Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Monologue: Monologue is an AI voice dictation app for Mac and iOS that turns speech into polished, app-aware text and can record, transcribe, and summarize meetings, calls, and voice notes. This comparison weighs them on pricing, features, and everyday workflow fit.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Buzz when transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline matters most, and Monologue when recording and transcribing personal voice notes, calls, and meetings, then generating summaries matters most. Run both through a week of actual calls to see which suits your workflow.
Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper.
Monologue is an AI voice dictation app for Mac and iOS that turns speech into polished, app-aware text and can record, transcribe, and summarize meetings, calls, and voice notes.
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
Monologue, built by Every (Every Media Inc), is an AI-powered voice dictation app for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS. Instead of typing, you speak and Monologue produces clean, finished text: it strips filler words and repetitions, adds punctuation, and uses a language model to infer intent and match your tone. Its standout trait is app-aware formatting, the output adapts to where you are, short conversational messages in iMessage, structured paragraphs in email, and organized lists or headings in Notes. On iOS a custom keyboard works across every app, with Live Activity support in the Dynamic Island, and preferences, modes, and a personal dictionary sync across devices. Beyond dictation, a Notes feature lets you record freeform thoughts, calls, and meetings, then transcribe and summarize them, and route captured notes to tools like Notion via an API, CLI, and MCP integrations. It supports 100+ languages and mixed-language speech. The company states audio and transcripts are not retained on its servers, with offline transcription available. It targets professionals across many fields who want faster, hands-free writing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Monologue is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Monologue |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | App-aware smart formatting that adapts output to the app in use (iMessage, email, Notes, code) |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | AI cleanup that removes filler words and repetitions, adds punctuation, and matches tone |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Notes feature to record, transcribe, and summarize meetings, calls, and voice memos |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | iOS custom keyboard plus sync of modes, dictionary, and preferences across Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Auto Dictionary that learns names, acronyms, and personal vocabulary |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | API, CLI, and MCP integrations for routing notes to tools like 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.
Monologue
Choose Monologue if you need drafting emails, messages, and documents hands-free by speaking instead of typing — strengths include deep apple-ecosystem integration with a system-wide ios keyboard and cross-device sync.
Buzz
Monologue
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Monologue is strong for drafting emails, messages, and documents hands-free by speaking instead of typing. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Monologue 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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