Question 1

What is the difference between Thaw and Granite?

Accepted Answer

Granite is a hosted vault that reads what you drop in, links it to people, places and things, answers questions with citations, and ships a new feature every few days. It is good, and it is the product we would use if Thaw did not exist. The differences are in what happens next: Thaw turns every date into an obligation with a proposed solution that the next document resolves, keeps a checkup of what should be on file and is not, holds a family and a business in one account with separate walls, and keeps the master key in a separate key service rather than on its own servers. Details below are from Granite's public pages and changelog as of September 2026 and will have changed.

Question 2

Should I stay with Granite?

Accepted Answer

Stay with Granite if: You already use its sharing, emergency access or Dropbox sync and they work for you. You want a product that has been public longer.

Question 3

Should I move from Granite to Thaw?

Accepted Answer

Move to Thaw if: You want to be told what to do and by when, with the reminder. You want to know what is missing as well as where things are. You run a business as well as a household. You care where the master key lives.

Question 4

Granite vs Thaw: How documents get in

Accepted Answer

Thaw: Connected once to email, a scanner, a Google Drive or Dropbox folder, Gmail, and your phone; documents arrive on their own from then on. Forward or drop in anything yourself, and bring the pile you have through an Evernote, paperless-ngx or folder import. Granite: Upload (PDF, images including HEIC, text), folder upload, email forwarding on the paid plan, Dropbox folder sync, an Evernote notebook import, and an iPhone app in beta.

Question 5

Granite vs Thaw: Document types

Accepted Answer

Thaw: About 120 kinds of document, a list that grows from what it sees; a kind it has never seen is proposed and filed, never "uncategorized". The UI shows plain words. Granite: More than 110 types "and growing weekly"; you can teach it a new one. Types appear as paths like medical/prescription.

Question 6

Granite vs Thaw: People & things

Accepted Answer

Thaw: Every document linked to the people, vehicles, properties and businesses it concerns. Each page shows the current facts, what is due, and what is missing for that person or thing. Granite: Pages for people, places, things and pets, with AI-assisted curation, drag-to-merge and manual linking. Auto-collections around tax years, vehicles and policies.

Question 7

Granite vs Thaw: Dates and deadlines

Accepted Answer

Thaw: Every renewal, expiry, due date and notice period becomes an item with what happens if missed and what to do, from the document itself. Resolved by the next document. Granite: Reminders on the dates it extracts, which you can mark as handled. No proposed solution, and the next document does not close the item.

Question 8

Granite vs Thaw: What is missing

Accepted Answer

Thaw: Knows what a person, vehicle, property, pet or business should have on file; lists what is missing, lapsed, expired or duplicated, worst first, with where to get it. Granite: A checklist for moving house ("Move Mode", paid), built from the vault. No standing checkup of what a person, vehicle or property should have on file.

Question 9

Granite vs Thaw: Family and business

Accepted Answer

Thaw: A family and a business in one account, kept apart, with the CPA invited to one and not the other. Business expectation sets for licenses, filings and the year-end package. Granite: Multiple vaults on the paid plan. Household types are the focus; LLC formation is among the types.

Question 10

Granite vs Thaw: Sharing and emergency access

Accepted Answer

Thaw: Members and roles per family or business, share links that expire, and emergency access that opens after a heartbeat you set, every use of it logged. Granite: Vault sharing with view or edit access, document links that expire, opt-in audited emergency access with an approval workflow and an inactivity heartbeat.

Question 11

Granite vs Thaw: Where the keys live

Accepted Answer

Thaw: Master key in a separate key service, never on our servers; every use logged. Per-account and per-document keys. Granite: Per-upload keys wrapped by a per-user key derived from a master key that, per their security page, lives in the application servers' environment.

Question 12

Granite vs Thaw: Search index

Accepted Answer

Thaw: Identifying numbers blanked before anything is indexed, and the page text behind the index stored encrypted. Granite: Search index and embeddings stored unencrypted, per their security page.

Question 13

Granite vs Thaw: Sign-in

Accepted Answer

Thaw: Passkeys first, email link fallback, no passwords. Granite: Password with magic link, Apple ID, optional TOTP; 30-day sessions.

Question 14

Granite vs Thaw: Audit log

Accepted Answer

Thaw: Only ever grows, each entry fingerprinting the one before it, kept for the life of the account. Granite: Append-only, 12-month retention, included in the export.

Question 15

Granite vs Thaw: Your own assistant

Accepted Answer

Thaw: Ask inside the app, and your own assistant (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor) can be connected and ask your documents. Granite: Access for Claude and Cursor, a Raycast extension.

Question 16

Granite vs Thaw: Price

Accepted Answer

Thaw: Free: 250 documents kept, 25 understood in full, with what you have and what is missing; Personal from $79 a year, Family $119. Granite: $99 a year, annual only, 100 GB, unlimited documents. Free: 25 documents for life, 1 GB, without Ask or email-in.

Thaw vs Granite

Stay with Granite if

Move to Thaw if

Set it up once.

	Thaw	Granite
How documents get in	Connected once to email, a scanner, a Google Drive or Dropbox folder, Gmail, and your phone; documents arrive on their own from then on. Forward or drop in anything yourself, and bring the pile you have through an Evernote, paperless-ngx or folder import.	Upload (PDF, images including HEIC, text), folder upload, email forwarding on the paid plan, Dropbox folder sync, an Evernote notebook import, and an iPhone app in beta.
Document types	About 120 kinds of document, a list that grows from what it sees; a kind it has never seen is proposed and filed, never "uncategorized". The UI shows plain words.	More than 110 types "and growing weekly"; you can teach it a new one. Types appear as paths like medical/prescription.
People & things	Every document linked to the people, vehicles, properties and businesses it concerns. Each page shows the current facts, what is due, and what is missing for that person or thing.	Pages for people, places, things and pets, with AI-assisted curation, drag-to-merge and manual linking. Auto-collections around tax years, vehicles and policies.
Dates and deadlines	Every renewal, expiry, due date and notice period becomes an item with what happens if missed and what to do, from the document itself. Resolved by the next document.	Reminders on the dates it extracts, which you can mark as handled. No proposed solution, and the next document does not close the item.
What is missing	Knows what a person, vehicle, property, pet or business should have on file; lists what is missing, lapsed, expired or duplicated, worst first, with where to get it.	A checklist for moving house ("Move Mode", paid), built from the vault. No standing checkup of what a person, vehicle or property should have on file.
Family and business	A family and a business in one account, kept apart, with the CPA invited to one and not the other. Business expectation sets for licenses, filings and the year-end package.	Multiple vaults on the paid plan. Household types are the focus; LLC formation is among the types.
Sharing and emergency access	Members and roles per family or business, share links that expire, and emergency access that opens after a heartbeat you set, every use of it logged.	Vault sharing with view or edit access, document links that expire, opt-in audited emergency access with an approval workflow and an inactivity heartbeat.
Where the keys live	Master key in a separate key service, never on our servers; every use logged. Per-account and per-document keys.	Per-upload keys wrapped by a per-user key derived from a master key that, per their security page, lives in the application servers' environment.
Search index	Identifying numbers blanked before anything is indexed, and the page text behind the index stored encrypted.	Search index and embeddings stored unencrypted, per their security page.
Sign-in	Passkeys first, email link fallback, no passwords.	Password with magic link, Apple ID, optional TOTP; 30-day sessions.
Audit log	Only ever grows, each entry fingerprinting the one before it, kept for the life of the account.	Append-only, 12-month retention, included in the export.
Your own assistant	Ask inside the app, and your own assistant (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor) can be connected and ask your documents.	Access for Claude and Cursor, a Raycast extension.
Price	Free: 250 documents kept, 25 understood in full, with what you have and what is missing; Personal from $79 a year, Family $119.	$99 a year, annual only, 100 GB, unlimited documents. Free: 25 documents for life, 1 GB, without Ask or email-in.