Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Lindy: AI assistant that joins calls to record, transcribe, and summarize meetings and run follow-up tasks. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Buzz when transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline matters most, and Lindy when automating follow-up emails and crm updates after meetings 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 assistant that joins calls to record, transcribe, and summarize meetings and run follow-up tasks.
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
Lindy is an AI assistant platform whose meeting notetaker joins video calls to record, transcribe, and summarize conversations, and then automate follow-up work. For meetings, Lindy connects to Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, captures the call, transcribes the discussion in real time, and produces summaries with action items, along with searchable transcripts for later reference. What distinguishes Lindy from a standalone notetaker is that it is part of a broader AI assistant and automation system: after a meeting it can use the transcript to draft follow-up emails, update a CRM, schedule the next meeting, and trigger other workflows across connected apps such as Gmail, Slack, and calendar tools. Users can configure the meeting notetaker from a template and extend it with custom automations. Lindy is aimed at professionals and teams who want their meeting recordings and notes to flow directly into downstream tasks, particularly sales, customer-facing, and operations roles that rely heavily on post-meeting actions and tooling integrations. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Lindy is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Lindy |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Joins Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams to record meetings |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Real-time transcription with summaries and action items |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Searchable transcripts of past meetings |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Post-meeting automations such as drafting emails and updating a CRM |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Integrations with apps like Gmail, Slack, and calendars |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Joins Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams to record 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.
Lindy
Choose Lindy if you need capturing and summarizing sales and client calls — strengths include connects meeting notes directly to follow-up tasks and workflows.
Buzz
Lindy
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Lindy is strong for capturing and summarizing sales and client calls. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Lindy 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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