Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. EventCAT: AI platform that delivers real-time subtitles and voice interpretation in 50+ languages for conferences, webinars, and online meetings. 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 EventCAT when adding real-time translation and captions to zoom, teams, or google meet webinars 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.
AI platform that delivers real-time subtitles and voice interpretation in 50+ languages for conferences, webinars, and online meetings.
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
EventCAT is an AI-powered real-time interpretation and subtitling platform built by XL8 Inc. for meetings, webinars, and live conferences. It converts spoken audio into live captions and synthesized voice translation across more than 50 languages, allowing multilingual audiences to follow sessions without traditional interpreter booths. The platform offers two products: an OnlineMeeting mode that integrates with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, and a Conference mode designed for in-person and hybrid events. For conferences, each session generates a unique QR code so attendees can view or listen to captions in their preferred language on a phone or tablet, while subtitles can also be projected on main event screens and pushed to YouTube and OBS streams. EventCAT exposes two processing modes, one tuned for low latency and one tuned for accuracy, and supports custom glossaries for industry and company-specific terminology. After an event it produces downloadable transcripts in multiple languages and AI-generated summaries. The service advertises SOC 2 certification and a stated policy of not storing or training on user data, and it is actively operating in 2025 and 2026. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); EventCAT is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | EventCAT |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Real-time AI subtitles and synthesized voice interpretation in 50+ languages |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Conference mode with per-session QR codes for attendees plus main-screen subtitle display |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Integrations with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, YouTube, and OBS |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Selectable speed-prioritized and accuracy-prioritized translation modes |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Custom glossaries for industry and proper-noun accuracy |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Post-event downloadable multilingual transcripts and AI summaries |
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.
EventCAT
Choose EventCAT if you need providing multilingual live subtitles and audio at in-person conferences and seminars — strengths include combines both live captions and voice interpretation in one platform.
Buzz
EventCAT
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while EventCAT is strong for providing multilingual live subtitles and audio at in-person conferences and seminars. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and EventCAT is a free tier with paid upgrades. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
Often yes: teams combine tools when one handles capture and another handles analysis.
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