The best open source alternatives to Granola for AI meeting notes

Granola has become one of the better AI meeting note apps because it does not add a bot to every call. It records the meeting audio from your computer, combines the transcript with any notes you type, and turns both into a clean meeting summary.

It feels less intrusive than the usual meeting bots. It also works more like a notepad than a call recorder.

But Granola is still a closed, cloud-based service. Your meetings pass through systems you do not control, the product requires a paid plan for full use, and you cannot inspect or change how it handles your data.

Open-source meeting tools now offer a real choice. Some run the whole process on your computer, including audio capture, transcription and summaries. Others let you use your own AI provider or host the full system on your own servers.

None matches every part of Granola’s polish. But several now cover its main job well enough to replace it.

The short answer to free Granola alternatives

• If you want the closest open-source alternative to Granola, start with Anarlog.

• If you want a simple local meeting assistant across Windows, macOS and Linux, try Meetily.

• If you use an Apple Silicon Mac and also want system-wide voice typing, look at Muesli.

• If you want a fully local command-line tool, use ownscribe.

• If you need a self-hosted meeting bot and API for a team or product, use Vexa.

Tool	Best for	Platforms	Bot-free	Local transcription	Licence
Anarlog	Closest Granola replacement	Desktop releases	Yes	Yes	MIT
Meetily	Simple private meeting notes	macOS, Windows, Linux	Yes	Yes	MIT
Muesli	Mac meetings and voice typing	macOS	Yes	Yes	MIT
ownscribe	Technical users who want full local control	Best on macOS	Yes	Yes	MIT
Vexa	Teams, developers and self-hosting	Server-based	No	Self-hostable	Apache 2.0

1. Anarlog: the closest open-source Granola alternative

Anarlog makes its target clear: its GitHub description calls it an “open-source AI meeting notetaker” and even describes the name as “Granola, rearranged.”

It follows much of the same product model. You open the app, join a meeting and let it capture the audio without sending a visible bot into the call. It transcribes the meeting on your device and saves each note as a Markdown file on your computer.

You can then use OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, OpenRouter, Ollama, LM Studio or another compatible model to create the final summary. If you use Ollama or LM Studio with a local model, you can keep both transcription and note generation on your own machine.

The use of plain Markdown files matters. You can open the notes in any text editor, search them with standard tools and sync them through iCloud, Dropbox, Syncthing or Git. You do not need to keep paying for one service merely to retain access to your own meeting history.

Anarlog also has no required account and no built-in tracking, according to its project page. It uses an MIT licence, so developers can inspect, change and reuse the code.

The main weakness is that the team behind the project has shifted much of its product work to another app called Char. The developers say Anarlog remains maintained, and its GitHub releases were still active in July 2026, but users should not assume that it will develop at the same pace as a well-funded paid product.

Best for: Individuals who like Granola’s bot-free workflow but want local files, local transcription and the right to choose their own AI model.

Download: Anarlog on GitHub

2. Meetily: the best choice for a simple local setup

Meetily records, transcribes and summarises meetings on your computer. Its community version is open source under the MIT licence and supports macOS and Windows through downloadable installers. Linux users can build it from source.

Unlike Granola, Meetily can run without sending the audio or transcript to an outside service. It supports Whisper and Parakeet for local speech recognition. For summaries, you can use Ollama on your device or connect Claude, Groq, OpenRouter or an OpenAI-compatible service.

Meetily also offers real-time transcription, which lets you view the text while the meeting takes place. You can import old audio files and turn them into transcripts and notes as well.

This makes Meetily one of the more useful choices for people who do not want to assemble several tools. Install the app, download a speech model and start recording.

There is, however, a split between its free community version and Meetily Pro. The paid version includes some of the more advanced export, accuracy, summary and team features. “Open source” does not mean that every feature the company builds will appear in the free version.

The interface also lacks some of Granola’s polish. Local models may take time to download, use several gigabytes of storage and place a real load on an older computer.

Best for: People who want a private desktop meeting assistant without dealing with code or servers.

Download: Meetily on GitHub

3. Muesli: meeting notes and voice typing in one Mac app

Muesli combines two products that users often pay for separately: a Granola-style meeting recorder and a Wispr Flow-style voice typing app.

During a meeting, it records your microphone and the other participants through system audio. It transcribes the audio on the Mac and can tell apart speakers. Once the call ends, you can create structured notes through OpenAI, OpenRouter, a ChatGPT subscription or a local Ollama model.

Outside meetings, you can hold a keyboard shortcut, speak and have the resulting text inserted into the app you are using.

Muesli runs its speech recognition on Apple Silicon. This offers good speed and keeps raw audio on the device, but it also limits who can use it. It needs macOS 14.2 or later and an Apple Silicon Mac. Windows, Linux and older Intel Mac users must look elsewhere.

It also supports several speech models rather than forcing everyone to use the same one. That gives technical users more control, including models suited to different languages. But the number of settings may confuse people who only want to press one button and get a summary.

Muesli is a strong choice if you already use both meeting notes and voice typing. Replacing two paid apps with one local tool gives it a clear edge.

Best for: Apple Silicon Mac users who want both meeting transcription and system-wide dictation.

Download: Muesli on GitHub

4. ownscribe: full privacy without a desktop interface

ownscribe is a command-line meeting transcription and summary tool. It records system audio and your microphone, transcribes the meeting with WhisperX, can identify different speakers and creates structured notes with a local language model.

The full process can stay on your machine. Audio, transcripts and summaries do not need to leave it. ownscribe includes a local Phi-4-mini model for summaries and also supports Ollama, LM Studio and other services that use the OpenAI API format.

It offers some features that even many paid meeting apps handle poorly. You can create your own summary templates, ask questions across past meeting notes and automatically stop a recording after a set period of silence.

The catch is obvious: this is not a consumer app. You need Python, FFmpeg and some comfort with a terminal. System audio capture works best on macOS 14.2 or later. Other systems need an outside audio source or more setup.

For a developer, researcher or privacy-conscious user, this may not matter. For a sales manager who wants a polished calendar-linked app, it will.

Best for: Technical users who value control and privacy more than design.

Download: ownscribe on GitHub

5. Vexa: an open-source meeting system for teams and developers

Vexa belongs in a different class. It is not a direct desktop replacement for Granola. It is a self-hosted meeting bot and transcription API.

The bot can join Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Jitsi calls, then stream a transcript with speaker labels through an API. A company can host the system, connect its own models and keep the resulting meeting records in its own systems.

Vexa suits a team that wants to build meeting notes into an internal tool, customer research system, sales product or knowledge base. Developers can use its live transcript stream instead of building their own meeting bots for each video platform.

That power comes with cost and work. The full setup uses Docker and targets Linux servers. Its project notes recommend at least eight virtual CPU cores and 16 GB of memory for the main stack. A smaller setup exists, but this is still infrastructure, not a simple app download.

Vexa also places a visible bot in the meeting, so it does not match Granola’s discreet, bot-free design.

Best for: Companies that need a meeting transcription API and want to host the system themselves.

Download: Vexa on GitHub

Which one should you choose?

For most Granola users, the real choice comes down to Anarlog and Meetily.

Choose Anarlog if you want the closest match to Granola’s workflow. It records without a bot, saves notes as Markdown and lets you bring your own model.

Choose Meetily if you want wider operating-system support and a simpler local meeting assistant.

Choose Muesli if you use a recent Mac and want to replace both Granola and a voice typing app.

Choose ownscribe if you want a fully local setup and do not care about having a polished interface.

Choose Vexa only if you need to run meeting transcription for a team, a company or a product.

The limits of open-source meeting tools

Open-source does not always mean free to run.

Local transcription needs storage, memory and processing power. Large speech models may perform poorly on old laptops. If you connect an outside language model for summaries, that provider may receive your transcript and charge for its use.

Self-hosting also shifts the work to you. You must install updates, secure the server, store backups and fix failures. Granola charges for removing that work.

You should also check the recording laws that apply to the people on a call. Running the software locally changes where the data goes; it does not remove the need to inform people when the law or company rules require it.

Final verdict

Anarlog is the best open-source Granola alternative today. It comes closest to the same bot-free meeting note flow while giving users local transcription, plain files and control over the AI used for summaries.

Meetily is the safer choice for people who want a simple local app across more than one operating system. Muesli makes the most sense for Mac users who also need voice typing.

The open-source options still need more setup and offer less polish than Granola. In return, they give you something paid meeting apps rarely do: direct control over where your recordings, transcripts and notes live.