Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Google Pinpoint: Google's research tool for journalists that transcribes audio and video interviews into searchable text alongside documents. 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 Google Pinpoint when organizing and searching large evidence collections for investigations matters most. Try them side by side on real calls before deciding — needs vary by team.
Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper.
Google's research tool for journalists that transcribes audio and video interviews into searchable text alongside documents.
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
Google Pinpoint is a research tool for journalists, part of Google's Journalist Studio, that helps reporters explore and analyze large collections of documents, audio, and video using Google's search and AI technology. Among its core capabilities, Pinpoint transcribes uploaded audio and video recordings, such as interviews, speeches, hearings, press conferences, and meetings, into searchable text, so spoken content can be searched and cross-referenced alongside other documents in a collection. Beyond transcription, it lets journalists organize and search across large document sets, highlight names and organizations, and check claims with integrated Google Search. It is designed for investigative reporting, fact-checking, and document-heavy research workflows, and it has been used by newsrooms to organize and analyze evidence at scale. Pinpoint is offered through Google's Journalist Studio with substantial cloud storage for uploaded files, and access to certain generative AI features may require applying for early access. Because it converts recorded interviews into searchable transcripts within a research workspace, it is well suited to journalists and researchers who need to manage and query both spoken and written source material in one place. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Google Pinpoint is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Google Pinpoint |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Transcription of uploaded audio and video into searchable text |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Search and analysis across large document and media collections |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Highlighting of names and organizations across sources |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Integrated claim checking with Google Search |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Cloud storage for documents, audio, and video files |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Collaboration features within the Journalist Studio workspace |
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.
Google Pinpoint
Choose Google Pinpoint if you need transcribing recorded interviews into searchable text for reporting — strengths include purpose-built for journalists and document-heavy investigative research.
Buzz
Google Pinpoint
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Google Pinpoint is strong for transcribing recorded interviews into searchable text for reporting. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Google Pinpoint 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 Google Pinpoint.
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