The Grain Insider’s Guide
Everything we know about Grain in one document: what it costs, its grades, getting a refund, getting help and what else to look at. Read it here, or keep a copy.
Grain
The Insider’s Guide
AI notetaker with free viewer seats and shareable call clips
Every plan, grade, refund rule and rival among AI meeting note takers, read from Grain’s own pages.
Made by Grain Intelligence Inc. · checked Oct 5, 2026 · toolgpa.com
Contents
- 01WelcomeWhat it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
- 02What it costsEvery plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
- 03What it doesIts main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
- 04Where it standsIts grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
- 05The alternativesThe tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
- 06Quick answersThe questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
- 07About ToolGPAWho made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it
ToolGPA put this guide together from Grain’s own pages, its app-store listings and our grades. Every fact in it is on Grain’s page too, where it is kept up to date. Checked Oct 5, 2026.
Part 01 · Overview
Welcome
What it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
2.6
GPA, above 23 of the 48 other AI meeting note takers we grade
Grain records and transcribes meetings on Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex and Slack huddles, either with a bot or through a desktop app that captures the computer's audio. It writes notes and action items, lets teams cut and share clips, and exposes transcripts to AI tools through an MCP server and API. Only people who record need a paid seat; viewers are free.
To get you started, here are 9 things to know about Grain, taken from its own pages and our grades.
No rating on record, but nothing to set up: each meeting gets its summary, next steps and recap without you asking for them.
- 1
Best for sharing clips of calls across a team
Grain records and transcribes Zoom, Meet, Teams, Webex and Slack calls with a bot or a desktop app, and lets teams cut and share clips.
- 2
Paid plans start at $15 a month for each person
As its pricing page puts it: $15 per seat / month, billed annually.
- 3
There is a free plan
Unlimited meetings capped at 45 minutes each, AI notes and action items, 30-day meeting history, desktop capture and basic MCP access.
- 4
It runs on 3 platforms
Web, macOS and Windows.
- 5
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.
- 6
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.
- 7
Ask across meetings
Ask questions over the whole meeting library and get answers with citations that point back to the source recordings.
- 8
A 2.6 GPA, above 23 of 48
That is against the other AI meeting note takers we grade, on value, the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
- 9
Keep it
To replace Grain you would be making a bot that joins your calls and turns the talk into notes. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
Grain at a glance
- Pricing
- Free plan, from $15 per seat / month, billed annually
- Free plan
- Yes
- Free trial
- 14-day free trial; paid plans also carry a 30-day money-back guarantee
- Runs on
- Web, macOS, Windows
- Made by
- Grain Intelligence Inc.
- Category
- AI Meeting Notes
- Our grade
- 2.6 GPA, good
The report card
Best for sharing clips of calls across a team
Grain records and transcribes Zoom, Meet, Teams, Webex and Slack calls with a bot or a desktop app, and lets teams cut and share clips. Only recorders pay. A recording seat is $15 a month on the yearly plan, the free plan cuts every meeting at 45 minutes and keeps 30 days, CRM links need Business at $29, and there's no phone app.
| Subject | Grade | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C | Starter 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. |
| Free plan and trial | C | Unlimited 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. |
| Features | B | It 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. |
| Ease of use | B | No rating on record, but nothing to set up: each meeting gets its summary, next steps and recap without you asking for them. |
| Platforms and integrations | B | Web, 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. |
An A is worth 4 points, a B 3, a C 2, a D 1 and an F nothing. The GPA is the average of the five.
Who Grain is for
- 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
Who it is not for
- 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
Good to know
Good for
- Teams where a few people record and everyone else only views
- Sales and customer success teams syncing calls to HubSpot or Salesforce
- Sharing clips of customer calls with people who were not there
- Feeding meeting transcripts to Claude, ChatGPT or other AI agents
Worth knowing
- 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.
Part 02 · Pricing
What it costs
Every plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
$15
A month to start, for each person. There is a free plan too
Grain has a free plan. Paid plans start at $15 per seat / month, billed annually.
Only the people who record pay; viewers are free.
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.
Enterprise
Custom
Everything in Business, plus SAML-based single sign-on, priority API support, custom invoices and a dedicated customer success manager.
The free plan
Unlimited meetings capped at 45 minutes each, AI notes and action items, 30-day meeting history, desktop capture and basic MCP access.
Trying it first
14-day free trial; paid plans also carry a 30-day money-back guarantee
Read from grain.com on Oct 5, 2026.
Ways to pay less
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.
Stated on grain.com
Part 03 · Features
What it does
Its main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
3
Places it runs: Web, macOS and Windows
AI notetaker with free viewer seats and shareable call clips. Here is what it does, as its own site describes it, and what it covers: public API, AI features, meeting notes, transcription, chat assistant, templates.
Web, Mac and Windows, with Slack, Zapier, Aircall, an API and an MCP server, and HubSpot and Salesforce on Business.
- 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.
Where it runs
- Web
- macOS
- Windows
What it works with
- Zoom
- Google Meet
- Microsoft Teams
- Slack
- HubSpot
- Salesforce
- Zapier
- Aircall
Grain is made by Grain Intelligence Inc.
Part 04 · Standing
Where it stands
Its grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
23/48
Other AI meeting note takers it is graded above
Grain's GPA of 2.6 is higher than 23 of the 48 other AI meeting note takers we grade, and level with 8.
It stands best on ease of use (B, above 20 of 48) and worst on free plan and trial (C, above 5).
Its paid plans start at $15 a month for each person, against a middle price of $10 for the category: 33 of the 47 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 3.0 out of 4. 15 tools score higher and cost less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 49 AI meeting note takers we grade, cut by the letter each got. Grain’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 13 of 48
- CFree plan and trialAbove 5 of 48
- BFeaturesAbove 10 of 48
- BEase of useAbove 20 of 48
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 6 of 48
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 48 AI meeting note takers. Further left costs less; higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Grain is the marked dot.
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
Keep it, or make your own?
Whether this is something you could build for yourself with an AI app builder, and what you would give up.
Keep it
To replace Grain you would be making a bot that joins your calls and turns the talk into notes. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
It costs $180 a year.
What you could make
- Templates: an app builder makes this well.
What you could not
- A bot that joins your calls and turns the talk into notes.
- An AI model, which you can rent by the request but not make.
- Speech turned into text you can trust.
- A real app for macOS and Windows. Something home-made would be a web page.
- It is priced for each person, which means accounts and billing for a team.
- It plugs into other products, Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams among them, and has an API.
- People on the other end: coaches. No app builder makes those.
- The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.
What this rests on. Grain’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
Part 05 · Alternatives
The alternatives
The tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
Fathom, Fireflies.ai, tl;dv, Avoma and Otter.ai
The 5 tools Grain is most often weighed against, with where each one differs from it.
- 2.8GPA
Fathom
Free plan · from $15/mo
AI notetaker for Zoom, Google Meet and Teams with a free plan.
- Only Grain lists a web app.
- Only Fathom lists an iOS app.
- 3.2GPA
Fireflies.ai
Free plan · from $10/mo
Meeting notetaker that records, transcribes and summarizes calls.
- Only Fireflies.ai lists iOS and Android apps.
- Only Fireflies.ai lists a browser extension.
- Grain also covers templates.
- 2.4GPA
tl;dv
Free plan · from $18/mo
Meeting recorder and AI notetaker for Zoom, Meet and Teams.
- Only tl;dv lists iOS and Android apps.
- Only tl;dv lists a browser extension.
- 2.6GPA
Avoma
Free trial · from $19/mo
AI meeting assistant with scheduling and sales call coaching.
- Grain has a free plan. Avoma does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Avoma lists iOS and Android apps.
- Only Avoma lists a browser extension.
- 3.0GPA
Otter.ai
Free plan · from $8.33/mo
Live meeting transcription with summaries and AI chat.
- Only Otter.ai lists iOS and Android apps.
- Only Otter.ai lists a browser extension.
- Grain also covers templates.
Part 06 · Questions
Quick answers
The questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
15
Questions, each answered in a line or two
The short version of everything above, for when you only need the answer. Each one is told in full in its part of the guide.
Is Grain free?
Grain has a free plan. Unlimited meetings capped at 45 minutes each, AI notes and action items, 30-day meeting history, desktop capture and basic MCP access.
How much does Grain cost?
Grain lists 4 plans. Free: $0.
What platforms does Grain work on?
Grain is available on Web, macOS and Windows.
Does Grain offer any discounts?
Grain publicly lists the following: Lower per-seat price on annual billing.
Does Grain have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 5, 2026. Grain is listed for Web, macOS and Windows.
Does Grain have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 5, 2026. Grain is listed for Web, macOS and Windows.
Is Grain open source?
Grain is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Oct 5, 2026.
Does Grain have an API?
Yes. Grain offers a public API, according to its own site.
What does Grain integrate with?
Grain's listing names Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack, HubSpot, Salesforce, Zapier and Aircall.
Does Grain have a free trial?
Yes. 14-day free trial; paid plans also carry a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Who makes Grain?
Grain is made by Grain Intelligence Inc.
What are the alternatives to Grain?
The closest alternatives to Grain in our directory are Fathom, Fireflies.ai, tl;dv, Avoma and Otter.ai.
How does Grain compare with other AI meeting note takers?
Grain's GPA of 2.6 is higher than 23 of the 48 other AI meeting note takers we grade, and level with 8.
Is Grain good value for money?
ToolGPA grades Grain C for value for money. Its paid plans start at $15 a month for each person, against a middle price of $10 for the category: 33 of the 47 others that charge start lower.
Could I make my own version of Grain?
To replace Grain you would be making a bot that joins your calls and turns the talk into notes.
Where this guide comes from
The prices, plans, platforms and features were read from Grain’s own pages on Oct 5, 2026, and the grades were given on Oct 10, 2026. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Grain's own pages on 5 October 2026. Also tested with a demo account on 2026-02-22.
Every tool we list gets five grades, A to F, each with its reason, and a GPA that averages them. How each is decided is at toolgpa.com/grades. This guide is ToolGPA’s own work; it is not made, paid for or approved by Grain Intelligence Inc. Prices change, so check grain.com before you buy.
Part 07 · About
About ToolGPA
Who made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it
3,189
Tools graded, in 94 categories
ToolGPA grades software the way a school report grades a pupil: five subjects, a letter for each with the reason written beside it, and a GPA that averages them. Prices, plans and platforms are read from each maker’s own pages and dated, so you always know how fresh a figure is.
Every grade, review and ranking on ToolGPA is our own judgement. No company can pay for a grade or change one. Every tool on the site has a guide like this one, free to download and pass on. It all lives at toolgpa.com.
3,189
tools graded
94
categories
426
price changes on record
579
apps priced in 12 countries
What else is on toolgpa.com
- Grain, kept up to dateEverything in this guide, with prices and grades as they are todaytoolgpa.com/tools/grain
- How grades are givenThe rules behind every letter and every GPAtoolgpa.com/grades
- Value chartsWhat each tool costs against what it scores, for every categorytoolgpa.com/charts
- CompareAny two tools side by side, plan by plantoolgpa.com/compare
- Price changesEvery price rise and cut on record, each with its sourcetoolgpa.com/price-changes
- Prices by countryWhat apps cost on the App Store in 12 countriestoolgpa.com/prices-by-country
- Pay lessEvery public discount: yearly billing, students, nonprofitstoolgpa.com/save
- Keep or makeWhich tools are worth paying for, and which you could build yourselftoolgpa.com/keep-or-make
Scan for the live page
Prices and grades as they are today
Quoting this guide?
Please name ToolGPA and link to the live page, so readers can check the figures for themselves:
ToolGPA, "Grain: The Insider's Guide", checked Oct 5, 2026. https://toolgpa.com/tools/grain
Know someone choosing between AI meeting note takers?
Send them this guide: toolgpa.com/tools/grain/guide
ToolGPA elsewhere: youtube.com/@toolgpa
See our other guides
The best-graded AI meeting note takers after Grain, each with an Insider's Guide of its own.
- AI Meeting Notes Insider's GuideEvery one of the 49 AI meeting note takers we grade, compared
- HyNote Insider's GuideAI note taker for meetings, audio, PDFs and videos3.4 GPA
- Wave AI Insider's GuideAI note taker and recorder for meetings, calls and lectures3.4 GPA
- Fireflies.ai Insider's GuideMeeting notetaker that records, transcribes and summarizes calls3.2 GPA
Choosing software? Every tool graded, every price dated.
Compare tools at toolgpa.com ›Everything in this guide is ToolGPA’s own summary of what Grain’s pages, its app-store listings and public reviews said on the dates shown. Grades are our judgement under the rules at toolgpa.com/grades. Every grade, review and ranking on ToolGPA is our own judgement. No company can pay for a grade or change one. Grain is a trademark of its owner, and this guide is not made, paid for or approved by Grain Intelligence Inc. Prices and plans change: check grain.com before you buy.