Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Granola: Granola is an AI notepad for meetings that captures your computer's audio without joining a bot, then transcribes and generates structured notes with action items. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Buzz when transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline matters most, and Granola when keeping a searchable record of recurring team meetings matters most. Trial each on a few real meetings before you commit — the better fit usually shows fast.
Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper.
Granola is an AI notepad for meetings that captures your computer's audio without joining a bot, then transcribes and generates structured notes with action items.
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
Granola is a desktop AI notepad for people in frequent meetings. Instead of sending a bot into the call, it captures your computer's audio directly, transcribes the conversation, and combines it with your own typed notes to produce structured summaries, action items, and follow-ups. It syncs with your calendar to detect meetings and works with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, other video tools, and in-person meetings via the iPhone app. A built-in AI chat answers questions across your meeting notes (for example, what you committed to during the week). Granola runs on macOS and Windows. The free Basic plan offers unlimited note-taking, custom templates, shared folders, multi-language support, and AI chat, but limits viewing notes older than 30 days. Paid tiers add unlimited history, advanced AI models, an MCP connector, API access, and integrations with Notion, Slack, HubSpot, Attio, Affinity, and Zapier.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Granola is from $0/mo (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Granola |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | AI meeting notes |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | On-device audio capture (no bot) |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | AI chat across meetings |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Custom note templates |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Calendar sync |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | AI meeting notes |
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.
Granola
Choose Granola if you need automatically generating notes and action items from sales or client calls — strengths include captures computer audio without sending a bot into the meeting, so calls stay less disruptive.
Buzz
Granola
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Granola is strong for automatically generating notes and action items from sales or client calls. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Granola is from $0/mo. 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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