Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Gilbert: French sovereign AI meeting note taker that generates structured reports, decisions and actions, hosted in France on SecNumCloud infrastructure. We compare them on cost, capture approach, and day-to-day fit so you can choose faster.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Buzz when transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline matters most, and Gilbert when tracking decisions and action items from meetings automatically 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.
French sovereign AI meeting note taker that generates structured reports, decisions and actions, hosted in France on SecNumCloud infrastructure.
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
Gilbert is a French AI meeting note taker developed by the startup Lexia France, designed and hosted in France with a strong sovereignty focus. It captures meetings live across desktop, mobile and web and automatically produces structured meeting reports that include summaries, decisions and assigned action items. The product is built around proprietary French language models and a custom terminology dictionary that lets users add domain-specific terms, and it offers natural-language search across past meetings. A defining characteristic is its data-sovereignty stance: Gilbert states that data is hosted on OVHcloud infrastructure with SecNumCloud qualification from the French cybersecurity authority ANSSI, that no data crosses the Atlantic, and that it does not rely on third-party model providers. The company lists SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 and GDPR compliance. Gilbert integrates with many business tools, including native connections to Slack, Notion, HubSpot, Salesforce and Teams plus broad coverage through Zapier. It targets French-speaking organizations, particularly those in regulated or sovereignty-sensitive sectors, that want automated French meeting documentation kept entirely within France. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Gilbert is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Gilbert |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Live meeting capture across desktop, mobile and web |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Structured reports with summaries, decisions and assigned actions |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Proprietary French language models and custom terminology dictionary |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Natural-language search across past meetings |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Hosting in France on OVHcloud SecNumCloud infrastructure with no transatlantic data transfer |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Live meeting capture across desktop, mobile and web |
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.
Gilbert
Choose Gilbert if you need generating french meeting reports for sovereignty-sensitive sectors — strengths include strong french data-sovereignty posture with anssi-qualified secnumcloud hosting.
Buzz
Gilbert
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Gilbert is strong for generating french meeting reports for sovereignty-sensitive sectors. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Gilbert 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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