Grain vs Wudpecker (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Grain and Wudpecker share a 2.6 GPA, both have a free plan and their prices can't be set side by side, so the choice depends on whether you care more about features and ease of use, where Grain grades higher, or the free plan and platforms, where Wudpecker does.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on value for money.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Grain
AI notetaker with free viewer seats and shareable call clips
Wudpecker
Meeting notetaker with instructions for how your notes are written
Which one is for you
Pick Grain if
- Fits if a few of you record calls and the rest only watch, since viewer seats are free
- Works for sending a clip of a customer call to someone who wasn't there
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if your meetings run long and you're not paying, because free ones stop at 45 minutes and history lasts 30 days
- Not for you if you want notes on your phone, as no iPhone or Android app is listed
- Pricey if you need HubSpot, Salesforce or coaching, which start on Business at $29 a seat yearly ($39 monthly)
- Tight if you upload recordings on Starter, which allows 10 file uploads a month; free has none
- Watch out: SAML single sign-on is Enterprise only, at a price you have to ask for
Pick Wudpecker if
- Fits if you want notes in your own layout, like a sales call format or a stand-up summary
- Works for someone who sits in under 10 bot meetings a month and wants it free
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you're on Free: 10 bot meetings a month and 3 Ask AI questions per recording
- Skip it if you edit transcripts by hand, as the FAQ says you can only re-run them in another language
- Watch out: meetings are capped at 2 hours 15 minutes, and one calendar and one workspace per account
- Watch out: the FAQ says no refunds after you cancel, though access runs to period end
- Pricey if you need more than 30 bot meetings a month, since that means Pro at $32
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAGrainGood | 2.6GPAWudpeckerGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CStarter is $15 a seat a month on the yearly plan, $19 monthly, the dear end of a category starting near $10, and HubSpot, Salesforce and coaching need Business at $29. Only the people who record pay; viewers are free. | CPlus is $19 a month billed yearly and Pro $32. The category's dearer quarter starts at $15, so Plus is at the upper end for 30 bot meetings a month. |
| Free plan and trial | CUnlimited meetings with AI notes, action items and bot-free desktop capture, but every meeting is cut off at 45 minutes and only 30 days of history is kept. One ordinary hour-long call and you've met the ceiling. | BA free plan with 10 notetaker-bot meetings a month, 3 Ask AI questions per recording and unlimited in-person recording on the apps. One person with a light calendar could live on it. There is also a 2-week premium trial with no card. |
| Features | BIt covers the job: Zoom, Meet, Teams, Webex and Slack huddles with a bot or without one, notes and next steps, answers across your whole library with citations back to the recording, clips and highlight reels, and an MCP server and API. Fathom does clips and playlists too. | CNotes by instruction, a bot and bot-free recording, Ask Wudpecker, custom vocabulary and Notion, Slack and HubSpot. Gaps in the listing: meetings are capped at 2 hours 15 minutes, one calendar per account, and no manual transcript edits. |
| Ease of use | BNo rating on record, but nothing to set up: each meeting gets its summary, next steps and recap without you asking for them. | CNo store rating on record. There's a calendar to connect and instructions to write before the notes come out the way you want. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, Mac and Windows, with Slack, Zapier, Aircall, an API and an MCP server, and HubSpot and Salesforce on Business. No iPhone or Android app: the download page offers Mac and Windows only. | AWeb, Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android, with Zoom, Meet, Teams, Notion, Slack and HubSpot. |
| Best for | sharing clips of calls across a team | meeting notes written to your own instructions |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Grain and Wudpecker. How we grade
Price against what you get
Grain starts at $15 a month for each person and scores 3.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Wudpecker starts at $19 a month and scores 2.7.
Grain scores higher and starts $4 a month lower. Of the other AI meeting note takers on the chart, 15 score higher than Grain for less, and 25 score higher than Wudpecker for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
At a glance
| Grain | Wudpecker | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $15 per seat / month, billed annually | $19 per month, billed annually ($23 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | Unlimited meetings capped at 45 minutes each, AI notes and action items, 30-day meeting history, desktop capture and basic MCP access. | 10 notetaker-bot meetings a month, 3 Ask AI questions per recording, and unlimited in-person recording on the apps. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial; paid plans also carry a 30-day money-back guarantee | 2-week premium trial, no credit card needed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Grain Intelligence Inc. | Wudpecker Oy |
| Price read from | grain.com | wudpecker.io |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Grain
- The Free plan cuts each meeting off at 45 minutes, keeps 30 days of history and has no file uploads.
- HubSpot and Salesforce integrations, AI coaching and trackers need Business at $29 per seat a month on annual billing.
- Starter allows 10 file uploads a month, and SAML single sign-on is limited to Enterprise.
- Grain's download page offers desktop apps for Mac and Windows only.
Wudpecker
- Free allows 10 notetaker-bot meetings a month, Plus 30 and Pro 100; the bot stops recording past the limit.
- Meetings are capped at 2 hours 15 minutes, and one calendar and one workspace per account.
- The FAQ says transcripts cannot be edited by hand, only re-run in another language.
- The FAQ says refunds are not given after cancelling, though access runs to period end.
Key features
Grain
- Bot or bot-free capture
- The desktop app for Mac and Windows transcribes the computer's audio with no bot in the call. A bot can join instead to record video, including meetings you cannot attend.
- AI notes and action items
- Each meeting gets a summary, next steps and an automatic recap. Custom AI prompts and custom note templates are available from the Starter plan.
- Ask across meetings
- Ask questions over the whole meeting library and get answers with citations that point back to the source recordings.
- Clips and highlight reels
- Cut shareable video clips from a recording, group them into playlists or highlight reels, and share them with teammates or clients.
- MCP server and API
- AI agents can query transcripts and search across meetings. Transcripts export as Markdown or open in Claude or ChatGPT. Workspace API and advanced MCP access need Business.
- Coaching and CRM sync
- The Business plan adds HubSpot and Salesforce integrations, AI coaching, trackers and team interaction metrics for sales and customer success teams.
Wudpecker
- Instruction-based notes
- You tell Wudpecker the structure, details and language for the notes, and it can turn text into tables.
- Notetaker bot and bot-free recording
- A bot joins Zoom, Meet and Teams meetings; desktop apps on Mac and Windows and phone apps record without one.
- Ask Wudpecker
- A chat assistant for questions about meeting discussions; capped at 3 questions per recording on Free, unlimited on Plus.
- Custom vocabulary
- Set how special names and words are spelled so they are written the same way in later meetings.
- Sharing and collections
- Group calls into collections, share notes with another Wudpecker user or send a view-only link.
- Notion, Slack and HubSpot
- Plus and Pro connect meeting notes to Notion, Slack and HubSpot; more CRMs are listed as beta.
Plans
Grain
Free$0
Unlimited meetings with a 45-minute limit, AI notes and action items, 30-day meeting history, desktop capture and unlimited notetaker seats.
Starter$15
per seat / month, billed annually ($19 billed monthly)
Unlimited meeting duration and history, custom AI prompts, admin controls, teams, Slack, personal Zapier and API access, and 10 file uploads a month.
Business$29
per seat / month, billed annually ($39 billed monthly)
Adds HubSpot and Salesforce integrations, AI coaching, trackers, team interaction metrics, custom AI follow-up emails, unlimited uploads and a workspace API.
EnterpriseCustom
Everything in Business, plus SAML-based single sign-on, priority API support, custom invoices and a dedicated customer success manager.
Wudpecker
Free$0
10 notetaker-bot meetings a month, 3 Ask AI questions per recording, 39 languages, sharing and custom templates.
Plus$19
per month, billed annually ($23 billed monthly)
30 bot meetings a month, unlimited Ask AI questions, auto-join rules, bot name and message, Notion, Slack and HubSpot.
Pro$32
per month, billed annually ($40 billed monthly)
Everything in Plus, for 100 notetaker-bot meetings a month.
Ways to pay less
Grain
- Annual discount
Lower per-seat price on annual billing
At listed prices Starter costs $180 a year ($15 a month) instead of $19 a month, and Business $348 a year ($29 a month) instead of $39 a month, per seat.
Wudpecker
- Annual discount
Save 20% with annual billing
Wudpecker's pricing page shows annual billing at 20% off: Plus $19 instead of $23 and Pro $32 instead of $40 a month.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Grain or Wudpecker?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Grain starts at $15 per seat / month, billed annually, and Wudpecker starts at $19 per month, billed annually ($23 billed monthly). One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, Grain or Wudpecker?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Grain and Wudpecker have a free plan.
Which platforms do Grain and Wudpecker run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Wudpecker lists iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app and macOS and Windows apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.