AI Meeting Assistants & Notetakers

Grain

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Panel rating · 6 judges · How to read the stars

Category median

Sovereignty: 2 of 6 dimensions proven

0–5 in half steps. 5 means the rubric's top anchor is met on the evidence.

by Grain Intelligence, Inc. · grain.com

An AI-assisted analysis of public evidence — not a hands-on test.

Every score, rationale and verdict on this page is AI-generated. Every claim cites the source it was read from. Nothing here is a human star review — and no score can be bought. How scores are made →

Method and versions

The Management Consultant v1.0 · The Sales Team Lead v1.0 · The Works Council Chair v1.0 · The Data Protection Officer v1.0 · The IT Lead v1.0 · The Skeptic v1.0 · rubric v1 · evaluated 6 Nov 2026

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Markdown

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Grain at a glance

Vendor: Grain Intelligence, Inc.
Headquarters: Incorporated in United States source, captured 5 Nov 2026
Data hosting: Outside the EU by default; pages mention United States source, captured 5 Nov 2026
Free plan: Yes, per the vendor’s own page source, captured 5 Nov 2026
Panel verdict: The AI panel rates Grain 3/5, the mean of 6 judges. Grain is an AI meeting assistant that captures calls with a bot on Zoom, Teams, Google Meet and Webex or through botless desktop recording, producing transcripts, summaries, action items and sync to HubSpot and Salesforce. how scores are made
As of: Vendor pages captured 5 Nov 2026; evaluated by the panel 6 Nov 2026. all sources

Grain alternatives, European ones first →

Read this page as one judge. Each weighs the same scores by what they care about.

The Skeptic

Weighted verdict

Has seen "99% accuracy in 100 languages" turn a German meeting into English nonsense, a bot that joined a meeting its owner never attended and mailed the summary to every guest, and an action item no one in the room had agreed to. Asks which model wrote the summary and where it runs, whether each statement can be traced to the transcript, who told the external participants, what "we do not train on your data" covers in the DPA — and how the archive leaves.

Same scores as the panel view — this lens weights them the way this judge cares.

Scored by The Skeptic

Panel median The Skeptic This judge’s scores over the panel median. Each label opens its reasoning below.

Scores per criterion, in stars out of 5
Criterion	Panel median	The Skeptic
Recording, transcription & languages	3.5 of 5	3.5 of 5
Summaries, action items & meeting knowledge	3.5 of 5	3.5 of 5
Integrations, API & workflow	4 of 5	4 of 5
Consent, participant rights & works council	3 of 5	3 of 5
Retention, AI training & administration	3.5 of 5	3.5 of 5
European sovereignty	2 of 5	1.5 of 5
Pricing transparency	3 of 5	3 of 5

Recording, transcription & languages

How this is scored

How the conversation gets in and how faithfully it is written down: a bot that joins Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and Webex, botless capture from a desktop or mobile app, in-person meetings and phone calls, file upload, live transcription, speaker identification and names, the languages supported with German stated, meetings that switch language, custom vocabulary for names and jargon, timestamps linked to the recording, and editing of the transcript.

0 — Does not record or transcribe meetings; a note template or agenda tool without capture.

3 — A bot that joins one or two conferencing tools and produces a transcript; languages, speaker names, in-person capture and accuracy are basic or not described.

5 — A bot for Zoom, Teams and Google Meet, a desktop or mobile app for in-person meetings, file upload, speaker identification, German among the supported languages, timestamps linked to the recording, and an editable transcript.

8 — Botless capture documented next to the bot, Webex and phone or dialer calls, live transcription, mixed-language meetings handled, custom vocabulary, speaker names learned across meetings, and the transcription engine or its accuracy per language stated.

10 — Capture a regulated team relies on: every channel above with accuracy published per language and method, dialects and specialist vocabulary documented, on-device or customer-hosted transcription as an option, and how errors are corrected and fed back stated.

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The Skeptic

Bot capture on Zoom, Teams, Google Meet and Webex sits next to documented botless desktop capture, live transcripts, speaker identification by voice and custom vocabulary, with file upload on the web app and through the API — that reaches well past the mid anchors. But the captured pages give different figures for languages ("99 languages" against "100+"), German is never named, and we found no public information on phone or dialer calls, mixed-language meetings, accuracy per language, or who actually wrote which transcript beyond the speech-to-text names on the sub-processor list. 1 4 11 16

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Summaries, action items & meeting knowledge

How this is scored

What the tool makes of the transcript: summaries and minutes by meeting type with editable templates, decisions and action items with owners and due dates, summaries in the meeting's language or a chosen one, follow-up emails, clips and highlights, search across all meetings, questions answered over the archive with citations back to the transcript passage, shared team folders or channels, and the minutes exported to Word, PDF or a wiki.

0 — No summaries of any kind; only the raw transcript or recording.

3 — One generic summary per meeting; templates, action items, search across meetings and citations are basic or not described.

5 — Summaries with templates per meeting type, action items and decisions extracted, the summary language selectable with German available, search across meetings, questions answered over one or several meetings, and sharing or export of the minutes.

8 — Custom templates per team, action items with owners pushed to task tools, answers that cite and link the transcript passage they rest on, topic or keyword tracking across meetings, team libraries with permissions, and the AI models used for summaries named.

10 — Meeting knowledge a company can audit: every generated statement traceable to its source passage, hallucination handling and human review documented, summary quality by language stated, and the archive queryable through an API or MCP server with the same permissions as in the app.

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The Skeptic

Summaries, next steps and action items arrive with custom AI prompts, question-answering over the whole library "with precise citations", trackers for topics, team libraries with sharing rules, clips and stories, and the summarisation providers (OpenAI, Anthropic) are at least identifiable. What I could not trace: summary language selection with German, export to Word or PDF, and any statement of hallucination handling or human review — the citations exist, the error story does not. 1 4 9 10 12

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Integrations, API & workflow

How this is scored

How the notes reach the place where work happens: calendar connection with rules for which meetings are recorded, CRM fields filled from the call (HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Microsoft Dynamics), project and task tools, Slack and Microsoft Teams channels, Notion, Confluence and SharePoint, Zapier, Make or n8n, a documented REST API and webhooks, an MCP server for AI assistants, and browser extensions and native apps.

0 — No integrations and no export; the notes stay in the app.

3 — A calendar connection and an email or Slack summary; CRM, API and task tools are basic or not described.

5 — Google and Microsoft calendars, a native CRM integration (HubSpot or Salesforce), Slack or Teams, a task or wiki tool, Zapier or Make, and a documented API or webhooks.

8 — CRM field mapping per meeting type, several CRMs including Microsoft Dynamics or Pipedrive, a full REST API with webhooks and reference documentation, an MCP server, SharePoint or Confluence export, and recording rules per calendar or meeting type.

10 — An integration layer a company builds on: every object reachable by API with rate limits and versioning stated, granular OAuth scopes, data residency kept across integrations, and the integrations administered centrally with logs.

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The Skeptic

A versioned REST API with published rate limit (300 requests per minute per token), webhooks, OAuth2 and reference docs, plus an MCP server for Claude and ChatGPT with per-tool toggles, recording rules, Slack, Zapier, Confluence embed and HubSpot/Salesforce sync — this is an integration layer a buyer can build on. The gaps are the CRMs (no Microsoft Dynamics or Pipedrive documented) and no statement that data residency survives the integration chain. 2 4 11 12

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Consent, participant rights & works council

How this is scored

Whether every person in the meeting knows and can decide, and whether the tool can be introduced under German co-determination: a recording notice to all participants including external guests, consent or opt-out before the recording starts, a visible bot or a stated notice for botless capture, rules for when the assistant joins automatically, stopping and deleting a recording on request, per-person analytics (talk time, sentiment, engagement scores) off by default or switchable per organisation, material or a template for a works agreement (Betriebsvereinbarung, § 87 (1) no. 6 BetrVG), and support for a data protection impact assessment.

0 — Built to record people without their knowledge, or sells covert recording or individual performance scoring as a feature.

3 — A general privacy statement and a bot that appears in the participant list; notices to guests, opt-out, per-person analytics and works councils are basic or not described.

5 — A recording notice to participants by chat message, email or the bot's name, a way for a participant to stop the recording or opt out, admin rules for when the assistant joins, recordings deletable on request, and per-person analytics described with how to switch them off.

8 — Consent collected before recording starts for external participants, per-person analytics off by default or switchable per organisation, botless capture with its notice method documented, a works-council information pack or works-agreement template published, DPIA support, and the EU AI Act classification stated.

10 — Co-determination built into the product: every analytic and its granularity documented for the works council, consent and opt-out logged per participant, configuration changes logged, minimum group sizes for any team statistics, and references of works-council-approved rollouts published.

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The Skeptic

The pre-meeting consent flow is real: attendees emailed 24 hours ahead, a decline turning off auto-capture for the whole meeting, a disclaimer modal for the bot, and Zoom's native consent reporting can be leveraged. But silence is treated as consent, the recorder can click "Record anyway" against a stated preference, the whole flow is gated to Business and Enterprise and works only for bot meetings — desktop capture explicitly has no consent mechanism — with responses kept in the recorder's email inbox rather than a log; we found no public information on works-council material, a works-agreement template, DPIA support or an EU AI Act classification, and no statement that per-person analytics such as sales coaching scorecards default to off. 13 14 15 16

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Retention, AI training & administration

How this is scored

What the employer can govern: retention periods and automatic deletion of recordings, transcripts and summaries, whether audio and video can be discarded after transcription, sharing defaults and link permissions, customer content excluded from model training by contract, the AI and transcription providers named with their region and their own retention, encryption, single sign-on (SAML), SCIM, roles and workspaces, admin policies on auto-recording and sharing, audit logs, export of the whole archive, and security certifications such as ISO 27001 and SOC 2.

0 — No administration and no deletion; every user decides alone and recordings are kept indefinitely.

3 — Users can delete their own recordings and a security page exists; retention policies, model training, SSO and audit logs are basic or not described.

5 — Retention settings per workspace, customer content excluded from model training, team workspaces with roles, single sign-on, admin control over sharing and auto-recording, encryption at rest and in transit, and ISO 27001 or SOC 2 stated.

8 — Automatic deletion by policy with audio discardable after transcription, the AI and transcription subprocessors named with region and zero retention, SAML with SCIM, granular roles, audit logs, legal hold or export of the full archive, and certifications with their scope published.

10 — Governance an auditor accepts: every retention, sharing and recording policy enforceable centrally and logged, models run on the vendor's own or the customer's infrastructure as an option, audit logs exportable to a SIEM, and the deletion of every copy, including at subprocessors, documented.

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The Skeptic

Workspace-wide auto-deletion, link and team sharing rules, role-based access, SAML SSO with SCIM and audit event logs on Enterprise, SOC 2 Type II, encryption at rest and in transit, API export of recordings and transcripts, and sub-processors named with their regions — a genuine administration story, and "never trains AI with your meeting data on any plan" is at least stated publicly. I still want the auditor's pieces: audio discardable after transcription, ISO 27001, the certification's scope, deletion documented down to the sub-processors, and bring-your-own-LLM exists only as an Enterprise line item with no detail on where those models run. 4 9 11 15 16

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European sovereignty

How this is scored

Who the contracting entity and the parent company are, where recordings, transcripts, summaries, voice profiles and account data are stored and processed, which language model and transcription providers read them and where, and who the other subprocessors are (hosting, email, support, analytics and payment tools). Independently sourced by the sovereignty pipeline. A conferencing platform outside Europe that the customer already uses is part of the meeting, not counted against the notetaker; where the notetaker stores and processes the conversation is.

0 — Non-EU vendor and contracting entity, hosting unstated, subprocessors unnamed, and no data processing agreement offered.

3 — A privacy policy and a data processing agreement exist, but hosting location is unstated or non-EU and the subprocessors are not listed.

5 — EU hosting available and an EU contracting entity or EU representative, but parts of the chain (language models, transcription, email, support, payment) run through non-EU providers without a stated safeguard.

8 — EU hosting on named infrastructure, EU contracting entity, subprocessors including the AI providers listed with their locations, a data processing agreement published, and security certifications (ISO 27001, SOC 2) stated.

10 — Sovereign end to end and evidenced: European ownership, entity, hosting and every subprocessor, with transcription and language models run in Europe by European operators, data export and deletion documented, and certifications published with their scope rather than implied.

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The Skeptic

Grain Intelligence, Inc. is a Delaware corporation under California law with mandatory arbitration, "Your Data is currently hosted… in data centers located in the United States" on AWS, and every AI and transcription processor — Anthropic, OpenAI, AssemblyAI, Recall.ai — sits in the United States (Rev AI is listed for both the US and the EU). The sub-processor list is commendably transparent, which is why this is not the bottom anchor, but we found no EU hosting option, no EU entity or representative, and no published customer data processing agreement; the chain is American end to end. 5 7 9

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Pricing transparency

How this is scored

Whether a buyer can compute the real annual cost from public pages alone: price per seat and tier, what counts as a seat (every invited user, only recording users), transcription minutes or credits included, storage limits, which features (CRM integrations, API access, SSO, custom retention, EU hosting, AI credits) cost extra, the free tier and its limits, monthly versus annual billing, minimum seats and VAT.

0 — No public prices at all; every customer is a sales call.

3 — A starting price or a free tier exists, but how cost scales with seats, minutes or features is unclear.

5 — Tiers are public with their seat price and main inclusions, but at least one commonly needed piece (SSO, CRM integration, API, custom retention, EU hosting, minute or credit limits) is unpriced or "on request".

8 — Every tier priced publicly with its scaling rule (seats, minutes, credits, storage), add-ons priced, what counts as a seat stated, overage handling stated, minimum term and VAT treatment stated.

10 — Complete price computability: annual cost derivable for a given team size and meeting volume, with every add-on, overage and support fee and the cancellation and data-return terms published.

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The Skeptic

Free forever at $0 with no credit card, "$15 per month billed annually $19 billed monthly", "$29 per seat/month billed annually $39 billed monthly 2 seat minimum", and a plan matrix that states meeting-length caps, upload limits and which plans get Zapier, MCP and consent features — monthly versus annual is stated, as are the two-seat minimum and no required annual contracts. What a buyer cannot compute: Enterprise is "Contact sales", storage limits and any minute or credit meter are unpriced, overage handling and VAT treatment are unstated, and the seat definition is only half-answered by "free viewer seats" on Business. 4 13

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European sovereignty — proven facts

2 of 6 dimensions proven

Built only from facts shown on the vendor's own pages. A dimension we could not prove is left open, not scored as zero.

Legal entity	Incorporated in US	0/2 pts	7 Report an error
Hosting location	Outside the EU ⚠ unverified	0/4 pts	5 Report an error
Hosting options	Not determined	—	uncited Report an error
Open source	Not determined	—	uncited Report an error
Data processing agreement	Not determined ⚠ unverified	—	uncited Report an error
Transfer impact assessment	Not determined	—	uncited Report an error

Questions about Grain

Is Grain European?

No. whats-best.ai classifies Grain as Rest of world. Its vendor, Grain Intelligence, Inc., is incorporated in United States, per the vendor’s page captured 5 Nov 2026.

Where does Grain store data?

Grain stores customer data outside the EU by default, per the vendor’s page captured 5 Nov 2026. The vendor’s pages mention United States as hosting location, per the vendor’s page captured 5 Nov 2026.

Does Grain have a free plan?

Yes. Grain has a free plan, per the vendor’s page captured 5 Nov 2026.

What are the best alternatives to Grain?

As of 6 Nov 2026, the panel rates MeetGeek (3.5/5), Noota (3.5/5) and Jamie (3.5/5) highest among the other 14 AI Meeting Assistants & Notetakers products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is MeetGeek (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: how scores are made. The full list, with European products first: Grain alternatives.

Where this could be wrong

Evidence ages. The oldest capture behind this page is from 5 Nov 2026. Vendors change pricing and policies without notice; every fact reflects its source as of the capture date shown in the registry.
Weak sourcing — Data processing agreement. Not confirmed on the vendor’s own pages as captured.
Weak sourcing — Hosting location. The page speaks of hosting Grain's software rather than customer data explicitly, but this is corroborated by the sub-processor list showing video call recording storage with AWS in the United States.
AI can misread a source. Extraction and judgement are automated; a citation guarantees traceability, not infallibility. If something here is wrong, say so — no account needed, every report is decided within 5 business days, and accepted corrections are published.

What we left out

A claim that does not survive our checks costs us the claim, not the page. This is what was taken off this one.

4 product facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material. Know more? Tell us
3 legal facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material. Know more? Tell us
1 data fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material. Know more? Tell us
1 sovereignty dimension could not be confirmed on the vendor’s own pages and is shown as unknown. Know more? Tell us

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Sources (16)

The pages every claim on this page was read from — each one checked, dated, and kept verifiable.

1 Vendor homepage grain.com Checked 5 Nov 2026 Details →
2 Features page (product and UX teams) grain.com Checked 5 Nov 2026 Details →
3 Integrations page grain.com Checked 5 Nov 2026 Details →
4 Pricing page grain.com Checked 5 Nov 2026 Details →
5 Security / trust page grain.com Checked 5 Nov 2026 Details →
6 Privacy page (recording and sharing) grain.com Checked 5 Nov 2026 Details →
7 Terms of service grain.com Checked 5 Nov 2026 Details →
8 Privacy policy grain.com Checked 5 Nov 2026 Details →
9 Subprocessor list grain.com Checked 5 Nov 2026 Details →
10 Summaries, action items & meeting knowledge — found from sitemap support.grain.com Checked 5 Nov 2026 Details →
11 Integrations, API & workflow — found from sitemap support.grain.com Checked 5 Nov 2026 Details →
12 Integrations, API & workflow — found from sitemap support.grain.com Checked 5 Nov 2026 Details →
13 Consent, participant rights & works council — found from sitemap support.grain.com Checked 5 Nov 2026 Details →
14 Consent, participant rights & works council — found from sitemap grain.com Checked 5 Nov 2026 Details →
15 Retention, AI training & administration — found from sitemap support.grain.com Checked 5 Nov 2026 Details →
16 Retention, AI training & administration — found from sitemap support.grain.com Checked 5 Nov 2026 Details →