Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Klu: AI meeting notetaker and automation platform that records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings, then logs outcomes and action items to CRMs and team tools. The right pick comes down to team size, budget, and the workflows you want to automate.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Buzz when transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline matters most, and Klu when teams that want meeting follow-ups auto-assigned and routed into slack or notion 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.
AI meeting notetaker and automation platform that records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings, then logs outcomes and action items to CRMs and team tools.
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
Klu (klu.so) is an AI meeting assistant that positions itself as a meeting automation platform for modern teams rather than a transcription-only tool. It captures meetings through a browser extension that can auto-join calls, a Mac desktop app, and offline capture for in-person conversations. During and after a meeting, Klu produces a transcript with speaker recognition, generates bullet-point summaries, surfaces action items, and supports custom note sections, alongside a smart-search and Ask AI capability for retrieving details from past conversations. A Deep Dive feature lets users ask questions that span multiple meetings, such as what was committed to with a particular account over a period of time. On the workflow side, Klu detects follow-ups, assigns them to owners with deadlines, and can push them into tools like Slack and Notion. For CRM users, Klu logs meeting outcomes to HubSpot, Salesforce, and Pipedrive on the relevant record, and connects to additional CRMs such as Attio and Affinity through Zapier, helping keep deals and accounts current without manual data entry. It maintains comparison pages against established notetakers and supports multilingual transcription. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Klu is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Klu |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Browser extension auto-join, Mac desktop app, and offline in-person capture |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Real-time transcription with speaker recognition and multilingual support |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | AI-generated bullet-point summaries, action items, and custom note sections |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Follow-up detection with owner assignment and deadlines, pushed to Slack or Notion |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | CRM logging to HubSpot, Salesforce, and Pipedrive; Attio/Affinity via Zapier |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Cross-meeting Deep Dive and Ask AI search across past meetings |
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.
Klu
Choose Klu if you need sales teams keeping hubspot, salesforce, or pipedrive records updated after calls — strengths include combines meeting notes with follow-up assignment and crm logging in one tool.
Buzz
Klu
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Klu is strong for sales teams keeping hubspot, salesforce, or pipedrive records updated after calls. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Klu 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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