Side-by-side comparison · Productivity & Notes
Granola vs Notion vs Fathom
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
Granola
4.2Pick it if: Founders, consultants and managers who sit in back-to-back calls and hate the awkward recording bot.
Notion
4.3Pick it if: Anyone who wants one place for their notes, plans and team knowledge, from solo creators to whole companies.
Fathom
4.0Pick it if: Sales and customer-facing teams who want every call recorded and summarised without paying per seat to start.
Overview
| Attribute | Granola | Notion | Fathom |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | 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. | Records your video calls and sends you a summary, action items and transcript. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starting price | $14/user/mo | $10/member/mo | $20/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Works with Claude Code | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Granola | Notion | Fathom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.2 | 4.3Winner | 4.0 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 5.0 | 3.5 | 4.5 |
| FeaturesHow much it can do, and how well the pieces fit together. | 3.5 | 5.0 | 3.5 |
| Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them. | 4.5 | 4.5 | 3.5 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 4.0 | 4.5 | 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.
| Attribute | Granola | Notion | Fathom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes | Yes | – |
| Desktop app | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Browser extension | 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 | No | Yes | No |
| Understands images | No | Yes | No |
| Makes images | No | No | No |
| Makes video | No | No | No |
| Writes code | No | Yes | No |
| Runs agents or automations | No | Yes | No |
| Learns your brand or style | No | No | No |
| Works in many languages | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Capabilities score | 8/ 17 | 13/ 17 | 7/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Granola | Notion | Fathom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Basic Free Trying it, or anyone who only needs the last month of notes. | Free Free One person getting organised. | FreeOur pick Free Anyone who wants every call recorded without paying. |
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. | Premium $20/mo, or $16/mo billed yearly One person who wants the fuller summaries every time. | |
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. | Team $19/user/mo, or $15/user/mo billed yearly Small teams sharing calls with each other. | |
Enterprise Custom Larger companies with security and compliance needs. | Business $34/user/mo, or $25/user/mo billed yearly Sales teams living in a CRM. | ||
Enterprise Custom Larger organisations needing SSO and rollout help. | |||
| Which plan to pick | 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. | 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. |
Key features
| Attribute | Granola | Notion | Fathom |
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Pros and cons
| Attribute | Granola | Notion | Fathom |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Granola | Notion | Fathom |
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How we compare
Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability. The "Visit" buttons may use affiliate links, which never affect a score.
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