Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Mobvoi TicNote: Portable AI voice recorder device that records, transcribes, translates, and summarizes meetings, calls, and lectures. 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 Mobvoi TicNote when transcribing lectures and interviews for students and journalists 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.
Portable AI voice recorder device that records, transcribes, translates, and summarizes meetings, calls, and lectures.
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
Mobvoi TicNote is a slim, portable AI voice recorder device paired with a companion app and cloud service for capturing and processing spoken content. The hardware is a lightweight card-style recorder (with related earbud-style recording options) built with multiple microphones for clear capture of meetings, calls, lectures, and conversations. Its built-in AI assistant, Shadow, transcribes audio in real time across more than 120 languages and generates concise summaries, meeting minutes, and mind maps from what was recorded. The device is designed to let users stay present in a conversation while it handles note-taking automatically, and processed transcripts and summaries are accessible through the TicNote cloud platform. Because it is a dedicated wearable-style recorder rather than software that joins a video call, TicNote is well suited to capturing in-person meetings, phone calls, interviews, and classes. Mobvoi positions it for immigrants and international students, journalists and reporters, global business teams, creators and podcasters, students and researchers, and sales and marketing professionals who need reliable transcription and summarization on the go without depending on a laptop or a meeting bot. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Mobvoi TicNote is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Mobvoi TicNote |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Portable AI voice recorder hardware with multiple microphones |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Real-time transcription in 120+ languages |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | AI-generated summaries, meeting minutes, and mind maps |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Translation support across many languages |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Cloud platform for accessing transcripts and summaries |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Captures in-person meetings, calls, and lectures without a bot |
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.
Mobvoi TicNote
Choose Mobvoi TicNote if you need recording and summarizing in-person meetings and phone calls — strengths include dedicated hardware captures in-person meetings and calls reliably.
Buzz
Mobvoi TicNote
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Mobvoi TicNote is strong for recording and summarizing in-person meetings and phone calls. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Mobvoi TicNote 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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