Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Knowt: AI study platform that turns recorded or uploaded lectures into notes, flashcards, and practice quizzes for students. 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 Knowt when generating flashcards and practice tests from course materials before exams 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 study platform that turns recorded or uploaded lectures into notes, flashcards, and practice quizzes for students.
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
Knowt is an AI-powered study platform built primarily for students and teachers that converts lectures and learning materials into organized study resources. Students can record a lecture live in the app or on the website, or upload existing audio, video, PDFs, and slide decks, and the platform's AI assistant (called Kai) generates summarized notes, flashcards, and practice quizzes from the content. Notes can be formatted as outlines or paragraphs, with adjustable detail levels, and the original audio is saved for reference. Beyond capture and transcription-driven summarization, Knowt functions as a broader study workspace, positioning itself as a free alternative to traditional flashcard apps and offering a large library of community-shared study materials. It also includes teacher-facing features for assigning material and tracking student progress. The tool spans web, iOS, and Android, making it usable across classroom, online-course, and self-study settings. Knowt is aimed at learners who want lecture capture to flow directly into reusable, exam-oriented study artifacts rather than just raw transcripts. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Knowt is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Knowt |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Live lecture recording in app and on the web, plus upload of audio, video, PDFs, and slides |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | AI-generated notes with adjustable formatting (outline or paragraph) and detail level |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Automatic flashcard generation from lecture and document content |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Practice quiz and test creation from any note, PDF, or video |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Kai AI chat for explaining concepts and answering questions |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Large community library of shared study sets and teacher tools for assignments |
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.
Knowt
Choose Knowt if you need recording university lectures and turning them into structured study notes — strengths include combines capture, summarization, and active-recall study tools in one student-focused app.
Buzz
Knowt
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Knowt is strong for recording university lectures and turning them into structured study notes. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Knowt 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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