; sharing starts with a note or folder. Notes are not auto-shared with attendees. A user shares a note or adds it to a team-space folder; recurring meetings can auto-add to a folder and new folder notes can auto-post to connected tools. Enterprise can enforce how links work across the workspace, but it still does not provide conditional rules that automatically distribute each matching meeting to the right internal people or teams. | | Automations | Available with limits — CRM, webhook, Zapier, and Asana follow-through. Fathom handles common customer-facing follow-through well. Assigned action items can sync automatically or manually to Asana, webhooks can deliver action-item payloads, and Zapier or CRM integrations extend delivery. It does not document the same broad native trigger/condition/action builder for arbitrary work systems. | Narrow or indirect — Folder and manual Zapier triggers; less of a native workflow canvas. Paid users can trigger Zapier when a note is added to a chosen folder or manually shared, then create tasks in Linear, Asana, Trello, Monday, and thousands of other apps. This is useful, but there is no automatic every-meeting trigger in the documented integration and Granola does not center conditional custom extraction and multi-action workflows in the product itself. | | Integrations | Available with limits — Strong CRM, Asana, Zapier, and common work-tool connections. CRM delivery and collaboration integrations cover the common sales workflow, while Asana turns assigned meeting actions into trackable tasks. Broader issue-tracker coverage and custom operational actions are less central. | Available with limits — Notion, Slack, Attio, HubSpot, Affinity, Zapier, API, and MCP. The catalog is now credible, particularly on Business. Zapier can turn folder notes into tasks across 8,000+ apps, while the native catalog remains smaller and more destination-oriented than systems with broad action libraries. | | API, MCP, CLI, and data portability | Broad support — Rich public API and MCP, scoped to the connected user. The REST API can return speaker-attributed transcripts, summaries, action items with assignees and completion state, attendees, CRM matches, playback metadata, and recording downloads. Its official MCP connects authorized meeting data to ChatGPT, Claude, and other clients. Both follow what the authenticated user owns or can see through team sharing; an administrator key does not automatically reach private meetings across the organization. | Available with limits — MCP and API on Business+; material export and scope limits. Personal API keys are beta on Business/Enterprise and can return transcripts for notes the key owner may access; Enterprise organization keys can cover Team-space notes. MCP also has a transcript tool, but uses OAuth, has no service-account key, and cannot directly access Team-space folders. Bulk CSV export excludes transcripts and admins cannot export every member’s notes, so programmatic access exists but workspace portability is not complete. | | Security, privacy, and admin | Available with limits — Strong upper-tier controls, with US-only hosting. Enterprise adds SSO, SCIM, and custom retention. Fathom currently supports one retention policy per team and asks customers to configure it through support. All data is US-hosted; de-identified data may improve Fathom’s in-house models unless users or a Team Edition admin opt out. | Available with limits — User management on Business; retention and organization controls on Enterprise. SSO, retention, enforced sharing/API controls, participant notification, and organization training defaults require Enterprise; Granola documents SSO for organizations with at least 50 seats. There is no native password or MFA system—authentication delegates to Google, Microsoft, or Enterprise SSO. Notes and transcripts persist indefinitely unless deleted or covered by Enterprise retention, and admins do not get a one-click workspace export. | | Languages | Available with limits — 38 languages on the free plan. Fathom documents 38 supported languages. Bot-free rollout is currently narrower, so language support should be checked per capture mode. | Available with limits — Multilingual transcription. Granola supports multiple languages, but it does not publish the same 100+ headline count as several rivals. Test switching, accents, and domain vocabulary on real calls. | Ratings describe documented breadth rather than overall product quality: - **Broad support:** Broad native support across the product or relevant paid plans. - **Available with limits:** Documented support with meaningful scope, mode, or plan limits. - **Narrow or indirect:** Narrow, indirect, beta, or substantially plan-gated support. - **Not documented:** No current first-party documentation for a native option. ## Detailed analysis ### Capture options **Both products support capture options, with different scope and plan limits.** **Fathom:** Meeting bot or bot-free transcript, audio, and Zoom video on Mac. The bot remains the broadest mature path. Eligible Mac users can choose bot-free transcript-only, audio plus transcript, or Zoom video; Google Meet bot-free video is still coming and Teams behavior varies by how the call is joined. Fathom says the bot-free modes preserve speaker attribution and action items. Evidence: [Fathom bot-free recording](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/11578049), [Fathom product overview](https://www.fathom.ai/overview), [Fathom 3.0 rollout](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/11577345), [Fathom release notes](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/6220097). **Granola:** Manual bot-free desktop, phone, and Apple Watch capture. Granola listens locally without a bot and combines typed notes with the transcript. It does not currently offer an “always automatically start every meeting” setting. Evidence: [Granola transcription](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/taking-notes/transcription), [Granola feature requests](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/feature-requests). ### Desktop and mobile **Granola has broader documented support for desktop and mobile.** **Fathom:** Mac for the new bot-free experience; Windows on the older path. Fathom supports major online platforms on computers, but its current 3.0 rollout is limited to Mac and English-language meetings. Windows remains supported through the older bot-based experience. Official pages conflict on whether iOS in-person capture is already live; Android, Chromebook, Linux, phone calls, webinars, and breakout rooms are not normal supported paths. Evidence: [Fathom supported systems](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/296576), [Fathom 3.0 rollout](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/11577345). **Granola:** macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, and Apple Watch. Desktop is the full experience. iOS and Android cover in-person conversations, and Apple Watch can start an in-person note with one tap and sync it to the phone and desktop apps. iPhone also supports outbound speakerphone calls but cannot capture another app’s audio; integrations and several workspace settings remain desktop-oriented. Evidence: [Granola iOS](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/ios/getting-started), [Granola Android launch](https://www.granola.ai/blog/introducing-granola-for-android), [Granola Apple Watch launch](https://www.granola.ai/blog/granola-for-apple-watch), [Granola transcription](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/taking-notes/transcription). ### In-person capture and speaker labels **Granola has broader documented support for in-person capture and speaker labels.** **Fathom:** iOS is staged; the old room workaround cannot separate speakers. Fathom’s marketing overview says its iOS app captures in-person meetings, but the help center and current launch page still call it coming soon or pre-download. In the older workaround, every room voice is attributed to the Fathom user rather than separated. Verify iOS access and room-speaker labeling in the actual account before rollout. Evidence: [Fathom in-person meetings](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/5500225), [Fathom product overview](https://www.fathom.ai/overview). **Granola:** Phone, Apple Watch, and laptop room capture. The iPhone app handles in-person conversations, identifies up to ten speakers, and can place outbound speakerphone calls. Android and Apple Watch also capture in-person meetings, though their launch pages do not promise the same speaker-label behavior. Desktop does not diarize individual voices: its transcript uses Me and Them for microphone versus system audio. iPhone cannot transcribe another calling app running on the same phone. Evidence: [Granola iOS](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/ios/getting-started), [Granola Android launch](https://www.granola.ai/blog/introducing-granola-for-android), [Granola Apple Watch launch](https://www.granola.ai/blog/granola-for-apple-watch), [Granola transcription](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/taking-notes/transcription). ### Recordings, playback, and clips **Fathom has broader documented support for recordings, playback, and clips.** **Fathom:** Unlimited AV, playback, highlights, and clips. Fathom has polished review and sharing for online calls. Video no longer universally requires the bot, but the current bot-free video path is limited to Zoom on Mac rather than equivalent across every supported platform. Evidence: [Fathom pricing](https://www.fathom.ai/pricing), [Fathom bot-free recording](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/11578049), [Fathom product overview](https://www.fathom.ai/overview). **Granola:** No retained audio or video. Granola deliberately deletes audio after transcription. That is a privacy benefit for some teams and a hard limitation for anyone who needs playback, evidence, clips, or coaching review. Evidence: [Granola transcription](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/taking-notes/transcription). ### Notes, action items, and search **Both products document broad support for notes, action items, and search, with different scope and plan limits.** **Fathom:** Fast summaries, assigned action items, Ask Fathom, and team search. Summary quality and speed are core strengths. Paid AI action items identify assignees and link to the source moment; the API also returns completion state and assignee metadata. Fathom presents action items inside each meeting rather than documenting a workspace-wide task dashboard. Advanced summary types and some AI capabilities are plan-limited even while base transcription is free. Evidence: [Fathom pricing](https://www.fathom.ai/pricing), [Fathom product overview](https://www.fathom.ai/overview), [Fathom AI action items](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/640768). **Granola:** Concise attendee notes, extracted actions, and cross-meeting chat. Human notes influence the generated document, and paid plans support broad chat across meetings, folders, people, and companies. Our editorial judgment is that the output is polished but thin and assumes the reader attended, rather than documenting enough context to stand alone. Granola can extract owner- and deadline-aware action-item text with transcript citations, but it does not create and assign native tasks to users. Those actions remain note content rather than a workspace task system, and there is still no source recording for playback. Evidence: [Granola transcription](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/taking-notes/transcription), [Granola spaces and folders](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/sharing/folders/spaces-and-folders), [Granola action-item extraction](https://www.granola.ai/blog/meeting-action-items-ai-extraction). ### People, companies, and context **Both products support people, companies, and context, with different scope and plan limits.** **Fathom:** Meeting and customer-call library. Fathom organizes team calls and customer context well, but does not center a broader email/calendar/person/company knowledge layer for all departments. Evidence: [Fathom pricing](https://www.fathom.ai/pricing). **Granola:** People and company pages built from calendar contacts. Granola groups meetings around people and companies, with chat across those groups. Directory entries are inferred from calendar data and cannot be manually added, so imperfect associations can happen. Evidence: [Granola workspaces](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/workspaces), [Granola spaces and folders](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/sharing/folders/spaces-and-folders). ### Automatic sharing and workspace defaults **Fathom has broader documented support for automatic sharing and workspace defaults.** **Fathom:** Organization and team visibility defaults, plus attendee auto-share. Admins can set auto-capture and visibility separately for external, internal, and unscheduled meetings at organization or team level, including whether users may override the default. Individuals can also send a summary, a recording, or both automatically—but the audience is every calendar invitee, including people who did not attend. Evidence: [Fathom auto-capture and visibility controls](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/13729025), [Fathom attendee auto-share](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/7574785). **Granola:** Private by default; sharing starts with a note or folder. Notes are not auto-shared with attendees. A user shares a note or adds it to a team-space folder; recurring meetings can auto-add to a folder and new folder notes can auto-post to connected tools. Enterprise can enforce how links work across the workspace, but it still does not provide conditional rules that automatically distribute each matching meeting to the right internal people or teams. Evidence: [Granola workspaces](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/workspaces), [Granola spaces and folders](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/sharing/folders/spaces-and-folders), [Granola sharing controls](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/consent-security-privacy/sharing-controls), [Granola note sharing](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/sharing/sharing-notes). ### Automations **Fathom has broader documented support for automations.** **Fathom:** CRM, webhook, Zapier, and Asana follow-through. Fathom handles common customer-facing follow-through well. Assigned action items can sync automatically or manually to Asana, webhooks can deliver action-item payloads, and Zapier or CRM integrations extend delivery. It does not document the same broad native trigger/condition/action builder for arbitrary work systems. Evidence: [Fathom pricing](https://www.fathom.ai/pricing), [Fathom Asana integration](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/7639617), [Fathom public API](https://developers.fathom.ai/quickstart). **Granola:** Folder and manual Zapier triggers; less of a native workflow canvas. Paid users can trigger Zapier when a note is added to a chosen folder or manually shared, then create tasks in Linear, Asana, Trello, Monday, and thousands of other apps. This is useful, but there is no automatic every-meeting trigger in the documented integration and Granola does not center conditional custom extraction and multi-action workflows in the product itself. Evidence: [Granola integrations](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/sharing/integrations/integrations-with-granola), [Granola spaces and folders](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/sharing/folders/spaces-and-folders), [Granola Zapier](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/sharing/integrations/zapier). ### Integrations **Both products support integrations, with different scope and plan limits.** **Fathom:** Strong CRM, Asana, Zapier, and common work-tool connections. CRM delivery and collaboration integrations cover the common sales workflow, while Asana turns assigned meeting actions into trackable tasks. Broader issue-tracker coverage and custom operational actions are less central. Evidence: [Fathom pricing](https://www.fathom.ai/pricing), [Fathom Asana integration](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/7639617). **Granola:** Notion, Slack, Attio, HubSpot, Affinity, Zapier, API, and MCP. The catalog is now credible, particularly on Business. Zapier can turn folder notes into tasks across 8,000+ apps, while the native catalog remains smaller and more destination-oriented than systems with broad action libraries. Evidence: [Granola integrations](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/sharing/integrations/integrations-with-granola), [Granola Zapier](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/sharing/integrations/zapier). ### API, MCP, CLI, and data portability **Fathom has broader documented support for API, MCP, CLI, and data portability.** **Fathom:** Rich public API and MCP, scoped to the connected user. The REST API can return speaker-attributed transcripts, summaries, action items with assignees and completion state, attendees, CRM matches, playback metadata, and recording downloads. Its official MCP connects authorized meeting data to ChatGPT, Claude, and other clients. Both follow what the authenticated user owns or can see through team sharing; an administrator key does not automatically reach private meetings across the organization. Evidence: [Fathom public API](https://developers.fathom.ai/quickstart), [Fathom MCP](https://developers.fathom.ai/mcp-docs), [Fathom release notes](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/6220097). **Granola:** MCP and API on Business+; material export and scope limits. Personal API keys are beta on Business/Enterprise and can return transcripts for notes the key owner may access; Enterprise organization keys can cover Team-space notes. MCP also has a transcript tool, but uses OAuth, has no service-account key, and cannot directly access Team-space folders. Bulk CSV export excludes transcripts and admins cannot export every member’s notes, so programmatic access exists but workspace portability is not complete. Evidence: [Granola MCP](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/sharing/integrations/mcp), [Granola API](https://docs.granola.ai/introduction), [Granola data export](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/sharing/exporting-notes). ### Security, privacy, and admin **Both products support security, privacy, and admin, with different scope and plan limits.** **Fathom:** Strong upper-tier controls, with US-only hosting. Enterprise adds SSO, SCIM, and custom retention. Fathom currently supports one retention policy per team and asks customers to configure it through support. All data is US-hosted; de-identified data may improve Fathom’s in-house models unless users or a Team Edition admin opt out. Evidence: [Fathom pricing](https://www.fathom.ai/pricing), [Fathom auto-capture and visibility controls](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/13729025), [Fathom security and AI training](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/296512), [Fathom retention policies](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/6057089). **Granola:** User management on Business; retention and organization controls on Enterprise. SSO, retention, enforced sharing/API controls, participant notification, and organization training defaults require Enterprise; Granola documents SSO for organizations with at least 50 seats. There is no native password or MFA system—authentication delegates to Google, Microsoft, or Enterprise SSO. Notes and transcripts persist indefinitely unless deleted or covered by Enterprise retention, and admins do not get a one-click workspace export. Evidence: [Granola pricing](https://www.granola.ai/pricing), [Granola subscriptions and billing](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/managing-your-account/subscriptions-and-billing), [Granola security and data FAQ](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/consent-security-privacy/security-privacy-data-faqs). ### Languages **Both products support languages, with different scope and plan limits.** **Fathom:** 38 languages on the free plan. Fathom documents 38 supported languages. Bot-free rollout is currently narrower, so language support should be checked per capture mode. Evidence: [Fathom pricing](https://www.fathom.ai/pricing), [Fathom bot-free recording](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/11578049). **Granola:** Multilingual transcription. Granola supports multiple languages, but it does not publish the same 100+ headline count as several rivals. Test switching, accents, and domain vocabulary on real calls. Evidence: [Granola transcription](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/taking-notes/transcription). ## A third option to consider: Circleback Circleback turns online meetings, in-person conversations, and imported calls into one shared company memory. Record with a bot, with the botless desktop app, from an iPhone or Android phone, or on Apple Watch. Every route produces the same speaker-labeled record, detailed notes designed to stand alone, and automatically assigned action items. Sharing rules and automations carry the useful parts into the teams and tools that need them. Circleback is built for people and AI agents: the complete meeting record available to a person is also available programmatically through its API, MCP, and CLI. Circleback can also search connected apps and take action in them. It is built for people and AI agents: the same complete meeting data available to a person is available programmatically to ChatGPT, Claude, other agents, and internal tools through the API, MCP, and CLI. Free; Pro from $15/user/month annually; Business from $25/user/month annually; Enterprise $35/user/month, billed annually. ## Frequently asked questions ### Which is better: Fathom or Granola? Fathom is for durable online recordings, highlights, and clips. Granola is for actively written notes and a polished document with no retained source media. ### Which is less expensive, Fathom or Granola? Fathom: Free; Premium from $16/user/month annually. Granola: Free; Business $14/user/month; Enterprise from $35/user/month, billed monthly. Compare the paid seats, included usage, recording access, and admin features you actually need. ### Can Fathom and Granola record without a bot? Fathom: Meeting bot or bot-free transcript, audio, and Zoom video on Mac. Granola: Manual bot-free desktop, phone, and Apple Watch capture. The useful check is whether your required capture mode keeps video, a recording, and speaker names. ### Which is better for a whole company? First ask who gets each note automatically; otherwise useful context stays with the recorder. Then compare permissions, retention, and enforced defaults. Fathom: Organization and team visibility defaults, plus attendee auto-share. Granola: Private by default; sharing starts with a note or folder. ### Can I access and move the full meeting data? Fathom: Rich public API and MCP, scoped to the connected user. Granola: MCP and API on Business+; material export and scope limits. Check the selected plan, authentication model, transcript scope, export format, and retention window for the workflow you need. ### How was this comparison researched? We use first-party pricing pages, product pages, help docs, and release notes for both products. The sources are linked below. ## Methodology Circleback reviews first-party pricing pages, product pages, help docs, and release notes. Prices and capabilities move, so check the linked sources when a detail is important to your decision. Every feature dimension links to the exact first-party documents used for that claim. Ratings describe documented breadth, not an overall score or winner. This page is a neutral competitor-to-competitor comparison. There are no paid placements or affiliate rankings. ## First-party sources ### Fathom sources - [Fathom pricing](https://www.fathom.ai/pricing): Free, Premium, Team, Business, and Enterprise prices and feature gates. - [Fathom supported systems](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/296576): Computer, platform, mobile, phone call, webinar, and breakout limitations. - [Fathom in-person meetings](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/5500225): Current workaround, speaker limitation, and upcoming iOS path. - [Fathom bot-free recording](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/11578049): Current Zoom-on-Mac bot-free video and Google Meet/Teams rollout status. - [Fathom product overview](https://www.fathom.ai/overview): Current bot-free capture modes, speaker attribution, action items, Ask Fathom, programmatic access, and the marketing claim that iOS capture is available. - [Fathom 3.0 rollout](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/11577345): Current Mac-only, English-only eligibility and staged rollout behavior for the new bot-free experience. - [Fathom auto-capture and visibility controls](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/13729025): Organization and team defaults for capture and visibility across external, internal, and unscheduled meetings. - [Fathom attendee auto-share](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/7574785): Automatic delivery of summaries, recordings, or both to every calendar invitee, including no-shows. - [Fathom public API](https://developers.fathom.ai/quickstart): User-scoped API keys plus meeting metadata, speaker-attributed transcripts, summaries, assigned action items, CRM matches, pagination, and administrator visibility limits. - [Fathom MCP](https://developers.fathom.ai/mcp-docs): Official authenticated MCP access from ChatGPT, Claude, Claude Code, and other compatible clients. - [Fathom AI action items](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/640768): AI detection of action items and their assignees plus follow-up email generation. - [Fathom Asana integration](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/7639617): Automatic or manual synchronization of assigned meeting actions into Asana with source links. - [Fathom release notes](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/6220097): July 2026 API recording-download support and current product changes. - [Fathom security and AI training](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/296512): US data hosting, de-identified in-house model training and opt-out controls, plus third-party no-training terms. - [Fathom retention policies](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/6057089): Enterprise-only, support-managed retention with one policy per team. ### Granola sources - [Granola pricing](https://www.granola.ai/pricing): Basic, Business, and Enterprise prices and feature gates. - [Granola subscriptions and billing](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/managing-your-account/subscriptions-and-billing): 30-day free history, workspace privacy, plan uniformity, and removal behavior. - [Granola integrations](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/sharing/integrations/integrations-with-granola): Notion, Slack, CRM, Zapier, MCP, and API integrations. - [Granola Zapier](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/sharing/integrations/zapier): Paid-plan manual and folder triggers, note payload, workspace sharing, and task handoff across Zapier destinations. - [Granola action-item extraction](https://www.granola.ai/blog/meeting-action-items-ai-extraction): Automatic extraction of source-linked commitments, owners, and due dates from the transcript and human notes. - [Granola workspaces](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/workspaces): Private-by-default notes and team-space collaboration behavior. - [Granola sharing controls](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/consent-security-privacy/sharing-controls): Personal link defaults and Enterprise-enforced workspace link restrictions. - [Granola note sharing](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/sharing/sharing-notes): No attendee auto-sharing, note and integration sharing, and limited transcript visibility on public note links. - [Granola spaces and folders](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/sharing/folders/spaces-and-folders): Shared folders, recurring-meeting auto-add, and automatic posting to connected tools. - [Granola feature requests](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/feature-requests): Current product-request status, including automatic meeting start. - [Granola iOS](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/ios/getting-started): In-person/outbound calls and mobile limitations. - [Granola Android launch](https://www.granola.ai/blog/introducing-granola-for-android): Android in-person capture and cross-device note access. - [Granola Apple Watch launch](https://www.granola.ai/blog/granola-for-apple-watch): One-tap in-person capture, reminders, syncing, availability, and watchOS requirement. - [Granola transcription](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/taking-notes/transcription): Desktop “Me/Them” behavior, iPhone diarization, transcript copying, segment deletion, and lack of prerecorded-file support. - [Granola data export](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/sharing/exporting-notes): Individual and bulk exports, CSV transcript omission, and the absence of workspace-wide admin export. - [Granola MCP](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/sharing/integrations/mcp): OAuth access, plan gates, transcript tool, 30-day Basic history, and Team-space folder limitation. - [Granola API](https://docs.granola.ai/introduction): Personal beta keys, Enterprise keys, permitted-note scope, transcripts, and meeting data. - [Granola security and data FAQ](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/consent-security-privacy/security-privacy-data-faqs): Model-improvement defaults, individual opt-out, and Enterprise organization-wide enforcement.