Aqua Voice: Aqua Voice is an AI-powered, system-wide voice dictation app that turns speech into refined text in real time across the apps you already use on Mac and iPhone. Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. We compare them on cost, capture approach, and day-to-day fit so you can choose faster.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Aqua Voice when dictating emails, documents, and slack messages hands-free across desktop apps matters most, and Buzz when generating subtitles for video content in multiple formats matters most. Trial each on a few real meetings before you commit — the better fit usually shows fast.
Aqua Voice is an AI-powered, system-wide voice dictation app that turns speech into refined text in real time across the apps you already use on Mac and iPhone.
Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper.
Aqua Voice is an AI dictation tool built by Aqua Voice, Inc. (a Y Combinator startup) that converts spoken words into written text in real time. Rather than a standalone transcription window, it works system-wide: users hold a key (such as Space) and speak, and the dictated text is inserted into whatever app is in focus, including Gmail, Google Docs, Slack, code editors, and AI chat tools. It runs on macOS and iOS, with the iPhone app now live. Aqua is powered by Avalon, the company's proprietary speech-to-text model trained on prompt-style speech, code, and email, and it refines grammar and phrasing as you talk. It supports context awareness of on-screen content, a custom dictionary for technical terms and names, natural-language editing commands ("make this a list," "rephrase that"), style adaptation, and multilingual input across dozens of languages. It is aimed at developers, knowledge workers, and content creators who want a faster alternative to typing for emails, documents, messages, prompts, and code.
Best suited for
Buzz is a widely used open-source desktop application that transcribes and translates audio offline on the user's personal computer, powered by OpenAI's Whisper. It is MIT-licensed and actively maintained, with v1.4.4 released in March 2026, and it has grown a large community with roughly 19.7k GitHub stars. Buzz runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux, with installation options including Flatpak, Snap, and PyPI. It supports both importing existing audio and video files and real-time transcription from microphone input, and it can export results in formats such as TXT, SRT, and VTT for subtitling and documentation. The app includes an advanced transcript viewer with search and playback controls, a watch folder for automatically transcribing new files, and a command-line interface for automation. It offers GPU acceleration through CUDA for Nvidia cards, Apple Silicon support, and Vulkan for many other GPUs, which makes faster transcription practical even on laptops. Buzz also provides speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio, plus a plugin system that adds capabilities like AI-generated summaries. Because all processing happens locally, recordings and transcripts remain on the user's machine rather than being uploaded to a cloud service. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Aqua Voice is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Aqua Voice | Buzz |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | System-wide dictation that inserts text into any focused app (Gmail, Docs, Slack, code editors, AI chats) | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper |
| Standout feature | Avalon proprietary speech-to-text model tuned for technical vocabulary, code, and prompt-style speech | Real-time transcription from microphone input |
| Team usage | Custom dictionary for names, brands, and technical terms | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio |
| Integrations | Natural-language editing commands like 'make this a list' or 'rephrase that' mid-dictation | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT |
| Languages & capture | Context awareness of on-screen content, including code syntax | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface |
| Best-fit workflow | Multilingual input across dozens of languages | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan |
Aqua Voice
Choose Aqua Voice if you need dictating emails, documents, and slack messages hands-free across desktop apps — strengths include low-friction, system-wide voice input that works inside existing apps with no per-app setup.
Buzz
Choose Buzz if you need transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline — strengths include fully offline so audio and transcripts stay on the user's computer.
Aqua Voice
Buzz
It depends on your workflow. Aqua Voice is strong for dictating emails, documents, and slack messages hands-free across desktop apps, while Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Aqua Voice is a free tier with paid upgrades and Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
Yes. Many teams run more than one meeting assistant when the workflows are complementary.
More head-to-head comparisons involving Aqua Voice and Buzz.
Aqua Voice: Aqua Voice is an AI-powered, system-wide voice dictation app that turns speech into refined text in real time across the apps you already use on Mac and iPhone. AskElephant: AI workflow platform for revenue teams that captures calls and meetings and automates CRM updates, handoffs, and coaching. The right pick comes down to team size, budget, and the workflows you want to automate.
Aqua Voice: Aqua Voice is an AI-powered, system-wide voice dictation app that turns speech into refined text in real time across the apps you already use on Mac and iPhone. Askmeety: A bot-free, fully on-device AI meeting notetaker for macOS that records, transcribes, summarizes, and searches your meetings locally without uploading audio to any server. We compare them on cost, capture approach, and day-to-day fit so you can choose faster.
Aqua Voice: Aqua Voice is an AI-powered, system-wide voice dictation app that turns speech into refined text in real time across the apps you already use on Mac and iPhone. Aspect: AI interview assistant that records, transcribes, and summarizes recruiting interviews, then autofills ATS scorecards. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.
Aqua Voice: Aqua Voice is an AI-powered, system-wide voice dictation app that turns speech into refined text in real time across the apps you already use on Mac and iPhone. Attendee: Open-source, self-hostable meeting bot API that sends bots into Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams to capture recordings and transcripts. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.
Aqua Voice: Aqua Voice is an AI-powered, system-wide voice dictation app that turns speech into refined text in real time across the apps you already use on Mac and iPhone. Attention: AI conversation intelligence platform that records and transcribes sales calls, scores them against frameworks, and automates CRM updates and follow-ups. The right pick comes down to team size, budget, and the workflows you want to automate.
Aqua Voice: Aqua Voice is an AI-powered, system-wide voice dictation app that turns speech into refined text in real time across the apps you already use on Mac and iPhone. Attio Call Intelligence: Attio's native call intelligence records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings and syncs every conversation to the Attio CRM automatically. The right pick comes down to team size, budget, and the workflows you want to automate.
Aqua Voice: Aqua Voice is an AI-powered, system-wide voice dictation app that turns speech into refined text in real time across the apps you already use on Mac and iPhone. AudioNotes: AI note taker for voice, audio, video, and text that records meetings and memos and turns them into structured notes and summaries. This comparison weighs them on pricing, features, and everyday workflow fit.
Aqua Voice: Aqua Voice is an AI-powered, system-wide voice dictation app that turns speech into refined text in real time across the apps you already use on Mac and iPhone. AudioPen: AudioPen records spoken voice notes, transcribes them, and rewrites the rambling speech into clear, structured text in a style you choose. We compare them on cost, capture approach, and day-to-day fit so you can choose faster.
Aqua Voice: Aqua Voice is an AI-powered, system-wide voice dictation app that turns speech into refined text in real time across the apps you already use on Mac and iPhone. AudiosTranscribe: French-focused, bot-free meeting transcription tool with European inference, summaries, action plans, and automatic audio deletion. The right pick comes down to team size, budget, and the workflows you want to automate.
Aqua Voice: Aqua Voice is an AI-powered, system-wide voice dictation app that turns speech into refined text in real time across the apps you already use on Mac and iPhone. Audiosum: AI transcription platform with Arabic dialect support that transcribes and summarizes meetings, lectures and videos. We compare them on cost, capture approach, and day-to-day fit so you can choose faster.
Aqua Voice: Aqua Voice is an AI-powered, system-wide voice dictation app that turns speech into refined text in real time across the apps you already use on Mac and iPhone. Aurelius: Research repository and insights platform for tagging interview data, surfacing themes, and keeping qualitative insights discoverable over time. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
Aqua Voice: Aqua Voice is an AI-powered, system-wide voice dictation app that turns speech into refined text in real time across the apps you already use on Mac and iPhone. Auris AI: Southeast Asia–built AI platform for transcribing audio and video, generating subtitles, and producing meeting and lecture notes across regional languages. This comparison weighs them on pricing, features, and everyday workflow fit.