Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Natively: A free, open-source desktop AI meeting assistant offering real-time transcription, structured notes, and on-call answers with local processing and bring-your-own-key support. 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 Natively when running a fully local, offline meeting assistant via ollama for sensitive discussions 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.
A free, open-source desktop AI meeting assistant offering real-time transcription, structured notes, and on-call answers with local processing and bring-your-own-key support.
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
Natively is an open-source AI meeting assistant maintained by the Natively-AI-assistant project and actively developed through 2025 and 2026. It runs as a desktop application on macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel) and Windows, capturing meeting audio directly on the device rather than joining calls as a visible participant. Built with a Rust-based audio pipeline, it provides low-latency real-time transcription and generates structured, searchable meeting notes that include action items, decisions, and key moments, alongside an on-demand AI assist triggered by a keyboard shortcut. It offers several meeting modes for different contexts and works alongside major platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. Natively is bring-your-own-key and supports providers including Google Gemini, OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, and Groq, plus a fully local option through Ollama so transcription and analysis can stay offline on the user's machine; meeting data is stored locally by default. As an indie, community-driven tool it positions itself as a free alternative to paid commercial assistants, though it relies on user-supplied API keys for cloud models and is still evolving. Verify current features and any policies on the official site. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Natively is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Natively |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Real-time transcription with a low-latency Rust-based audio pipeline |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Structured, searchable meeting notes with action items and decisions |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | On-demand AI assist via keyboard shortcut during calls |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Bring-your-own-key support for Gemini, OpenAI, Claude, and Groq |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Fully local/offline option through Ollama with local data storage by default |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Works alongside Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams without a visible 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.
Natively
Choose Natively if you need capturing real-time transcripts and structured notes from calls without a visible bot — strengths include free and open source with active development.
Buzz
Natively
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Natively is strong for capturing real-time transcripts and structured notes from calls without a visible bot. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Natively 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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