Bee: Wearable AI device that captures spoken conversations and turns them into transcripts, summaries, and reminders. Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Bee when capturing in-person meetings and follow-up action items hands-free matters most, and Buzz when generating subtitles for video content in multiple formats matters most. Try them side by side on real calls before deciding — needs vary by team.
Wearable AI device that captures spoken conversations and turns them into transcripts, summaries, and reminders.
Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper.
Bee is a wearable personal AI device, now part of Amazon, that continuously captures the conversations happening around the wearer and processes them into transcripts, segmented summaries, suggested to-dos, and timely reminders. The hardware uses dual microphones with noise filtering and is designed to be worn as a wristband or clipped to clothing, with a button press to start and stop capture and an LED indicator to show when it is recording. Captured audio is processed by AI that segments discussions, identifies commitments, and surfaces personal insights over time, rather than leaving the user with a raw recording to comb through. Recordings sync to a companion mobile app on iOS and Android, with Apple Watch support, where users can review their day's conversations, search past discussions, and manage what is stored. Bee supports dozens of languages and emphasizes that only the user can access their own transcripts and summaries. It is aimed at professionals and individuals who want hands-free, in-person meeting and conversation capture without reaching for a phone or laptop. 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
Bee 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 | Bee | Buzz |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Wearable device with dual microphones and noise filtering | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper |
| Standout feature | Automatic transcription with segmented, per-section summaries | Real-time transcription from microphone input |
| Team usage | Suggested to-dos and reminders extracted from conversations | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio |
| Integrations | Companion app on iOS, Android, and Apple Watch | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT |
| Languages & capture | Multi-language support across dozens of languages | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface |
| Best-fit workflow | On-button capture control with recording indicator | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan |
Bee
Choose Bee if you need capturing in-person meetings and follow-up action items hands-free — strengths include hands-free in-person capture without needing a phone or laptop.
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.
Bee
Buzz
It depends on your workflow. Bee is strong for capturing in-person meetings and follow-up action items hands-free, while Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Bee 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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