Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. joinly: Open-source, self-hostable connector that lets AI agents join Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams calls to transcribe, listen, and act in real time via MCP. 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 joinly when self-hosted, privacy-first real-time meeting transcription for regulated teams 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.
Open-source, self-hostable connector that lets AI agents join Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams calls to transcribe, listen, and act in real time via MCP.
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
joinly is an open-source middleware project (by joinly-ai) that makes meetings accessible to AI agents. It runs as a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that equips any agent with the tools to join a live video call, capture a real-time transcript, and interact by voice or chat during the meeting. Rather than being a finished notetaker app, joinly is a framework developers use to build interactive meeting agents that can listen, answer, search the web, draft documents, and post chat messages while the meeting is in progress. It works cross-platform across Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams (and browser-based calls), and is model-agnostic, supporting OpenAI, Anthropic, and local models through Ollama. Speech-to-text and text-to-speech are modular, with Whisper or Deepgram for transcription and Kokoro, ElevenLabs, or Deepgram for synthesis. The project is MIT licensed and deployed via Docker (with a separate CUDA GPU image), giving teams full data sovereignty. The MCP server exposes join/leave controls, transcript and participant access, audio control, chat messaging, and video snapshots, making it a building block for custom, privacy-first meeting automation. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); joinly is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | joinly |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | MCP server that exposes meeting tools (join/leave, transcript, chat, audio control, snapshots) to AI agents |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Real-time transcription with timestamps and speaker information, subscribable for live updates |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Cross-platform support for Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and browser-based calls |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Modular speech-to-text and text-to-speech backends (Whisper, Deepgram, Kokoro, ElevenLabs) |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Model-agnostic: works with OpenAI, Anthropic, and local LLMs via Ollama |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Docker-based self-hosting with optional CUDA GPU image |
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.
joinly
Choose joinly if you need building custom ai meeting agents that answer questions and run tasks during live calls — strengths include fully open source (mit) and self-hostable for complete data control.
Buzz
joinly
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while joinly is strong for building custom ai meeting agents that answer questions and run tasks during live calls. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and joinly 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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