Granola vs Norn
Granola is a plugin bundle for AI coding tools published by Granola. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Codex: openai-curated (openai/plugins)). Norn is an MCP server published by samad001z. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Official MCP Registry). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-15. This pair was picked by a reader, not by our comparison rule, so search engines are asked not to index the page.
Where each is published
| Marketplace |  Norn | |
|---|---|---|
| Codex: openai-curated (openai/plugins) | Listed Version: 1.0.0 Forks (GitHub): 966 Stars (GitHub): 7 446 Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| Official MCP Registry | Not listed | Listed Version: 1.2.3 Downloads/month (npm): 190 Downloads/week (npm): 31 Forks (GitHub): 0 Stars (GitHub): 3 Not marked · First seen |
Each figure is the marketplace's own and is never added up across marketplaces. A marketplace that publishes no figure shows none: no number is not zero.
The facts side by side
| Fact | Granola | Norn |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it | 1 | 1 |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | 7 446 (better) | 3 (worse) |
| Forks (GitHub) (differs) | 966 (better) | 0 (worse) |
| Last release | Not published | Not published |
| Where it runs (differs) | Remote server (mcp.granola.ai/mcp) | On your machine (@samad001z/norn-server) |
| Transport (differs) | Streamable HTTP | stdio |
| Tools it declares | Not published | Not published |
| Environment variables it asks for (differs) | Not published | 1, secrets among them: 0 |
| Parts of the bundle (differs) | 2 | Not a bundle |
| Licence (differs) | MIT | Not stated |
| Repository (differs) | github.com/openai/plugins | github.com/samad001z/norn |
| Changes in the last 7 days | 0 | 0 |
| First seen | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
| Endpoint at the last check (differs) | Responded 6 h ago | no remote endpoint we check |
Lines where the two differ have a tinted background and bold values. Where the data itself says which value is better (more marketplaces, a larger figure of the same marketplace, a fresher release, a verified mark on a marketplace that lists both), the better one is also marked green with ▲ and the worse one red with ▼. Where it runs, the transport, the tools, the settings, hooks, the bundle's parts, the licence and the week's changes are marked only as different: more or fewer is not better in itself.
What each says it does
Granola
Granola MCP connects your meeting history to ChatGPT so your assistant can pull real context from past conversations while you work. Use MCP when you're already working on something bigger: - Writing PRDs or proposals: Pull customer feedback, stakeholder input, and decisions from relevant meetings directly into your draft - Building presentations or reports: Combine insights from multiple conversations with your other research and data - Coding with context: Give your AI the project background, requirements, and technical decisions discussed in planning meetings - Strategic analysis: Merge meeting insights with documents, data, and other sources for comprehensive analysis How it works: Your AI assistant can search your Granola meetings by topic, person, company, or timeframe - then cite specific conversations in its responses. No more switching tabs to find "what the customer said" or "when we decided that." The difference: Instead of copy-pasting meeting notes into prompts, your AI pulls exactly what it need
Norn
Local-first, persistent memory for AI coding agents — remember, recall, forget, and list, over MCP.
How to run each
Granola As a Codex plugin
codex plugin marketplace add openai/pluginsNorn As a local MCP server: npm package
claude mcp add --transport stdio norn -- npx -y @samad001z/norn-serverCommands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.
Only Granola has a remote endpoint we check. How we check endpoints
Tools each declares
Neither one's marketplaces publish a list of tools, so there is nothing to compare.
Settings each asks for
The marketplaces of Granola publish no settings it asks for, so we do not compare settings.
What it can do: Granola · What it can do: Norn · Compare two other plugins
Data comes from the public marketplace file https://github.com/openai/plugins/blob/HEAD/.agents/plugins/marketplace.json. Data comes from the Official MCP Registry (registry.modelcontextprotocol.io), CC0 1.0. Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on . We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.