Side-by-side comparison · Productivity & Notes
Fathom vs Granola vs Smartsheet
Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.
Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.
At a glance
Pick it if: Sales and customer-facing teams who want every call recorded and summarised without paying per seat to start.
Pick it if: Founders, consultants and managers who sit in back-to-back calls and hate the awkward recording bot.
Pick it if: Operations, PMO and project teams who think in spreadsheets and need Gantt charts, reports and approvals.
Granola scores highest overall, but Fathom gives you more for your money. Which one is right comes down to what you value most.
Overview
| Attribute | Fathom | Granola | Smartsheet |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | Records your video calls and sends you a summary, action items and transcript. | Takes meeting notes from your computer's audio, so no bot ever joins the call. | Spreadsheet-style project tracking with AI for formulas, summaries and dashboards. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Paid |
| Starting price | $20/mo | $14/user/mo | $9/member/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | No |
| Works with Claude Code | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Fathom | Granola | Smartsheet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.2 | 4.4Winner | 3.7 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.5 | 5.0 | 3.5 |
| 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. | 3.5 | 4.5 | 4.0 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 4.5 | 4.0 | 3.0 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.5 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Fathom | Granola | Smartsheet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | No |
| Mobile app | – | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop app | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Browser extension | – | No | – |
| API access | Yes | 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 | No | Yes |
| Understands images | No | No | – |
| Makes images | No | No | No |
| Makes video | No | No | No |
| Writes code | No | No | – |
| Runs agents or automations | No | No | No |
| Learns your brand or style | No | No | – |
| Works in many languages | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Capabilities score | 7/ 17 | 8/ 17 | 8/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Fathom | Granola | Smartsheet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | FreeOur pick Free Anyone who wants every call recorded without paying. | Basic Free Trying it, or anyone who only needs the last month of notes. | Pro $9/member/mo billed yearly ($12 monthly) Individuals and small teams of up to 10. |
Premium $20/mo, or $16/mo billed yearly One person who wants the fuller summaries every time. | BusinessOur pick $14/user/mo Anyone in regular client or sales calls. | BusinessOur pick $19/member/mo billed yearly ($24 monthly) Teams running several projects together. | |
Team $19/user/mo, or $15/user/mo billed yearly Small teams sharing calls with each other. | Enterprise $35/user/mo Companies that need admin control over who records what. | Enterprise Custom Larger organisations needing admin and security controls. | |
Business $34/user/mo, or $25/user/mo billed yearly Sales teams living in a CRM. | Advanced Work Management Custom PMOs managing large portfolios. | ||
Enterprise Custom Larger organisations needing SSO and rollout help. | |||
| Which plan to pick | Most people should simply use Free; it covers more than the paid tiers of its rivals. Only move to Team or Business when several people need to search each other's calls or you want notes landing in HubSpot or Salesforce without lifting a finger. | 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. | Business is where Smartsheet's reporting and approvals pay off for a team. Pro suits one person or a very small team. Use the 30-day trial on a real project before you commit to a yearly plan. |
Key features
| Attribute | Fathom | Granola | Smartsheet |
|---|---|---|---|
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | Fathom | Granola | Smartsheet |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Fathom | Granola | Smartsheet |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Fathom, Granola or Smartsheet?
Granola scores highest overall in our ratings (Fathom 4.2/5, Granola 4.4/5 and Smartsheet 3.7/5). Fathom is best for recording sales and client calls and sharing call clips with the team. Granola is best for client and sales calls and interviews and one-on-ones. Smartsheet is best for Replacing Excel project trackers and gantt charts with dependencies.
Which is cheaper, Fathom, Granola or Smartsheet?
Fathom: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $20/mo. Granola: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $14/user/mo. Smartsheet: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $9/member/mo.
Which is easier to use, Fathom, Granola or Smartsheet?
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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