# Fathom vs Granola

> Fathom vs Granola: Granola is our pick, leading for consultants & agencies and recruiters. They split on price per seat and cheapest paid plan. Verified July.

Both AI meeting notetakers platforms, Fathom (Free-first AI meeting notetaker) and Granola (Bot-free AI meeting notepad) go head to head here, priced from $16/seat/mo and $14/seat/mo respectively. Start with the bottom line, then the verified fact table and real production costs.

AI meeting notetakers platforms · 33 facts compared · all sourced · pricing verified Jul 20, 2026

## Bottom line

Granola wins three of the seven use cases against two for Fathom, with two ties. Its lower seat price drives the record: $14/seat/mo against Fathom's $16/seat/mo annual rate, which tips consultants and agencies and recruiters, and its extra CRM reach, HubSpot, Attio, and Affinity versus Fathom's Salesforce and HubSpot, wins sales teams too. Fathom answers back on product and UX research, where its clips, highlight reels, and video recording beat Granola's lack of both, and on solo and free, where unlimited free transcription minutes beat Granola's 30 day note limit. Engineering teams and privacy and compliance end in ties. Verdict: Granola wins.

## Verdict summary

| Use case | Winner | Why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Consultants & Agencies | Granola | Granola's per seat pricing is $14/seat/mo, well under Fathom's annual rate of $16/seat/mo, and that gap matters most for agencies billing many seats across client accounts. |
| Engineering Teams | Tie | Both tools cover the basics an async engineering team needs: automatic action items and a public API are available on both sides, and both generate an AI summary automatically. |
| Privacy & Compliance | Tie | Fathom includes a HIPAA BAA while Granola does not offer one, a clear point for regulated teams. |
| Product & UX Research | Fathom | Fathom records video and builds clips and highlight reels; Granola does neither, which rules it out for researchers who need to pull a highlight clip from a user interview or share the full recording. |
| Recruiters | Granola | Both tools generate an AI summary and identify speakers automatically, so candidate interviews get clean, labeled notes either way. |
| Sales Teams | Granola | Granola connects to three CRMs, HubSpot, Attio, and Affinity, one more than Fathom's Salesforce and HubSpot pairing, giving reps more places for a call to land automatically. |
| Solo & Free | Fathom | Fathom's free plan caps only advanced summaries at 5 per month, with unlimited recording and unlimited transcription minutes otherwise. |

## Fathom vs Granola: head-to-head facts

| Fact | Fathom | Granola | Verified |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Price per seat (billed monthly) | 20 $/seat/mo ([source](https://www.fathom.ai/pricing)) | 14 $/seat/mo ([source](https://www.granola.ai/pricing)) | Jul 20 |
| Price per seat (billed annually) | 16 $/seat/mo ([source](https://www.fathom.ai/pricing)) | n/a | Jul 20 |
| What the free tier caps | 5 advanced summaries/mo; unlimited recording ([source](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/5290881)) | Last 30 days of notes viewable ([source](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/managing-your-account/subscriptions-and-billing)) | Jul 20 |
| Capture method | hybrid ([source](https://www.fathom.ai/pricing)) | bot_free ([source](https://www.granola.ai/)) | Jul 20 |
| Bot-free capture option | ✓  Yes ([source](https://www.fathom.ai/overview)) | ✓  Yes ([source](https://www.granola.ai/)) | Jul 20 |
| Meeting platforms supported | Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams ([source](https://www.fathom.ai/integrations)) | Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, any app ([source](https://www.granola.ai/)) | Jul 20 |
| Languages supported | 38 ([source](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/296192)) | 17 ([source](https://docs.granola.ai/help-center/customising-granola/multi-language)) | Jul 20 |
| AI meeting summary | ✓  Yes ([source](https://www.fathom.ai/pricing)) | ✓  Yes ([source](https://www.granola.ai/)) | Jul 20 |
| SOC 2 Type II | ✓  Yes ([source](https://help.fathom.video/en/articles/296512)) | ✓  Yes ([source](https://www.granola.ai/security)) | Jul 20 |

## Fathom vs Granola pricing: true cost at 3 usage tiers

Real monthly bill for a team, from published per-seat rates on annual billing. Free-only or platform-bundled tools show n/a; their free-tier cap is the story.

| Volume | Buyer | Fathom | Granola | Note |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 seat | Solo / freelancer | $16/mo | $14/mo | A single user. Free tiers often cover this entirely. |
| 10 seats | Growing team | $160/mo | $140/mo | A whole team on paid seats; annual billing assumed. |
| 50 seats | Department | $800/mo | $700/mo | Company rollout. Most vendors negotiate at this size. |

## Fathom vs Granola: verdicts by use case

### Consultants & Agencies → Granola

Granola's per seat pricing is $14/seat/mo, well under Fathom's annual rate of $16/seat/mo, and that gap matters most for agencies billing many seats across client accounts. Both tools offer bot free and in person capture, so neither loses ground there. Fathom counters with fuller storage, since Granola does not store call audio while Fathom keeps unlimited recordings, useful if an agency needs the raw file for a client. Transcript export is limited on both sides, copy and paste for Fathom, Markdown only for Granola. On balance the lower seat cost outweighs the storage gap for a team scaling headcount.

### Engineering Teams → Tie

Both tools cover the basics an async engineering team needs: automatic action items and a public API are available on both sides, and both generate an AI summary automatically. The integrations differ rather than one leading: Fathom connects to Slack, Notion, Asana, and Zapier, while Granola connects to Slack, Notion, Zapier, and MCP, useful for teams wiring up their own AI tooling. Neither publishes a direct Jira connection. With action items, API access, and summaries matched and the integration lists offering different but comparable value, there is no clear lean toward hands off standups from one side.

### Privacy & Compliance → Tie

Fathom includes a HIPAA BAA while Granola does not offer one, a clear point for regulated teams. Granola excludes customer data from AI training while Fathom does not, which matters just as much for legal and healthcare buyers wary of their meeting content shaping a model. Both offer bot free capture and GDPR EU data residency, and both publish enterprise grade retention controls, Fathom with custom retention and Granola with org wide auto deletion. With the BAA and the training guarantee splitting the two most important requirements between the tools, neither comes out ahead for a compliance first buyer.

### Product & UX Research → Fathom

Fathom records video and builds clips and highlight reels; Granola does neither, which rules it out for researchers who need to pull a highlight clip from a user interview or share the full recording. Both let you ask questions of a meeting through AI chat, so that part is even. Fathom also supports 38 languages against Granola's 17, useful for global research panels. With clips, video capture, and language coverage all favoring Fathom and nothing but a similarly limited export format on the other side, Fathom is the stronger pick for teams living in interview footage and cross session queries.

### Recruiters → Granola

Both tools generate an AI summary and identify speakers automatically, so candidate interviews get clean, labeled notes either way. Export is limited on both, copy and paste for Fathom and Markdown only for Granola, so neither gives recruiters a clean drop into most ATS tools. Where they separate is price: Granola runs $14/seat/mo against Fathom's $16/seat/mo annual rate, and for a talent team scaling interview volume across many recruiters that difference adds up. Integrations are close, Slack and Notion on both sides. With the top two attributes tied and export a wash, the lower seat cost tips it to Granola.

### Sales Teams → Granola

Granola connects to three CRMs, HubSpot, Attio, and Affinity, one more than Fathom's Salesforce and HubSpot pairing, giving reps more places for a call to land automatically. Granola is also the cheaper seat, $14/seat/mo against Fathom's $16/seat/mo annual rate, and it offers live real time transcription during the call, a feature not published for Fathom. Fathom answers back with clips and highlight reels for coaching moments, which Granola does not offer, and both generate action items automatically. With CRM reach, price, and live transcription all favoring Granola against a single point for Fathom, Granola is the stronger fit for a sales floor syncing every call to the CRM.

### Solo & Free → Fathom

Fathom's free plan caps only advanced summaries at 5 per month, with unlimited recording and unlimited transcription minutes otherwise. Granola's free plan instead limits how long notes stay visible, just the last 30 days, so a solo user loses access to older meetings even with light use. That makes Fathom the more capable starting point for someone who wants to keep using the product long term. On paid plans, Granola charges $14/seat/mo while Fathom charges $20/seat/mo, a real gap once a user needs to upgrade. Both generate an AI summary automatically. Since what the no cost plan offers matters most here, Fathom edges ahead despite its higher paid price.

## Fathom vs Granola: common questions

### Is Fathom cheaper than Granola?

No. Granola costs $14/seat/mo, compared to Fathom's $20/seat/mo billed monthly or $16/seat/mo billed annually. Granola's business plan also holds at $14/seat/mo, while Fathom's business plan runs $34/seat/mo, so Granola is the cheaper option at every tier.

### Fathom vs Granola: which is better for consultants & agencies?

Granola is the better fit for consultants and agencies on price, charging $14/seat/mo against Fathom's $16/seat/mo annual rate, a real saving when billing many seats across client accounts. Both offer bot free and in person capture. Fathom counters with fuller storage, since Granola does not store call audio while Fathom keeps unlimited recordings, useful when a client needs the raw file.

### Does Fathom or Granola offer a HIPAA BAA for healthcare teams?

Fathom includes a HIPAA business associate agreement on its plans, while Granola does not currently offer one. Teams in healthcare or legal that need a signed BAA should note this gap before choosing Granola.

### Is Fathom or Granola better for product and UX researchers?

Fathom is the stronger fit for researchers because it records video and builds clips and highlight reels from calls, features Granola does not offer. Fathom also covers 38 languages against Granola's 17, useful for international user interviews.

### Which CRMs does Fathom integrate with compared to Granola?

Fathom integrates with Salesforce and HubSpot. Granola integrates with HubSpot, Attio, and Affinity, one more CRM overall but without Salesforce.

### What happens to my notes on Granola's free plan?

Granola's free plan only keeps the last 30 days of notes viewable, so older meetings become inaccessible once that window passes.

### Does Fathom offer a chat feature to ask questions about a meeting?

Yes, Fathom includes an ask your meeting AI chat feature so you can query a transcript after the call ends.

### Is Granola a cheaper alternative to Fathom for a growing team?

Granola's business plan holds at $14/seat/mo as a team scales, while Fathom's business plan runs $34/seat/mo, so Granola stays cheaper at higher seat counts.

Source: https://www.versusref.com/notetakers/fathom-vs-granola/