Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. MeetMinder: Free, open-source, local-first AI meeting assistant that captures dual audio, transcribes in real time with local Whisper, and surfaces AI guidance through an invisible overlay. 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 MeetMinder when getting contextual ai prompts during live calls without revealing an overlay on screen shares matters most. Try them side by side on real calls before deciding — needs vary by team.
Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper.
Free, open-source, local-first AI meeting assistant that captures dual audio, transcribes in real time with local Whisper, and surfaces AI guidance through an invisible overlay.
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
MeetMinder is a free, open-source, local-first AI meeting assistant that captures, transcribes, and maps meeting discussions in real time. It records system audio and microphone input separately and transcribes them live, with the option to run a local Whisper model fully offline for privacy. AI assistance is provided through hotkey-triggered insights and can be powered by local models through Ollama or by cloud providers such as OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, and Google Gemini, giving users a choice between fully private and cloud-augmented setups. A knowledge base lets users upload documents and parse a resume or user profile so the assistant can give contextual, relevant guidance, and a topic graph helps track agenda items and the flow of discussion. The interface is designed to stay out of the way: it appears as a small horizontal overlay bar that does not show up in screen shares, which suits live calls and interviews. MeetMinder is released under the MIT License on GitHub and is actively maintained, with builds for Windows, macOS, and Linux and two interface options, a PyQt5 desktop UI and a lighter recommended web-based version. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); MeetMinder is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | MeetMinder |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Real-time dual-audio transcription capturing system and microphone audio separately |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Local Whisper transcription for fully offline operation |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | AI insights via local Ollama models or cloud providers (OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Gemini) |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Knowledge base with document upload and resume/profile parsing for contextual assistance |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Topic graph for agenda tracking and discussion mapping |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Invisible overlay bar that does not appear in screen shares |
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.
MeetMinder
Choose MeetMinder if you need private, offline real-time transcription of meetings and interviews — strengths include free and open source under the mit license.
Buzz
MeetMinder
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while MeetMinder is strong for private, offline real-time transcription of meetings and interviews. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and MeetMinder 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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