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Microsoft Copilot vs Granola: Teams Meeting Recap or a Dedicated Notepad?

Copilot covers Teams recaps. Granola adds a bot-free notepad for users whose meetings also run on Zoom, Meet, or in person.

Reading time
4 min read
Sources
12 cited
In this piece

GILD verdict

Use Copilot's Teams recaps where people already need Copilot, and buy Granola for meetings on Zoom, Meet or in person.

The workflow
Meeting notes for people whose meetings run mostly in Teams, with some on Zoom, Meet or in person
The decisive evidence
  • ReportedThe NHS pilot attributed its reported 43 minutes a day largely to meeting notes and email summaries, and NHS England is extending Copilot to 505,000 staff, though Office Watch found the pilot's method was never published.101112
  • DocumentedGranola records device audio on any meeting tool without a bot joining, while Copilot works in Teams meetings and events.29
  • DocumentedFor 50 people, Granola Business costs US$700 a month against US$1,050 for Copilot Business, by GILD's calculation from published rates.57
  • GILD analysisGILD found no named team that has published running both, so the split rests on where each team meets.
The tradeoff
A Granola seat bought beside Copilot puts meeting content outside Purview retention, while a Copilot license bought only for meetings costs US$7 more a seat each month.
What would change the call
If most of a team's meetings move off Teams, or the team needs notes from in-person meetings, Granola becomes the main tool for that team.

Copilot is the better buy for companies that meet mostly in Teams: the NHS, GDS and DWP evaluations put meeting notes and email summaries among the largest reported savings. Granola captures computer or phone audio without a bot across Zoom, Meet, Teams, and in-person meetings, so it suits people whose meetings span tools. GILD found no named team that has published running both.

Choosing between Microsoft Copilot and Granola

Choose Microsoft Copilot if

  • Most of your meetings run in Teams, where Copilot summarizes and transcribes meetings and captures action items.
  • You want meeting content governed with the rest of Microsoft 365, under Purview retention and your existing data terms.
  • The same people also need help with mail, documents, and search, so one Copilot license covers more than meetings.

Choose Granola if

  • Your teams meet across Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, and in person, and want one set of notes for all of them.
  • You want notes without a bot joining the call, captured from device audio on desktop or mobile.
  • Meeting notes are the whole job, so a US$14 Business seat fits better than a broader assistant license.

Side by side

DimensionMicrosoft CopilotGranola
Where it capturesTeams meetings and events, where licensed participants can also ask Copilot questions during the meetingDevice audio on macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, and Apple Watch, across meeting tools and in person
PriceList prices in US dollars.Microsoft 365 Copilot US$30 per user per month paid yearly; Copilot Business US$21, with a US$18 first-year promotion through December 31, 2026Basic free, Business US$14, Enterprise US$35 per user per month
What else it doesDrafting in Word and Outlook, analysis in Excel, search across Microsoft 365, and agentsPre-meeting briefs, follow-up emails, chat across meetings, and integrations with Notion, HubSpot, Attio, and Zapier
HistoryCopilot interactions kept under Purview retention with other Microsoft 365 content30 days of history on Basic; unlimited on Business and Enterprise, with org-wide auto-deletion on Enterprise
Model trainingPrompts, responses, and Graph data are not used to train foundation LLMsUsers can opt out of model training on any plan; Enterprise opts out for the whole team
RecordingOrganizers choose Copilot during and after the meeting, which needs transcription, or only during the meeting without recording or transcriptionNo stored audio: it keeps the transcript and the user's own notes
50 people, 20 meeting hours each a month50 users each attending 20 one-hour meetings a month; list prices, taxes and discounts excluded.US$1,050 a month on Copilot Business at US$21 a seat, over an existing qualifying Microsoft 365 plan. GILD's calculation from published rates, read Oct 28, 20265US$700 a month on Business at US$14 a seat. GILD's calculation from published rates, read Oct 28, 20267
Letting people knowSet by the meeting organizer's Copilot and transcription options in TeamsA notice users can send per person, enforceable by admins on Enterprise

What practitioners report, side by side

Each product's figures come from its own practitioners, for the group you pick.

Microsoft CopilotMicrosoft−3 MixedHow this figure is made
GranolaGranola+68 Strong positiveHow this figure is made
Whose sources to count
Compare Microsoft Copilot with
  • Granola

Overall signal

All users rate Granola +68, 83 points above Microsoft Copilot at −15. Most of the gap is in praise, with 44 of Granola's 57 sources positive against 18 of Microsoft Copilot's 70. Granola has 5 negative and Microsoft Copilot 29.

The score counts the authors from all users that take a side, one vote each with their latest view, and is how far positive votes lead negative ones, per 100 votes, so Microsoft Copilot's −15 rests on votes split 18 positive, 19 mixed and 28 negative. Each of Granola's authors wrote one source here, so each source is one vote.

A lead of a fifth of the votes reads positive and a lead of half strong positive, with the same lines below zero. The dots show each source, positive, mixed, negative. Run a pilot on your team's recurring tasks to measure how often answers are used without rework.

Footprint on the AI Knowledge Work stack

They differ on five of 7 layers. Microsoft Copilot owns two that Granola does not, and Granola owns one that Microsoft Copilot does not. Coverage is each product's placement on this stack, as its product page shows it. Core is a job the product owns; Supports and Touches are jobs it helps with. Coverage says nothing about how well a product does them.

Layers where Microsoft Copilot and Granola differ
LayerMicrosoft CopilotGranola
Assist
AI assistantCoreTouches
Find
Web researchSupportsTouches
Enterprise searchCoreSupports
Create
Meeting notesSupportsCore
Analyze
Data analysisSupportsTouches
The 2 layers where they match
Layers where Microsoft Copilot and Granola match
LayerMicrosoft CopilotGranola
Create
DocumentsSupportsSupports
Automate
AutomationSupportsSupports

What practitioners praise

Among all users, Microsoft Copilot alone has five praise themes that reach 5 sources from 3 authors. Meeting Recaps and Microsoft 365 Reach lead, at 9 of 10 and 9 of 16. Granola alone has four praise themes that reach 5 sources from 3 authors. Bot-Free Capture and Note Quality lead, at 17 of 17 and 15 of 17.

What practitioners praise, All users
Praised forMicrosoft CopilotGranola
Meeting Recaps9 of 10Not a theme in its sources
Microsoft 365 Reach9 of 16Not a theme in its sources
Enterprise Data Terms7 of 9Not a theme in its sources
Agents & Cowork6 of 13Not a theme in its sources
Answer Quality4 of 16Not a theme in its sources
Bot-Free CaptureNot a theme in its sources17 of 17
Note QualityNot a theme in its sources15 of 17
Meeting MemoryNot a theme in its sources14 of 14
Your Own NotesNot a theme in its sources6 of 6

Each count is the sources that praise a theme, or raise it as a concern, out of those that discuss it. A row pairs the two products when both carry a theme under the same or an equivalent name.

A count ending in "so far" has under 5 sources from 3 authors among all users. "Not a theme in its sources" means GILD found no theme of that name in that product's sources.

What practitioners raise as concerns

Among all users, Microsoft Copilot alone has six concern themes that reach 5 sources from 3 authors. Inconsistent Output and Admin Controls lead, at 10 of 10 and 8 of 8. Granola alone has four concern themes that reach 5 sources from 3 authors. Platform Gaps and Privacy & Consent lead, at 7 of 7 and 7 of 12.

What practitioners raise as concerns, All users
Raised as a concernMicrosoft CopilotGranola
Inconsistent Output10 of 10Not a theme in its sources
Admin Controls8 of 8Not a theme in its sources
Feature Gaps8 of 8Not a theme in its sources
License Cost & Confusion6 of 7Not a theme in its sources
Oversharing5 of 5Not a theme in its sources
Low Adoption5 of 7Not a theme in its sources
Platform GapsNot a theme in its sources7 of 7
Privacy & ConsentNot a theme in its sources7 of 12
Price & Plan LimitsNot a theme in its sources3 of 7
Transcript AccuracyNot a theme in its sources2 of 7
Microsoft Copilot SignalsGranola Signals

12 sources

  1. Microsoft Learn: What is Microsoft Copilot?Official documentationlearn.microsoft.com
  2. Microsoft Learn: Manage Microsoft Copilot in Teams meetings and eventsOfficial documentationlearn.microsoft.com
  3. Microsoft Learn: Set up Facilitator in Microsoft TeamsOfficial documentationlearn.microsoft.com
  4. Microsoft: Microsoft Copilot for enterprise, plans and pricingOfficial documentationmicrosoft.com
  5. Microsoft: Microsoft Copilot for business, plans and pricingOfficial documentationmicrosoft.com
  6. Microsoft Learn: Data, privacy, and security for Microsoft CopilotOfficial documentationlearn.microsoft.com
  7. Granola pricingOfficial documentationgranola.ai
  8. Granola: Security, privacy, and how it all worksOfficial documentationgranola.ai
  9. Granola Help Center: How transcription worksOfficial documentationdocs.granola.ai
  10. GOV.UK: Major NHS AI trial delivers unprecedented time and cost savings (Oct 21, 2025)Public sourcegov.uk
  11. NHS England: 505,000 NHS staff to get new AI tools to free up time for patients (Jun 8, 2026)Public sourceengland.nhs.uk
  12. Office Watch: the NHS Copilot 43 minutes a day claim (Sep 2, 2026)Public sourceoffice-watch.com
Read the research