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Side-by-side comparison · Productivity & Notes

Glean vs Granola vs Notion

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

Glean

4.0

Free to start

Best overall

Granola

4.4

From $14/user/mo

Notion

4.3

From $10/member/mo

Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.

At a glance

Pick it if: Mid-size and large companies whose knowledge is scattered across many apps and teams.

Best overallEasiest to use

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

Best value

Pick it if: Anyone who wants one place for their notes, plans and team knowledge, from solo creators to whole companies.

Granola scores highest overall, but Notion gives you more for your money. Which one is right comes down to what you value most.

Overview

AttributeGleanGranolaNotion
In one lineSearches and answers questions across all your company's apps, with agents on top.Takes meeting notes from your computer's audio, so no bot ever joins the call.One workspace for notes, docs, wikis and project tracking, with AI built in.
Pricing modelPaidFreemiumFreemium
Starting priceSee website$14/user/mo$10/member/mo
Free plan No Yes Yes
Works with Claude Code Yes Yes Yes

Rating breakdown

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

AttributeGleanGranolaNotion
Overall rating4.04.4Winner4.3
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
5.0
Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them.
4.0
4.5
4.5
Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan.
3.0
4.0
4.5
Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over.
4.0
4.0
4.0

Feature comparison

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

AttributeGleanGranolaNotion
Access & platform
Free plan No Yes Yes
Mobile app Yes Yes Yes
Desktop app– Yes Yes
Browser extension Yes No Yes
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 Yes No Yes
Understands images– No Yes
Makes images No No No
Makes video No No No
Writes code– No Yes
Runs agents or automations Yes No Yes
Learns your brand or style– No No
Works in many languages Yes Yes Yes
Capabilities score9/ 178/ 1713/ 17

Pricing

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

AttributeGleanGranolaNotion
Plans

EnterpriseOur pick

Custom

Companies with roughly 100 or more staff.

Basic

Free

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

Free

Free

One person getting organised.

BusinessOur pick

$14/user/mo

Anyone in regular client or sales calls.

Plus

$10/member/mo billed yearly

Small teams who want shared docs without the AI.

Enterprise

$35/user/mo

Companies that need admin control over who records what.

BusinessOur pick

$20/member/mo billed yearly

Teams who want the AI properly switched on.

Enterprise

Custom

Larger companies with security and compliance needs.

Which plan to pickThere is only a quoted enterprise contract. Ask for a pilot on your own data before committing, and compare the quote against Microsoft 365 Copilot or Gemini if you already pay for one of them.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.Solo users can stay on Free for a long time. For a team the honest answer is Business, because Plus leaves out the AI that makes Notion interesting now. Note that yearly billing is what gets you the $10 and $20 prices, and monthly billing costs more.

Key features

AttributeGleanGranolaNotion
Standout features
  • Search across every app
  • Assistant with sources
  • Permission-aware
  • Agents
  • Choice of models
  • API and MCP
  • Bot-free capture
  • Notes built on yours
  • Ask across meetings
  • Templates
  • Phone apps
  • Claude connection
  • Pages and databases
  • Notion AI and Agent
  • AI Meeting Notes
  • Templates
  • Sites and forms
  • Claude connection

Pros and cons

AttributeGleanGranolaNotion
Pros
  • Very broad set of connectors across vendors
  • Keeps each app's access rights
  • Answers link back to sources so people can check them
  • Agents work on real company data
  • Strong security and compliance credentials
  • 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
  • Replaces a handful of separate apps with one workspace
  • Databases are flexible enough to model almost any business process
  • Generous free plan for individuals
  • Official Claude connection makes it a shared memory for your AI tools
  • Huge template library and community
Cons
  • No public pricing, no small-team plan and high reported minimums
  • Long sales and setup process before staff see value
  • Answer quality depends on tidy, current documents
  • Overlaps heavily with Microsoft 365 Copilot or Gemini if you already pay for one
  • 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
  • No imposed structure, so workspaces get messy without discipline
  • The useful AI is held back for the $20 Business plan
  • Can feel slow with large databases and on patchy connections
  • Offline support is still limited
  • Easy to spend more time organising Notion than doing the work

Who each one is for

AttributeGleanGranolaNotion
Best for
  • Finding information across many company apps
  • Onboarding new staff faster
  • Support and sales teams answering questions
  • Building internal agents on company data
  • Client and sales calls
  • Interviews and one-on-ones
  • Bot-free recording
  • Asking questions across past meetings
  • Team wikis and documentation
  • Personal notes and planning
  • Content calendars
  • Lightweight project tracking
  • A knowledge base Claude can read
You'll find it used by
  • IT teams
  • Support teams
  • Sales teams
  • Engineering teams
  • HR and people teams
  • Founders
  • Consultants
  • Managers
  • Sales teams
  • Recruiters
  • Startups
  • Marketers
  • Agencies
  • Solo founders
  • Students

Questions people ask

Which is better, Glean, Granola or Notion?

Granola scores highest overall in our ratings (Glean 4.0/5, Granola 4.4/5 and Notion 4.3/5). Glean is best for finding information across many company apps and onboarding new staff faster. Granola is best for client and sales calls and interviews and one-on-ones. Notion is best for team wikis and documentation and personal notes and planning.

Which is cheaper, Glean, Granola or Notion?

Glean: 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. Notion: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $10/member/mo.

Which is easier to use, Glean, Granola or Notion?

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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