Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. CraftNote: A cross-platform AI meeting assistant that transcribes and summarizes conversations, identifies speakers, and can join calls on major meeting platforms. The right pick comes down to team size, budget, and the workflows you want to automate.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Buzz when transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline matters most, and CraftNote when capturing in-person conversations and converting them into structured notes 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.
A cross-platform AI meeting assistant that transcribes and summarizes conversations, identifies speakers, and can join calls on major meeting platforms.
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
CraftNote is an AI-powered meeting assistant available on the web, iOS, and Android that captures, transcribes, and analyzes conversations in real time and converts them into organized notes. It generates structured summaries suited to follow-ups and action items, identifies speakers, and supports a wide range of languages with automatic detection. A meeting bot can join calls on platforms including Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Slack Huddles, Webex, and Discord to capture full transcripts and summaries automatically, and the browser-based app lets users record, transcribe, and summarize without a download while syncing across phone and tablet. CraftNote also offers customizable note templates such as to-do lists, minutes, and executive briefs, an AI chat interface for querying recorded content, and export options including PDF, DOCX, and shareable links. The app is developed by Joyolabs and became available on Google Play in mid-2025. It is positioned for busy professionals who want meeting documentation handled automatically across both online calls and in-person conversations, with encrypted storage and privacy protections for stored content. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); CraftNote is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | CraftNote |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Real-time transcription and AI-generated summaries |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Meeting bot for Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex, Slack Huddles, and Discord |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Speaker identification and multi-language support with auto-detection |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Customizable note templates such as minutes, to-do lists, and executive briefs |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | AI chat for querying recorded content |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Export to PDF and DOCX and shareable links; web, iOS, and Android apps |
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.
CraftNote
Choose CraftNote if you need automatically transcribing and summarizing online meetings across multiple platforms — strengths include works across web, ios, and android with cross-device sync.
Buzz
CraftNote
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while CraftNote is strong for automatically transcribing and summarizing online meetings across multiple platforms. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and CraftNote is a free tier with paid upgrades. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
You can — some teams pair them when each covers a different part of the meeting workflow.
More head-to-head comparisons involving Buzz and CraftNote.
Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. CLOVA Note: South Korean AI meeting-minutes service by Naver that records meetings, transcribes speech, separates speakers, and generates summaries and action items. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
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