Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Condens: UX research platform for storing, transcribing, tagging, and analyzing user interviews in a searchable, collaborative repository. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Buzz when transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline matters most, and Condens when collaboratively analyzing qualitative data in real time matters most. Run both through a week of actual calls to see which suits your workflow.
Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper.
UX research platform for storing, transcribing, tagging, and analyzing user interviews in a searchable, collaborative repository.
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
Condens is a user research platform that helps research teams store, analyze, share, and scale customer data in one collaborative hub. It supports importing recordings, notes, and user feedback, and provides automated multilingual transcription with AI-powered speaker recognition and automated captions. For analysis, Condens offers a split-screen interface that lets researchers review raw data and tag it simultaneously, along with AI-driven pattern identification across datasets and quick generation of evidence-backed findings. All research lives in a searchable, centralized repository with cross-project insight discovery, filtering, and role-based access control for managing confidential data. Condens emphasizes real-time collaboration, allowing multiple team members to build, edit, and tag data together, and integrates with tools such as Slack, Teams, Figma, and Miro, plus whiteboard functionality for interactive sessions. Additional AI capabilities include automated bookmarking, summarization, and pattern detection across multiple studies. Positioned as a lean, practical tool for researchers who want to move quickly, Condens aims to streamline the path from interview transcripts to shareable insights without the overhead of heavier enterprise systems. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Condens is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Condens |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Automated multilingual transcription with speaker recognition and captions |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Split-screen interface for simultaneous data review and tagging |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | AI-driven pattern identification across datasets |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Searchable centralized repository with cross-project discovery |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Real-time collaborative analysis and tagging |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Integrations with Slack, Teams, Figma, and Miro plus whiteboards |
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.
Condens
Choose Condens if you need transcribing and tagging user interview recordings — strengths include fast, practical workflow from transcript to tagged insights.
Buzz
Condens
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Condens is strong for transcribing and tagging user interview recordings. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Condens is a free tier with paid upgrades. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
Sure. Running both makes sense when their strengths don't overlap and the budget allows.
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