Balanced comparison · 9 min
A Granola alternative that transcribes calls on your Mac.
Granola is an AI notepad for meetings: it listens through your computer’s audio, turns your notes into AI-written meeting notes, and syncs with your calendar on desktop and phone. VoiceToText is a free Mac app that records your mic and the call’s audio, transcribes on-device by default, and can then write a summary and action items with your own OpenAI key.
- Sources checked September 23, 2026
- Granola’s wins listed first
- Prices from vendor pages
- No meeting bot in either app
Which one fits your meetings?
Choose Granola if you want to take notes during the call and get AI-written notes, calendar-aware prep, templates, shared folders, and apps for Windows and phones, and you’re fine with audio going to cloud transcription providers and a paid plan once 30 days of history isn’t enough. Choose VoiceToText if you want a free Mac app that makes the transcript on your Mac by default, keeps recordings in a local history, and treats AI summaries as an optional step you run with your own OpenAI key. VoiceToText is also a system-wide dictation app.
At a glance, as of September 2026.
VoiceToText v0.0.57 compared with Granola’s official pages, checked September 23, 2026. Plans and features can change. Swipe sideways to see every column.
| Decision point | VoiceToText | Granola |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free. No paid tier, no account. | Basic is free with 30 days of meeting history. Business is $14 per user per month. |
| How it hears the call | Your mic plus the Mac’s system audio. No bot joins. | Your computer’s mic and system audio. No bot joins. |
| Where speech becomes text | On your Mac by default (Parakeet). Cloud only if you pick a cloud model and add your key. | Cloud transcription providers; Granola names Deepgram and Assembly. Audio isn’t stored. |
| During the call | A recording clock. The transcript arrives after you stop. | A notepad for your own notes and a live transcript panel. |
| After the call | Summary, Action Items and up to 3 custom-prompt tabs, run with your OpenAI key. | AI-enhanced notes shaped by templates, plus AI chat within and across meetings. |
| Calendar and sharing | None. You start and stop recording; copy text to share it. | Google and Microsoft calendars, shared folders, and Slack on the free plan. |
| Platforms | macOS 15 or later, Apple Silicon or Intel. | macOS 14 or later, Windows, iOS and Android. |
Where Granola wins
It is built around the meeting, not just the recording.
Notes while you listen
You write as much or as little as you like in a Granola note while it captures audio, and a transcript panel shows the conversation live. Notes, action items and follow-ups are ready when the meeting ends. On Google Meet (through Granola’s browser extension) and Zoom, speaker tags, included on every plan, label who said what by each participant’s display name; elsewhere the transcript splits Me (your mic) from Them (system audio).
Calendar and meeting prep
Granola connects to Google and Microsoft calendars. Its site says it prepares a brief before external meetings, and its pricing page lists pre-meeting briefs and follow-up emails on the Business plan.
Templates and recipes
Ready-made templates shape notes for common meeting types, such as 1:1s, interviews or sales pitches, and you can write your own. Recipes are saved prompts you run on your notes afterwards. Both are listed on every plan.
Teams and every device
Shared folders and a Slack integration are on the free plan; Notion, HubSpot and Zapier integrations, API access and central billing come with Business, and SSO with Enterprise. There are apps for Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android and Apple Watch.
Where VoiceToText fits
A free recorder that keeps the transcript on your Mac by default.
No bot, no account
It records your microphone and the Mac’s system audio together, so it works with Zoom, Meet, Teams, FaceTime, Webex or any app that plays sound. macOS asks for Microphone and Screen Recording permission; the app uses the second one for audio only and never records your screen. Start from the Conversations pane, the menu bar, or an optional Conversation shortcut.
Transcribed on your Mac
The default model, Parakeet TDT v3, runs on the Mac after a one-time download, so the audio stays there. You can set a separate model just for conversations. Only the cloud model GPT-4o Transcribe Diarize adds speaker labels, and it sends the audio to OpenAI with your key. What “offline” covers.
Summary, action items, your own prompts
On any recording, one click writes a Summary or an Action Items checklist with task, owner and due date. Owners and dates appear only when someone actually said them. A custom prompt such as “Rewrite this as meeting minutes” adds up to 3 more tabs. These use your OpenAI key and send the transcript text to OpenAI.
A history you keep
Audio and transcripts are saved on your Mac. Search finds words across transcripts, summaries, action items and speaker names. You can regenerate a recording with another of the 15 models and keep each version, or import one audio or video file at a time.
Data path
Neither app sends a bot. They differ on where the audio goes.
Granola’s security page says it transcribes in real time on macOS and Windows using providers such as Deepgram and Assembly, doesn’t store meeting audio, and keeps notes encrypted in a US-hosted AWS cloud. It says third parties like OpenAI and Anthropic may not train on your data, that Granola itself trains on anonymized data unless you opt out in Settings, and that it has a SOC 2 Type 2 audit.
VoiceToText with a local model transcribes on the Mac and saves the audio and text in your user folder. There is no VoiceToText server or account. The only network use in that setup is Hugging Face, for the one-time model download, and the app’s update check. Once the model has downloaded, transcription works with the network off.
The AI step is where text leaves the Mac. Summary, Action Items and custom prompts send the transcript text, including any speaker names you added, to OpenAI with your key. If a conversation must stay on the Mac entirely, keep a local model and skip those tabs.
What you give up with VoiceToText
Know the gaps before you switch.
No live notes during the call
There is no notepad and no live transcript for conversations. The text appears after you press Stop & Transcribe, and recording can’t be paused.
No calendar or meeting detection
VoiceToText doesn’t know when a meeting starts. You start and stop recording yourself from the app, the menu bar, or your Conversation shortcut.
No templates, no cross-meeting chat
Custom prompts are instructions you type; recent ones are remembered, but there’s no template library. Each insight covers one recording.
No sharing or integrations
No shared folders, team workspace, Slack or Notion. Getting text out means copying it; action items copy as a Markdown checklist. There are no export files.
Summaries need your OpenAI key
There is no built-in or local AI model for summaries. OpenAI bills your account for each run, and speaker labels likewise need an OpenAI cloud model.
One Mac, nothing else
It runs on macOS 15 or later, on Apple Silicon or Intel Macs. There is no Windows or phone app, so in-person meetings need your Mac in the room.
Verdict by use case
Pick by the meetings you actually have.
Back-to-back calls with a team → Granola
Calendar prep, templates, shared folders and integrations save time when meetings are the job and notes are shared.
Audio that shouldn’t reach a server → VoiceToText
Use a local model and skip the AI tabs, and the recording is transcribed and stored only on your Mac.
A few calls a week, no budget → VoiceToText
Recording, transcription and history are free, and old meetings don’t expire after 30 days; conversations stay in History until you delete them. Add an OpenAI key only if you want summaries.
Windows, phones or in-person → Granola
VoiceToText is a Mac app only. Granola covers Windows, iPhone and Android as well.
FAQ
Common questions.
Is VoiceToText a free Granola alternative?
For recording and transcribing meetings on a Mac, yes. VoiceToText is free, with no paid tier and no account. It records your microphone and the call's system audio without a bot and transcribes on your Mac by default. The optional Summary and Action Items use your own OpenAI API key, so OpenAI bills you for that use. It has no calendar, templates or team features.
Does VoiceToText show a live transcript during the meeting?
No. A conversation is transcribed after you press Stop & Transcribe. Granola shows a live transcript panel during the call. VoiceToText's live-text models are for dictation only.
Does either app join the call as a bot?
No. Both capture audio on your computer. VoiceToText needs Microphone and Screen Recording permission on macOS. It uses Screen Recording only to capture system audio and never records your screen.
Where does my meeting audio go?
With VoiceToText's default local model, the audio is transcribed on your Mac and saved in your local history. It leaves the Mac only if you choose a cloud transcription model. Granola's security page says it sends audio to transcription providers such as Deepgram and Assembly and doesn't store the audio.
Can VoiceToText connect to my calendar or detect meetings?
No. You start recording from the Conversations pane, the menu bar, or an optional Conversation shortcut, and stop it the same way.
Can VoiceToText label who said what?
Only with the cloud model GPT-4o Transcribe Diarize, which needs your OpenAI key and sends the audio to OpenAI. It labels Speaker 1, Speaker 2 and so on, and you can rename them with Name speakers. Local models produce one unlabeled transcript.
Primary sources
Check the claims at the source.
Product behavior changes. These official pages were reviewed on .
- Granola: Home page ↗
Product positioning as an AI notepad, bot-free capture from computer audio, supported meeting apps, calendar briefs and platforms.
- Granola: Pricing ↗
Basic, Business and Enterprise plans, the $14 Business price, 30-day history on Basic, templates, recipes, shared folders, integrations and SSO.
- Granola: Security ↗
Transcription providers, audio not being stored, US-hosted AWS storage, model-training policy and the SOC 2 Type 2 statement.
- Granola Help: How transcription works ↗
No meeting bot, mic and system audio sent to the transcription provider, the live transcript panel, and Me/Them labels.
- Granola Help: Templates ↗
Built-in and custom note templates and which apps support them.
- Granola Help: Setup guide ↗
The macOS 14 minimum, Google or Microsoft sign-in, calendar connection and audio permissions.
- VoiceToText source repository ↗
The app’s source and releases, for every VoiceToText claim on this page.
Keep exploring
Related Mac voice-to-text guides.
Record your next call and read the transcript on your Mac.
Open Conversations and press Start Recording before the call. Add an OpenAI key later only if you want summaries and action items.