Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Happy Scribe: Transcription/subtitling and GDPR-friendly meeting notes, 150+ languages Here's where each one pulls ahead on pricing, features, and the meetings it suits best.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Buzz when transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline matters most, and Happy Scribe when creating subtitles and captions 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.
Transcription/subtitling and GDPR-friendly meeting notes, 150+ languages
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
Happy Scribe is a transcription and subtitling platform that converts audio and video into accurate text and captions across a wide range of languages. It offers both automatic and human-made transcription and subtitles, letting users balance speed against accuracy depending on the project. Happy Scribe is widely used to transcribe recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, and videos, and to create subtitles for content, with an in-browser editor for reviewing and correcting transcripts and exporting them in many formats. Its strong language coverage and subtitle tools make it popular with content creators, researchers, and international teams that need reliable text and captions from recordings. Because it focuses on processing recorded audio and video rather than acting as a live meeting bot, it is typically used to handle existing files or recordings. Happy Scribe is valued for its breadth of languages, flexible automatic-versus-human options, and solid subtitle and export capabilities for turning recordings into usable text. Platforms: Web / upload audio and video. Integrations: Zapier. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Happy Scribe is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Happy Scribe |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Automatic and human transcription |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Subtitles and captions |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Wide multi-language support |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | In-browser transcript editor |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Multi-format export |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Automatic and human transcription |
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.
Happy Scribe
Choose Happy Scribe if you need transcribing recordings and interviews — strengths include strong language and subtitle support.
Buzz
Happy Scribe
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Happy Scribe is strong for transcribing recordings and interviews. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Happy Scribe 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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