FAQ

What Founders Ask

CRM overlap and data location first, then everything else about the app.

Is this a CRM?: No. It is the notebook next to your CRM. Grape holds the conversations and the thinking, and you keep pipeline data wherever your team already tracks it.
Can I keep everything on my own machine?: Yes. The database is local by default and sync is opt in. If you want AI without a hosted provider, point Grape at a local model.
What is Grape, in one paragraph?: Grape is a note app for Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android with AI built into the middle of it rather than bolted on the side. You write, record and collect things the normal way, and then you can search by meaning, ask questions about your own notes, and turn any note into a summary, a set of flashcards, a quiz or a mind map.
What makes it different from other note apps?: Most note apps treat AI as an extra panel. In Grape the agent works on your workspace: it can read, create, edit, move, tag and delete notes, and every answer points back to the note it came from. Semantic search, voice transcription, flashcards, quizzes, mind maps and the drawing canvas all live inside the editor rather than in separate tools.
Where do my notes actually live?: On your device, in a local database, and you can choose where that file sits. Nothing needs to leave your machine for the app to work. If you turn on sync with a Sync or Pro plan, your notes are also stored in the cloud so your devices can stay in step. On Lifetime they sync through your own Dropbox or Google Drive instead, and Grape never sees them.
Do I need an account to use it?: No. Download the app and start writing. You only need an account for the paid plans, which is where cross device sync and built in AI come in.
What does the free plan actually include?: Unlimited notes, folders and tags, the full editor, the drawing canvas, attachments and voice recording, from the iPhone Lock Screen too, plus flashcards, quizzes, mind maps and slide decks you make by hand, with no account and no time limit. Version history, daily backups, import and export come with any paid plan, and the AI features are on the Pro and Lifetime plans.
What AI features are included?: AI chat with the agent that reads and edits your notes, semantic search across everything you have written, AI web search, voice transcription, images generated in the chat and put into a note, a note turned into flashcards, a quiz, a mind map, a slide deck or an infographic poster, and mini apps the AI writes into a note from a description, all on the Pro and Lifetime plans, along with memory and personalization. On Lifetime the poster and the images are drawn with your own image model. Flashcards, quizzes, mind maps and slide decks can also be made and edited by hand, on every plan. Pro also tells the speakers in a recording apart, turns a note into a short narrated video, and runs routines: work Grape AI or your agents do on their own at the times you set, on Grape servers.
Can I use my own AI keys instead of paying for Grape AI?: Yes. Grape works with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Groq, DeepSeek, Grok, OpenRouter, Ollama and LM Studio, plus any OpenAI compatible endpoint you add yourself. Bring your own keys on the Pro or Lifetime plan, or use built in Grape AI on Pro and skip keys entirely.
What can the AI do to my notes?: Only what you ask it to. It can create, read, update, move, tag and delete notes, make and reorganise folders, search your library, search the web, generate an image and put it in a note, and empty the recently deleted folder. Every one of those actions happens in your workspace, so you can undo it or roll a note back through version history.
Does the AI remember things about me?: On Pro, yes. When you mention a lasting fact in chat, like your job or the thing you are building, the agent saves it as a short sentence and reads the list in every later chat. The list is in Settings under Personalization, where you can edit or delete any entry, and one switch turns memory off completely.
Can ChatGPT or Claude use my Grape notes?: On Pro, yes. Grape has an MCP server, so ChatGPT, Claude and any other AI app that supports MCP can search, read, create, edit, move and delete your notes and folders once you connect it to your Grape account. A delete only moves a note to Recently Deleted, a locked note is never within its reach, and removing the connection in the AI app ends it straight away.
Can I save web pages into Grape?: Yes. The Chrome extension clips the article you are reading, the text you highlighted or just the bookmark into the desktop app, with the images downloaded and the source noted under the title. On iPhone and Android, Grape is in the share sheet, so a page shared from Safari or any other app lands as the same kind of note.
Can I share photos, PDFs or recordings to Grape from my phone?: On iPhone, yes. A file shared to Grape arrives as an attachment in a new note, in the folder you pick in the sheet. On Android the share sheet takes links and text.
Can I get my notes out again?: On any paid plan, any time: export a single note or your whole library as Markdown, HTML or PDF. The underlying database is a file on your disk on every plan, so nothing holds your writing hostage.
Does it work offline?: Writing, reading, organising, drawing and recording all work with no connection at all. The AI features need the internet, unless you point Grape at a local model with Ollama or LM Studio.
Which platforms does it run on?: Desktop apps for macOS, including older Intel Macs, Windows, and Linux as a Debian package for x64 and arm64. Mobile apps for Android on Google Play and for iPhone on the App Store.
What is the Sync plan?: Sync is the cheapest paid plan, at $4.99 a month, for people who want their notes on every device and no AI. It keeps notes, drawings, attachments, tags and settings in step across your laptop and your phone with 10 GB of attachment storage, lets you share folders and notes with other people on Sync or Pro, with their edits merging into yours when the apps sync, and brings import and export, plus version history and daily backups, which stay on each device rather than in the cloud. Nothing in it uses AI, hosted or with your own keys. Pro includes everything in Sync with 100 GB of storage and adds live typing in shared notes, Grape AI, the iPhone widgets and the themes on top.
What is the difference between Pro and Lifetime?: Pro is monthly and includes Grape AI with no keys to manage, cross device sync through Grape Cloud, sharing with live typing, speaker identification, Brainrot videos and routines. Lifetime is a single payment that unlocks AI chat, the agent, search, transcription, memory and personalization, AI flashcards, quizzes, mind maps and slide decks, mini apps, infographics and AI images using your own API keys, plus the iPhone widgets and the themes, and keeps your devices in step through your own Dropbox or Google Drive. It comes without built in Grape AI, without sharing and without the things drawn on Grape servers.
How does cross device sync work?: Sync is part of the Sync and Pro plans and it is off until you turn it on. Once it is running, notes, drawings, flashcards, quizzes, mind maps, mini apps, attachments, tags, chats and settings stay in step across every device you sign in on. Your local copy stays on each device, so everything still works offline. On Lifetime your devices sync through your own Dropbox or Google Drive instead: connect it in Settings under Cloud Sync on each device, and your notes go straight from your devices to your storage without passing through Grape.
Can I bring notes in from another app?: Apple Notes has a direct import, and so does a folder of Markdown files, which covers Obsidian, Bear and most other apps. Subfolders come across as folders, and pasted Markdown keeps its formatting too.
Does Grape have a drawing feature?: Yes. There is an infinite drawing canvas inside the note itself, with freehand drawing, shapes and dark mode. Sketches sit in the note next to the writing they belong with rather than in a separate file.
Can I write by hand?: Yes, on an iPad with an Apple Pencil, and on a phone with a finger. Turn on Handwriting notes in Settings under Notes and the new note button offers a notebook of ruled pages. The writing is read back into text on the device, so a handwritten page turns up in search and the agent can read it, and the same pages open on the desktop app.
What file types can I add to my notes?: Drag or paste images, audio files and PDFs straight into a note. PDFs render with page previews so you can read them in place, and Grape reads their text on your device, so search finds the words inside them and the AI answers from what they say. Audio can be transcribed with AI.
Can I organise notes with tags?: Yes. Type a hash anywhere in a note and pick or create a tag, with autocomplete so you do not end up with three spellings of the same idea. Tags cut across folders, and the agent can read and create them for you.
Does Grape keep a version history?: Yes. Every note keeps earlier versions on your device, never in the cloud, so you can roll back to any previous draft. Anything the AI changes is a normal note change, which means it can be rolled back the same way.
Can I see how my notes connect to each other?: Yes. Link notes to each other and graph view maps the connections across the whole library. Individual notes can also be turned into a mind map, and note stats show how your writing is spread out.
Can I paste Markdown into a note?: Yes. Pasted Markdown converts to rich text, with headings, lists, tables, horizontal rules and the rest of the usual formatting kept intact.
How good is the transcription?: Good enough to search, quote from and work with, and worth checking before you publish a specific line. Names and technical vocabulary are the usual weak spots. On Pro a recording with several people in it can be split by speaker, with names typed in for the voices; it hands over at the end of a sentence, so read the handovers too.
How long can a recording be?: There is no fixed cap. Grape cuts anything longer than four minutes into parts, sends a few at a time and stitches what comes back into one transcript. On Pro a single recording can run to about six and a half hours, and a month of Grape AI holds about 33 hours of transcription. With your own OpenAI key the only limits are the ones your provider sets. Splitting a recording by speaker works on recordings up to about an hour and three quarters.
What happens if I stop paying?: The app keeps working on the free plan and your notes stay exactly where they are, in the local database on your device. Export and backups are part of the paid plans, so take an export before the subscription ends if you want your notes as files.
Can my team share a workspace?: Yes, a folder or a note at a time. On the Sync or Pro plan you share a folder, with its subfolders and notes, or a single note, and invite people by email to edit it or only read it; they join on Sync or Pro too. Edits from several people merge, so nothing is overwritten. On Pro the people in a note see each other type as it happens, each at a cursor with their name on it; on Sync the edits arrive when the apps sync.
Can I delete everything?: Yes. You can wipe all local data from settings at any time. Because the database lives on your device, deleting it means it is gone, so take a backup first if you might want it later.
Is Grape open source?: No. The source is not public, but nothing is locked in: the database is a plain file on your disk, and every paid plan exports the whole library as Markdown, HTML or PDF.

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