Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. IceCubes: Bot-free Chrome and Edge extension that reads a meeting platform's own captions to transcribe and summarize Meet, Zoom, and Teams calls. This comparison weighs them on pricing, features, and everyday workflow fit.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Buzz when transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline matters most, and IceCubes when sales reps who want call summaries automatically tied to crm records 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.
Bot-free Chrome and Edge extension that reads a meeting platform's own captions to transcribe and summarize Meet, Zoom, and Teams calls.
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
IceCubes is an AI meeting assistant distributed as a browser extension for Chrome and Edge that captures meetings without sending a bot participant into the call. Instead of joining as a separate attendee, the extension reads the transcript directly from the conferencing platform's built-in closed-captioning service and maps speaker names from the meeting interface, then layers AI processing on top. It works with the web clients of Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams, and supports additional platforms through web tab sharing. After a meeting, IceCubes produces AI summaries, extracts action items, and surfaces conversation insights, with custom 'Smart Tags' for pulling out specific information the user cares about. For revenue teams it adds sales-oriented features such as matching meetings to contacts, deals, and accounts in Salesforce and HubSpot, plus coaching and qualification frameworks. Because it relies on native captions rather than a visible recorder, it is positioned as avoiding the disruption and IT-policy friction of bot-based notetakers. The product is actively maintained, offers a free transcription tier without a credit card, and is operating in 2025-2026. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); IceCubes is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | IceCubes |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Chrome and Edge browser extensions |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Bot-free capture by reading the platform's own closed captions |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Speaker identification mapped from the meeting UI |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | AI summaries, action items, and custom Smart Tags |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Supports Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams web clients |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | CRM matching to contacts, deals, and accounts in Salesforce and HubSpot |
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.
IceCubes
Choose IceCubes if you need teams that need notes without a bot joining due to it or compliance constraints — strengths include no visible recording bot, reducing meeting disruption and policy friction.
Buzz
IceCubes
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while IceCubes is strong for teams that need notes without a bot joining due to it or compliance constraints. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and IceCubes 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 IceCubes.
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