Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Empathia AI: Empathia AI is an ambient AI medical scribe that records patient encounters and automatically generates clinical notes, letters, and billing codes for clinicians. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Buzz when transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline matters most, and Empathia AI when generating referral letters, consult letters, and patient instructions from recorded visits matters most. Test each on your own meetings; the right choice tends to become obvious quickly.
Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper.
Empathia AI is an ambient AI medical scribe that records patient encounters and automatically generates clinical notes, letters, and billing codes for clinicians.
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
Empathia AI is an AI medical scribe built for clinicians and healthcare practices. Its core engine, EMMA, uses ambient AI to listen to doctor-patient interactions across in-person visits, telehealth, and phone calls, then transcribes the conversation and generates structured, customizable clinical notes. Beyond note-taking, it produces chart summaries, referral and consult letters, form autofill, patient instructions, and suggested ICD/CPT/service billing codes. The platform supports multi-speaker conversations, dictation, and multilingual encounters, and offers specialty-tuned templates across 20+ medical specialties. It works on desktop and mobile and integrates with numerous EMR/EHR systems, including Epic, Athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, NextGen, DrChrono, Practice Fusion, Elation, and Canadian systems such as Accuro, OSCAR, and Juno. Empathia emphasizes compliance, citing HIPAA, PHIPA, PIPEDA, and GDPR alignment, and notes pre-qualified vendor status with Canada Health Infoway's national AI scribe program. It targets individual practitioners and clinics seeking to reduce documentation time and refocus attention on patient care.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Empathia AI is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Empathia AI |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Ambient AI capture (EMMA) for in-person, telehealth, and phone encounters |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Automatic transcription and structured clinical note generation |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Multi-speaker and multilingual support with dictation |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Specialty-tuned templates across 20+ medical specialties |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Suggested ICD/CPT/service billing codes, referral and consult letters |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | EMR/EHR integrations (Epic, Athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, Accuro, OSCAR, and more) |
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.
Empathia AI
Choose Empathia AI if you need clinicians automating post-visit charting and clinical note documentation — strengths include purpose-built for clinical documentation with deep emr integration.
Buzz
Empathia AI
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Empathia AI is strong for clinicians automating post-visit charting and clinical note documentation. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Empathia AI 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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