Ava: AI live captioning and transcription app for accessibility, providing real-time captions for conversations and video meetings. Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. The right pick comes down to team size, budget, and the workflows you want to automate.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Ava when real-time captioning for deaf and hard-of-hearing participants 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.
AI live captioning and transcription app for accessibility, providing real-time captions for conversations and video meetings.
Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper.
Ava is a live captioning and transcription service built primarily for deaf and hard-of-hearing users, as well as for organizations that need accessible meetings and conversations. The app captures audio from in-person conversations and from video conferencing tools, then generates real-time captions on a phone, computer, or in the meeting interface. Ava combines automatic speech recognition with an optional professional scribe service for higher-accuracy, ADA-compliant captioning, giving users a choice between fast AI captions and human-assisted transcription. Features include color-coded speaker identification so users can follow who said what, support for many languages, and stored transcripts and summaries after a conversation ends. Through its Ava Connect integration, the service connects with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, and it is available across mobile (iOS and Android), web, and desktop (Windows and Mac). Ava is aimed at individuals who need accessibility support in daily conversations and meetings, as well as at educational institutions, healthcare providers, corporations, and event venues that must provide compliant real-time captioning without committing to a traditional CART contract. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
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
Ava 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 | Ava | Buzz |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Integration with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper |
| Standout feature | Real-time live captions for in-person and online conversations | Real-time transcription from microphone input |
| Team usage | Color-coded speaker identification | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio |
| Integrations | Optional professional scribe service for higher accuracy | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT |
| Languages & capture | Mobile, web, and desktop apps | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface |
| Best-fit workflow | Saved transcripts and conversation summaries | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan |
Ava
Choose Ava if you need real-time captioning for deaf and hard-of-hearing participants — strengths include strong accessibility focus for deaf and hard-of-hearing users.
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.
Ava
Buzz
It depends on your workflow. Ava is strong for real-time captioning for deaf and hard-of-hearing participants, while Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Ava 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.
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