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Scratchpad vs Granola

Granola is an AI notepad built for video calls. Scratchpad is a whole notebook that also records and transcribes meetings, keeps the recording, lets you edit the transcript, and puts it beside your notes, files, and PDFs, with an assistant that never trains on what you write.

Facts checked Sources All comparisons

Granola is very good at one thing: sitting quietly on your computer during a video call, listening to the audio, and turning your rough notes into a tidy write-up afterwards. Scratchpad is a notebook first. You can record a meeting into any note and have it transcribed, but the meeting then lives with everything else you keep: your plans, lists, PDFs, and files, all searchable in one place.

The short answer

Choose Scratchpad if

  • You want one app for all your notes, and meetings are part of that rather than the whole of it
  • You want to keep the recording, listen back, and correct the transcript
  • You record in-person meetings, lectures, interviews, or voice memos, or already have audio files to transcribe
  • You want folders, tags, tables, PDFs you can mark up, reminders, and version history around your meeting notes
  • You want your notes never used to train AI models, with no setting to find

Choose Granola if

  • Most of your meetings are video calls, and you want the whole call captured without a bot joining
  • You want your rough notes merged with the transcript into a write-up automatically
  • You want to ask questions across months of meetings, or send notes to Slack, HubSpot, or Attio

At a glance

Scratchpad Granola
Price a month US$12, or US$8 with your own AI key Free. Business US$14 per user. Enterprise from US$35 per user
Price a year US$120, or US$80 with your own AI key Enterprise contracts only
Free plan With a 30-day money-back guarantee With the last 30 days of notes visible
Built for All your notes, meetings included Meetings
Captures a video call's audio Records what your microphone hears From your computer's audio, with no bot
In-person meetings and voice memos On the phone apps
Keeps the recording To play back in the note Audio is never saved
Transcribe an audio file you already have
Edit the transcript It's ordinary text
Transcription 20 hours a month, on our own servers Unlimited, through Deepgram and AssemblyAI
Live transcript during the meeting After recording On the desktop apps
Speaker names "Me" and "Them", or names on Zoom, Meet, and Teams once set up
AI write-up of your notes The assistant does it when you ask Automatically
Ask across all your meetings The assistant works on one note
Notes kept out of AI training Always Only if you opt out (Enterprise is opted out)
Folders and tags Folders three levels deep, and #tags Folders one level deep, no tags
PDFs and markup Pen, highlighter, shapes, sticky notes, and forms Files in folders, up to 30 MB each
Tables, callouts, code, maths
Version history Up to 200 versions per note Not in Granola's documentation
Trash Kept until you empty it 30 days
Reminders By email and notification Meeting notifications only
Share links With a password or expiry Private, company, or anyone with the link
Publishing a note as a web page In one click Public share links
Export Markdown, text, or JSON, one note or everything Copy a note as Markdown. Bulk export as CSV
AI connectors MCP server that reads and writes MCP server that reads
Sign-in Email and password, two-step, passkeys Google, Microsoft, or SSO
Platforms Apps for Mac and Linux, plus any browser, installable on iPhone, iPad, Android, and Windows Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, Apple Watch, and web to view notes
Web clipper For Safari, Chrome, and Firefox

Where Scratchpad is better

A Kitchen renovation note with three contractor quotes in a table, and the assistant panel beside it recommending one of them and explaining why.

One notebook, with meetings in it

Granola is built around meetings: folders one level deep, no tags, and a notes editor with the basics. Scratchpad holds everything else you write too, with folders three levels deep, #tags, links between notes, tables, callouts, tabs, checklists that sort themselves, and PDFs you can mark up. The meeting you recorded sits next to the plan it changed.

Keep the recording, and fix the transcript

Granola never saves audio, so a line that came out wrong can't be checked by listening again, and its transcript text can't be edited. Scratchpad keeps the recording in the note as a player, and its transcript is ordinary text: correct a name it misheard, search it, and export it.

An assistant that works on the whole note

Record the meeting, transcribe it, then ask the assistant to turn it into minutes, pull out the actions, or compare it with last week's notes in the same note. Its edits arrive as a change you approve. 500 messages a month are included, or no limit with your own Anthropic, OpenAI, or Gemini key.

The rest of a notebook

Up to 200 versions of every note, reminders you write in a sentence, locked notes encrypted with their own password, share links with a password or expiry, publishing a note as a web page, and everything exportable as Markdown. Granola's bulk export is a CSV, its trash empties after 30 days, and its free plan shows only the last 30 days of notes.

Transcribe audio you already have

Drop an MP3, M4A, WAV, or other recording into a Scratchpad note and it turns into text, whether it's a lecture, an interview, or a call someone sent you. Granola only transcribes as it listens; it can't take a file.

Your notes are never used to train AI

By default on Granola's free and Business plans, anonymised data may be used to improve Granola's own models unless each person opts out. Scratchpad never uses your notes to train AI models, on any plan, and transcription runs on our own servers rather than going to another company.

Sign in your own way

Scratchpad signs in with an email and password, two-step sign-in, and passkeys. Granola signs in through Google, Microsoft, or your company's single sign-on only.

And everything else Scratchpad does.

  • Reminders in a sentence

    Type /remind call the vet Friday at 9am, and get an email and a notification.

  • Voice memos, transcribed

    Record into a note and get the words back as text you can search. 20 hours a month.

  • Write on PDFs

    Pen, highlighter, shapes, sticky notes, and forms, and a copy to download with your marks on it.

  • Every version, kept

    Up to 200 versions of each note, compared side by side and brought back in a click.

  • Search inside your files

    The words in your PDFs, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, your pictures and scans, and your transcripts, as you type.

  • Tabs, panels, and callouts

    Split a long note into tabs, fold a section away, or set a tip apart in a callout.

  • Code, maths, and footnotes

    Highlighting for about 35 languages, LaTeX that renders as you type, and footnotes that number themselves.

  • Locked notes

    Encrypted with a password of their own, and opened with Face ID or Touch ID once you set that up.

  • Share links you control

    Read or edit, with a password or an expiry date, and nobody needs an account. On paid plans.

  • Publish in one click

    Turn a note into a clean web page, and take it down just as fast. On paid plans.

  • An assistant that asks first

    It reads the note you are in, and its edits arrive as a change you approve.

  • Works with Claude and ChatGPT

    Any app that speaks MCP can search, read, and add to your notes. On paid plans.

  • Two-step sign-in and passkeys

    An authenticator code or an emailed one, backup codes, and passkeys for Touch ID and Face ID.

  • Folders, tags, and backlinks

    Three levels of folders, each with its own colour and icon, #tags as you type, and backlinks.

  • Bring your notes in

    Markdown, Word, HTML, RTF, or a whole zip, with its folders.

  • Markdown in and out

    Export a note, a folder, or everything as Markdown, plain text, or JSON.

Where Granola is better

It captures the whole video call

Granola listens to your computer's audio, so it hears everyone on a Zoom, Meet, or Teams call without a bot joining. Scratchpad's recorder records what your microphone hears: fine for a meeting in a room or a call on speaker, but with headphones in it only hears your side.

Your rough notes become the write-up

Type a few words as the meeting goes, and Granola merges them with the transcript into tidy notes as soon as it ends, with a live transcript on the desktop apps and speaker names on the big call apps once set up. In Scratchpad the write-up is something you ask the assistant for.

Questions across every meeting, and your tools around it

Granola's chat can answer across all your meetings, a folder, or a team space, prepare you for the next meeting, and draft the follow-up email. Its notes flow to Slack, Notion, HubSpot, Attio, and Zapier. Scratchpad's assistant works on one note at a time.

A free plan, and native apps

Granola's free plan has unlimited meetings, with the last 30 days of notes visible, and it has real apps for Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, and Apple Watch. Scratchpad has a 30-day money-back guarantee and apps for Mac and Linux, and runs in any browser everywhere else.

Moving from Granola to Scratchpad

In Granola, copy a note (it copies as Markdown) and paste it into a new Scratchpad note: headings, lists, and checklists arrive formatted. The transcript copies separately from Granola's transcript panel. Granola's bulk export is a CSV file, which Scratchpad doesn't import, so bring across the meetings you want to keep one at a time. See Bringing your old notes in.

Good questions.

Can Scratchpad record a Zoom or Google Meet call like Granola?

Not the whole call. Scratchpad records what your microphone hears, so it captures an in-person meeting or a call on speaker, but not the other side of a call through headphones. Granola captures your computer's audio and hears everyone. Scratchpad can transcribe a recording of the call if you have one as a file.

Does Granola keep the audio of my meetings?

No. Granola streams audio for transcription and never saves it, so you can't play a meeting back. Scratchpad keeps the recording in the note, next to its transcript.

Is Granola free?

Granola's Basic plan is free, with unlimited meetings and the last 30 days of notes visible. Business is US$14 per user a month, billed monthly, and Enterprise starts at US$35 per user. Scratchpad is US$12 a month, or US$8 with your own AI key, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Does Granola use my notes to train AI?

By default on its free and Business plans, Granola may use anonymised data to improve its own models, and each person can opt out in Settings; Enterprise is opted out. Scratchpad never uses your notes to train AI models.

Can I use both?

Yes, and plenty of people might: Granola for back-to-back video calls, Scratchpad for everything else. Copy a Granola note into Scratchpad when it belongs with the rest of your work.

Sources

Checked on 24 September 2026, from Granola's own pages:

And for Scratchpad, the documentation and pricing.

The best way to decide is with your own notes.

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US$12 a month, or US$8 with your own AI key. 30-day money-back guarantee.