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Telmi vs Granola: live answers vs the AI notepad

Granola writes excellent notes without a meeting bot. Telmi also skips the bot, and helps you while the call is still happening. An honest look at where each is stronger, what they cost, and who should pick which.

The Telmi teamPublished 5 min read
  • Granola
  • No bot
  • Live answers
On this page
We make Telmi, so weigh our take accordingly. Everything we say about Granola comes from Granola’s own website and pricing page as of November 2026. If something has changed, their site wins.

Granola and Telmi get compared a lot, and for good reason. Both run on your computer instead of sending a bot into the meeting. Both write notes when the call ends. If you’ve been put off by a “Notetaker” tile appearing in your Zoom grid, both fix that.

The difference is when they help. Granola calls itself “the AI notepad for back-to-back meetings”: it improves the notes you take and gives you a great record afterward. Telmi is built to help during the call, by showing you what to say while the other person is still asking, and then it writes your notes too.

The short version

  • Pick Granola if you want the best notes with the least effort, you work on Windows or your phone as well as a Mac, or your team needs shared notes, integrations, and security reviews.
  • Pick Telmi if the hard part of your calls is the call itself: answering questions well, on the spot, from your own material. And you’re on a Mac.

What Granola does well

Granola is a polished, mature product, and it’s ahead of us in several ways that matter.

  • It runs almost everywhere. Granola lists desktop apps for macOS and Windows, plus iOS, Android, and Apple Watch. Telmi is Mac only today.
  • Notes are its whole focus. You type rough notes during the call and Granola fills them out from the transcript. Custom templates, AI chat within and across meetings, and multi-language support are all on the free plan.
  • It’s built for teams. Shared folders are on every plan. Business adds centralized billing and user management. Enterprise adds SSO, SCIM, an audit API, and admin controls.
  • Integrations. On Business, notes connect to Attio, Notion, HubSpot, Affinity, and Zapier, with an API and MCP access. Telmi has no CRM or workspace integrations yet.
  • Security paperwork. Granola has SOC 2 Type II, offers a DPA, deletes audio after transcription, and offers HIPAA workspaces on Enterprise. Telmi has no SOC 2 report yet.

What Telmi does differently

Granola’s product is about the notes, not about suggestions during the call. Telmi’s main job happens while you talk:

  • SAY cards. When someone asks a question, a short answer you can say out loud appears in a side panel. Often it’s there before they finish asking, because Telmi starts on a question while it’s still forming and predicts likely next questions ahead of time.
  • Your answers, not the model’s guesses. Answers come from a knowledge pack you set up: your docs, pricing, and positioning. For questions you get on every call, you can save an answer card in your own words, and Telmi matches it on your Mac with no AI request at all.
  • Delivery controls. One tap to make an answer shorter, expand it, make it simpler or more confident, or rephrase it.
  • Nudges. A quiet prompt if you’ve been talking for 90 seconds straight, or if a question is still open.
  • Ask anything, or look at the screen. You can type a question mid-call, or have Telmi read what’s on your screen.

After the call, Telmi writes a summary, key points, decisions, action items, and a follow-up email, like most note tools. It also writes coaching: better lines for moments that went sideways, and questions you never quite answered. Those missed questions can become draft answer cards, so the next call goes better. Before a call, Telmi reads your Google Calendar, builds a page for each meeting, and lets you prep with a chat.

Side by side

As of November 2026. Granola details from granola.ai and its pricing page.
FeatureTelmiGranola
Joins the call as a botNo, listens on your MacNo, uses device audio
Suggestions during the callYes, live answers and nudgesNo, notes only
Notes after the callSummary, decisions, action items, follow-up emailEnhanced notes, templates, follow-up emails on Business
Coaching after the callYesNot listed
PlatformsMac (macOS 26 or later)macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Apple Watch
Team workspace and sharingNot yetShared folders on every plan
IntegrationsGoogle Calendar, Claude MCP serverAttio, Notion, HubSpot, Affinity, Zapier, API, MCP
SOC 2Not yetSOC 2 Type II
SSONoEnterprise (50+ users)
Free plan5 callsBasic, with 30 days of history
Paid plan$20/month$14/user/month (Business)
As of November 2026. Granola details from granola.ai and its pricing page.

Pricing

As of November 2026, per Granola’s pricing page, Granola has three tiers, priced per user per month:

  • Basic, $0: AI meeting notes, 30 days of meeting history, AI chat, shared folders, custom templates.
  • Business, $14: unlimited notes and history, advanced models, integrations, API, MCP, pre-meeting briefs, and follow-up emails.
  • Enterprise, $35: SSO, SCIM, audit API, HIPAA workspaces, usage analytics, and admin controls.

Telmi is free for your first 5 calls, then Pro is $20 a month for unlimited calls, with a daily fair-use cap of 3,000 AI requests. We don’t offer an annual plan yet. On price alone, Granola’s Business plan is cheaper, and its free plan lasts longer than ours.

Where Telmi falls short

If you’re weighing the two, here’s what we don’t have yet:

  • Mac only, and it needs macOS 26 or later. A Windows version is built but not released.
  • No mobile app. If you take a call on your phone, Telmi can’t hear it.
  • No team workspace, admin console, SSO, or SOC 2 report.
  • No CRM, Notion, or Slack integrations.
  • Telmi hears the other side of the call as one voice, “Them”. It doesn’t separate every speaker.

Who should pick which

Choose Granola if you have back-to-back meetings and mostly need a great record of them, if you use Windows or want notes on your phone, or if you’re rolling a tool out to a team that needs shared folders, integrations, and a security review.

Choose Telmi if you run calls where you have to answer questions well in real time, like sales and discovery calls, customer calls, or interviews, and you want help in the moment, grounded in your own material, plus notes and coaching afterward. You’ll need a Mac on macOS 26 or later.

If you’re unsure, take one real call with each. The difference shows up in the first question you’d have struggled to answer. For more on the two categories, see AI meeting copilot vs AI notetaker.

Frequently asked questions

Does Granola join meetings as a bot?
No. Granola captures audio from your device, so no bot joins the call. Telmi works the same way on a Mac.
Does Granola give real-time suggestions during a call?
Granola focuses on notes. It doesn't advertise live suggestions during the call. Telmi shows short answers you can say while the call is happening.
How much does Granola cost?
As of November 2026, per Granola's pricing page: Basic is free, Business is $14 per user per month, and Enterprise is $35 per user per month. Telmi is free for 5 calls, then $20 a month.
Does Telmi work on Windows like Granola?
Not yet. Telmi is Mac only today and needs macOS 26 or later. A Windows version is built but not released.
Is Telmi SOC 2 compliant?
No, not yet. Granola has SOC 2 Type II. If your company needs a SOC 2 report before approving a tool, Granola is the safer choice today.

Written by

The Telmi team

We build Telmi, a Mac app that helps you while you're on a call and writes your notes after it. We write about how it works, and we try to be fair when we compare it with other tools. About us