Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Koji: AI-native customer research platform whose AI interviewer runs voice and text discovery conversations at scale, then synthesizes themes automatically. 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 Koji when building personas and validating early product concepts at scale 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.
AI-native customer research platform whose AI interviewer runs voice and text discovery conversations at scale, then synthesizes themes automatically.
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
Koji is an AI-native customer research platform built around an AI interviewer that conducts natural, in-depth conversations with research participants at scale, removing the need to schedule and moderate live discovery calls one at a time. Teams describe what they want to learn, and an AI research agent helps define goals and generate an interview guide. The AI then runs the interviews asynchronously in either a text chat or spoken voice format, asking adaptive follow-up questions and probing for depth as a human moderator would. Each completed conversation is analyzed automatically for key moments and sentiment, and findings are synthesized across all interviews into study-wide reports surfacing themes, patterns, and recommendations, with every insight traceable back to the participant quote that supports it rather than presented as a black-box summary. Koji is used for exploratory work such as discovery, persona development, and market strategy, as well as concept and messaging testing. The product is operated from Amsterdam with EU data residency and GDPR compliance, offers a freemium entry point, and integrates with tools including Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and Notion via an MCP server. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Koji is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Koji |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Insights traceable back to specific participant quotes |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | AI interviewer that runs asynchronous voice and text discovery conversations at scale |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | AI research agent that drafts research goals and interview guides from a brief |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Automatic per-interview analysis with key moments and sentiment |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Cross-interview synthesis into study-wide themes, patterns, and recommendations |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | MCP integrations with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and Notion |
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.
Koji
Choose Koji if you need running exploratory discovery interviews without scheduling live calls — strengths include removes scheduling overhead by running many interviews in parallel and asynchronously.
Buzz
Koji
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Koji is strong for running exploratory discovery interviews without scheduling live calls. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Koji is a free tier with paid upgrades. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
Sure. Running both makes sense when their strengths don't overlap and the budget allows.
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