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Side-by-side comparison · Productivity & Notes

Abridge vs Granola vs Linear

Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.

Abridge

4.2

Free to start

Granola

4.4

From $14/user/mo

Best overall

Linear

4.5

From $0

Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.

At a glance

Pick it if: Hospital and health-system leaders choosing an AI scribe for their doctors and nurses.

Easiest to use

Pick it if: Founders, consultants and managers who sit in back-to-back calls and hate the awkward recording bot.

Best overall

Pick it if: Startups and product teams who build software and want a fast, clean place to plan and track the work.

Overview

AttributeAbridgeGranolaLinear
In one lineTurns doctor and patient conversations into notes inside the hospital's health records.Takes meeting notes from your computer's audio, so no bot ever joins the call.Fast project tracker for product teams, with an AI agent that can code your issues.
Pricing modelPaidFreemiumFreemium
Starting priceSee website$14/user/mo$0
Free plan No Yes Yes
Works with Claude Code No Yes Yes

Rating breakdown

Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.

AttributeAbridgeGranolaLinear
Overall rating4.24.44.5Winner
Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it.
4.5
5.0
4.5
FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together.
4.5
4.5
4.5
Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them.
4.5
4.5
4.5
Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan.
3.5
4.0
4.0
Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over.
4.0
4.0
5.0

Feature comparison

A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.

AttributeAbridgeGranolaLinear
Access & platform
Free plan No Yes Yes
Mobile app Yes Yes Yes
Desktop app– Yes Yes
Browser extension No No No
API access– Yes Yes
Teams & business
Team workspace Yes Yes Yes
Enterprise plan or SSO Yes Yes Yes
Connects to other apps Yes Yes Yes
Open source or self-hosted No No No
AI abilities
Works with your files– No Yes
Understands images– No–
Makes images No No No
Makes video No No No
Writes code No No Yes
Runs agents or automations– No Yes
Learns your brand or style– No–
Works in many languages Yes Yes No
Capabilities score5/ 178/ 1710/ 17

Pricing

Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.

AttributeAbridgeGranolaLinear
Plans

EnterpriseOur pick

Custom

Health systems rolling it out across many clinicians.

Basic

Free

Trying it, or anyone who only needs the last month of notes.

Free

$0

Small teams getting started.

BusinessOur pick

$14/user/mo

Anyone in regular client or sales calls.

BasicOur pick

$10/user/mo billed yearly

Small product teams.

Enterprise

$35/user/mo

Companies that need admin control over who records what.

Business

$16/user/mo billed yearly

Growing teams with support requests and private work.

Enterprise

Custom

Large companies with security needs.

Which plan to pickThere is only one way to buy it: a contract between your organisation and Abridge. If you are a single clinician or small practice, look at Heidi instead.Start on Basic and see how it fits your week. If you find yourself wanting a call from six weeks ago, that's your signal to move to Business. Enterprise is only for IT-managed rollouts.Start free, then move to Basic when you pass 250 issues. Go to Business when you want AI triage, support-tool integrations or private teams. Add AI credits only if you plan to have Linear Agent write code; top-ups start at $10.

Key features

AttributeAbridgeGranolaLinear
Standout features
  • Ambient documentation
  • Linked evidence
  • Inside Epic
  • Abridge for Nurses
  • Revenue cycle support
  • Many languages
  • Bot-free capture
  • Notes built on yours
  • Ask across meetings
  • Templates
  • Phone apps
  • Claude connection
  • Issues, projects and cycles
  • Roadmaps and initiatives
  • Linear Agent
  • Triage Intelligence
  • Linear Asks
  • MCP and API

Pros and cons

AttributeAbridgeGranolaLinear
Pros
  • Deep Epic integration, so there is no copying notes between systems
  • Linked evidence makes notes faster to check
  • Strong independent evidence on reducing after-hours documentation
  • Covers doctors, nurses and inpatient care in one platform
  • No bot in the call keeps clients and candidates relaxed
  • Notes read like something you wrote, not a wall of transcript
  • Quick to set up and almost nothing to learn
  • Cross-meeting chat is genuinely useful for follow-ups
  • Phone apps cover in-person meetings
  • Very fast and pleasant to use
  • Generous free plan with unlimited members
  • Built-in agent that can write code for issues
  • Official MCP server for Claude and Claude Code
  • Clear, published pricing
Cons
  • Only sold to organisations; individuals and small practices cannot buy it
  • No public pricing, and analyst estimates put it at the expensive end
  • Roll-out is a long integration project, not a same-day sign-up
  • Notes still need careful review, especially exam findings
  • No video recording or shareable clips
  • The free plan locks notes older than 30 days
  • No annual discount shown, so $14 a user adds up for a team
  • Needs the desktop app running; it won't record from a phone call on your laptop if the app is closed
  • Built for software teams, not general business projects
  • Free plan stops at 250 issues
  • Coding sessions and Loops cost extra through prepaid credits
  • AI triage and dashboards need Business

Who each one is for

AttributeAbridgeGranolaLinear
Best for
  • Large health systems on Epic
  • Cutting after-hours note writing
  • Nursing and inpatient documentation
  • Notes that link back to the source conversation
  • Client and sales calls
  • Interviews and one-on-ones
  • Bot-free recording
  • Asking questions across past meetings
  • Tracking bugs and feature requests
  • Planning product roadmaps and sprints
  • Handing issues to an AI agent to code
  • Teams using Claude Code on their product
You'll find it used by
  • Hospital physicians
  • Nurses
  • Health systems
  • Clinical documentation teams
  • Founders
  • Consultants
  • Managers
  • Sales teams
  • Recruiters
  • Startups
  • Product managers
  • Software teams
  • Founders

Questions people ask

Which is better, Abridge, Granola or Linear?

Linear scores highest overall in our ratings (Abridge 4.2/5, Granola 4.4/5 and Linear 4.5/5). Abridge is best for large health systems on Epic and cutting after-hours note writing. Granola is best for client and sales calls and interviews and one-on-ones. Linear is best for tracking bugs and feature requests and planning product roadmaps and sprints.

Which is cheaper, Abridge, Granola or Linear?

Abridge: Pricing isn't published; check the vendor's site for a quote. Granola: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $14/user/mo. Linear: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $0.

Which is easier to use, Abridge, Granola or Linear?

Granola rates highest for ease of use in our scores. Founders, consultants and managers who sit in back-to-back calls and hate the awkward recording bot.

How we compare

Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.

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