COMPARE · GRANOLA
A Granola AI alternative
with local AI.
Granola is a notepad that listens on your computer or phone and writes notes in the cloud. Locus records on your Mac, Apple Watch or iPhone and writes the notes on your Mac with local AI. Both skip the meeting bot. Here is how they differ.
01
The short version.
Both skip the botGranola listens on your computer, and its iPhone and Apple Watch apps record in person. Locus records calls on your Mac and meetings in the room on your Watch or iPhone.
Where the AI runsGranola: cloud providers. Locus: your Mac.
Your audioGranola: not kept after transcription. Locus: kept as a file on your Mac.
02
Granola and Locus, side by side.
From each company’s own pages, read on 20 October 2026. Numbers refer to the sources below.
| Topic | Granola | Locus |
|---|---|---|
| How it records | On the computer, from the microphone and system audio, started by you; no bot joins the call.1 On iPhone, in-person meetings and outbound calls; an Apple Watch app records and sends audio to the iPhone.3 | On the Mac, your microphone plus the other sides of the call. In the room, on your Apple Watch or iPhone. No bot. |
| Online meetings | Yes, on Mac and Windows through system audio.1 Not on mobile.3 | Yes. On the Mac, Include Mac audio records the other sides of the call alongside your microphone: whatever the Mac plays from Zoom, Teams, Meet or any call app. macOS asks your permission first. |
| Where transcription and notes run | In the cloud: transcription providers such as Deepgram and Assembly, and AI providers such as OpenAI and Anthropic for notes.1 Data is hosted on AWS in the US; no regional data residency today.2 | On your Mac, with local AI. No cloud AI required. |
| Your audio | Not retained: cached for transcription, then deleted.2 | The recording is kept as a file on your Mac, so you can replay it. |
| Training | Granola trains its own models on anonymized data by default, with an opt-out in settings; Enterprise is opted out by default.1,4 | Recordings and notes stay on your devices in the local workflow. |
| Notes and transcripts | Kept until you delete them, unless you set an auto-deletion period. The free Basic plan shows 30 days of history.2,5 | Files in a folder you choose on your Mac. |
| Offline | Transcription needs a live connection. Existing notes open offline. The Watch records offline and syncs later.2,3,7 | Recording and playback work offline. Transcription works offline after the model download. |
| Platforms | macOS, Windows, iOS, Android and Apple Watch; the web app views notes but does not transcribe.7 | Apple Watch, iPhone or Mac records; a Mac with Apple silicon M3 or later, 24 GB of memory and macOS 26 or later runs the AI. |
| Price | Basic: free. Business: $14 per user per month. Enterprise: $35 per user per month.5 | Locus (free), or Locus+ at $9/month or $99/year (Apple subscription, 14-day free trial). Available at launch. No payment now. |
| Compliance claims | SOC 2 Type II and GDPR. HIPAA and a BAA on Enterprise only.2,6 | No HIPAA claim today. |
| Recording consent | Your responsibility, per Granola’s FAQ.2 | Your responsibility. Ask the room first. |
03
When Granola is the better fit.
An honest comparison says where the other product wins.
- You use Windows or Android, or you do not have a Mac that meets Locus’s requirements.
- You want company admin controls such as SSO, SCIM and an audit API (Granola Enterprise).
- You need HIPAA support and a BAA now. Granola offers them on Enterprise; Locus makes no HIPAA claim today.
- You need it today. Locus is coming soon.
04
When Locus is the better fit.
- You meet in person and want the recording, transcript and notes made on your own devices, not by cloud providers.
- You want the AI on your own Mac, with no cloud transcription, for online calls and meetings in the room alike.
- You want to keep the audio and replay the moment, not only read the notes.
- You want files you own, in a folder you choose, ready for Obsidian.
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