Nuts.

Another AI free trial is ending. This time it’s a tool I use frequently to capture meeting notes; Granola.

I signed up for a free trial of its Business Plan months ago. I love the tool, as do many others. Understandably, owners have decided to monetize the audience they built.

And while I understand why they’re doing it, now I have another AI decision to make. Do I pay $14 a month to stay on the Business Plan or not?

Because this took me some time to think through, and because maybe you’re wrestling with a similar conundrum, here’s how I figured out where I would land.

Spoiler: I’m not paying.

My Decision Framework

You might not use Granola. Maybe it’s ChatGPT. Or Gemini. Or a productivity app a colleague swears by.

Doesn’t matter. The framework works for any subscription you’re questioning; AI or otherwise.

Question 1: What problem does the AI tool solve for me?

Granola solves several problems for me.

It keeps my conversations private. Granola never saves the meeting audio it uses to generate transcripts and notes. It never allows a third-party LLM to train on my meeting data. Plus it lets me opt out of using my data to train its own models which gives me great confidence to use it in client meetings.

Also, Granola lets me focus fully on important conversations knowing I can go back later and chat with the notes. I can ask it questions about what a client did or did not want.

Question 2: Do I already have something which does 80% of this?

No, I don’t.

Granola stands out for its ease of use and straightforward execution. Its transcripts are very good, and I can edit them right in the tool if I need to change spelling, etc.

I also appreciate being able to refer back to its notes after meetings, and the one-click integration with Notion works well.

Question 3: Will my workflow suffer materially if I don’t pay the subscription fee?

This took the most time to figure out. Thankfully, Granola’s AI support bot helped me understand what I lose if I don’t pay the $14 each month:

• Extended memory. Free plan only goes back 7 days instead of 30 days.
• Notion integration which saves notes to my system.
• Chat with notes after 7 days.

But here’s is what I do get on the free Basic Plan:

• Access to notes in the platform for 7 days. That’s plenty of time to work with them.
• Ability to copy the text of notes and meeting transcript. I can export them manually to Notion.
• The core utility I actually need

My decision: The free plan gives me 80% of the value. Because the paid features are “nice to have” not “can’t live without,” I’ll stay on the free Basic plan.

In this case, good enough works.

Red Flags To Consider

Sometimes, though, good enough isn’t. Here are a few deal breakers to keep in mind as you work through the decision framework:

• You don’t remember the last time you used the service
• You keep thinking “I should really start using this thing”
• You’re paying in case I need it someday

I’ve written before about Shiny Object Syndrome and the temptation to chase new tools. This framework is one way I resist that pull.

Because you worked too hard for the money in your bank account, don’t fritter it away on “shoulda” or “coulda.” Only pay for the AI tools you really need.

If any of these red flags sound familiar, you know what to do: cancel the paid subscription.

How You Can Use This

These are the questions I use for any subscription tool decision. It’s not limited to AI, but because so many new tools seemingly launch every day, I wanted to share this construct with you to help.

Save this post.

Screenshot these three questions:

1. What problem does the AI tool solve for me?
2. Do I already have something which does 80% of this?
3. Will my workflow suffer materially if I don’t pay the subscription fee?

Then, next time you get a trial-ending notification, run through and answer these questions to make sure your AI tools work for you instead of just taking up space on your credit card statement.