Granola vs Muesli: keep your meeting notes on your Mac
You were in the meeting. You should have the record. We built Muesli to transcribe calls on your Mac, keep your notes close, and let you take them anywhere. Free and open source.
Updated
A customer call, a hiring conversation, the decision that changes your roadmap. These are records you will come back to. We think keeping them on the computer you own should be straightforward. With Muesli, you get a local transcript, notes you can export, and the code behind it all.
Put your Mac to work
Your Apple Silicon Mac can handle the transcription. Muesli captures your microphone and the audio from your call, runs speech recognition locally, and saves the transcript on your machine. Once the model is downloaded, that workflow works offline. No Muesli transcription subscription.
You need an Apple Silicon Mac with macOS 14.2 or later. Some models need a newer OS. For summaries, you choose the provider: a hosted provider receives the meeting content you ask it to summarize. Optional iCloud sync moves text and sync metadata between devices; audio stays out of sync.
What changes when you leave Granola?
Both apps capture meetings without a bot. Granola uses external transcription providers and stores your notes in its encrypted cloud; it does not retain meeting audio recordings. With Muesli, the transcript starts on your Mac and is there for you to read, search and export.
Granola’s shared folders and team integrations may be part of your day. Account for those when switching. If what you need is a record of your own meetings, Muesli gives you local transcription and file exports for free. You can keep the transcript in your project folder, open it in your editor, or hand it to your coding agent.
What you get with Muesli
Make your next meeting a Muesli meeting
Install Muesli, download a meeting model, and allow microphone and system-audio access. Let everyone know you are recording, then capture your next call. You will have both sides of the conversation in one transcript.
Open the transcript, check the names and decisions, and choose Export Transcript or Export Full Meeting. Save it as Markdown or PDF. That file is yours to work with in the tools you already use.
Keep more of your work in your hands
Local files
Take your transcript into a project folder, your editor or your archive. Markdown and PDF travel well.
Open code
We publish the application source. Read how capture and storage work, follow a change, or make one yourself.
Dictation too
The same app handles your email drafts, messages and prompts. Hold your hotkey, speak, and paste at the cursor.
Where should I go next if I care about local meeting transcription?
Granola alternative guide
A feature-by-feature comparison of capture, storage and export.
Meeting notes in Muesli
Capture and review microphone and system audio.
Use meeting notes with coding agents
Read the CLI workflow and its data-access boundaries.
Granola and Muesli questions
Do both apps work without a meeting bot?
Yes. Both capture audio from your device. Bot-free capture alone does not tell you whether transcription or storage is local.
Does Muesli work offline?
Local meeting transcription works after a model is downloaded. Hosted summaries require a connection and send meeting content to your selected provider. iCloud sync is optional.
Can I get the transcript out?
Muesli exports transcripts and notes as Markdown or PDF. Granola also provides transcript access and export options; check its documentation for the current workflow.