Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. MeetCatch: A no-bot Chrome extension that runs in a private side panel during Google Meet calls and produces cleaned-up English transcripts and summaries. 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 MeetCatch when product managers and team leads summarizing recurring meetings into shareable bullet-point notes 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.
A no-bot Chrome extension that runs in a private side panel during Google Meet calls and produces cleaned-up English transcripts and summaries.
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
MeetCatch is a lightweight AI note-taking Chrome extension built exclusively for Google Meet. Instead of joining a call as a separate bot participant, it runs locally in the browser and activates automatically in a private side panel, so other attendees receive no join notification and nothing visibly records the screen. As the meeting proceeds, MeetCatch processes the call audio through its extension environment, then generates a clean, formatted summary rather than a raw word-for-word dump. Its auto-editing cleans up notes by fixing grammar and typos, removing filler words, and structuring content into readable paragraphs and bullet points. It also handles mixed-language conversations and outputs the transcript and summary in English. When the meeting ends, the finished notes can be exported as TXT or PDF. The company positions it for people who live in meetings, such as sales teams, product managers, consultants, freelancers, and students. On privacy, MeetCatch states it does not store meeting audio after processing is complete.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); MeetCatch is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | MeetCatch |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | No-bot capture that runs as a browser extension and never joins the call as a participant |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Private side panel that activates automatically when you join a Google Meet |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | AI summaries that capture intent rather than producing a raw word-for-word transcript |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Auto-editing that fixes grammar and typos, removes filler words, and structures notes into paragraphs and bullets |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Multi-language handling that processes mixed-language meetings and outputs results in English |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Export of finished notes as TXT or PDF |
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.
MeetCatch
Choose MeetCatch if you need sales reps and consultants capturing call notes without alerting clients to a recording bot — strengths include invisible, bot-free approach means no join notification to other participants.
Buzz
MeetCatch
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while MeetCatch is strong for sales reps and consultants capturing call notes without alerting clients to a recording bot. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and MeetCatch 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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