Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Nota: Nota is an AI note-taking and voice app for Apple devices that transcribes speech in real time and uses AI to refine, summarize, and reshape your notes. 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 Nota when capturing voice brain dumps and ideas on the go, including from an apple watch matters most. Test each on your own meetings; the right choice tends to become obvious quickly.
Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper.
Nota is an AI note-taking and voice app for Apple devices that transcribes speech in real time and uses AI to refine, summarize, and reshape your 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
Nota, made by Hue Network, Inc., is a note-taking and voice-capture app built for the Apple ecosystem. It lets you record voice memos, brain dumps, meetings, and conversations and transcribes them in real time, with multilingual transcription support (the website cites 45 languages). Beyond voice, you can type in a clean editor, sketch with Apple Pencil, or scan documents, whiteboards, business cards, and receipts using OCR. Built-in AI assists let you rewrite, expand, summarize, clarify, polish, and reshape selected text, and users can choose between available models (Gemini, Claude, or OpenAI) or bring their own key. It runs across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch, with dictation supported directly from the watch. A free tier offers unlimited local notes, voice capture, AI, and drawing on-device with no account required; a Pro subscription adds cloud sync across devices, higher AI usage limits, more transcription time, and collaboration features. It is aimed at founders, creatives, operators, and anyone who wants flexible thought capture.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Nota is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Nota |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Real-time multilingual voice transcription (cited at 45 languages) |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | AI assists to rewrite, expand, summarize, clarify, and reshape notes |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Multiple capture modes: voice, typing, Apple Pencil sketching, and OCR scanning |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Choice of AI models (Gemini, Claude, OpenAI) with bring-your-own-key option |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Cross-device support across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Cloud sync and collaboration on the Pro tier |
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.
Nota
Choose Nota if you need recording and transcribing in-person meetings and conversations — strengths include free tier works fully on-device with no account required.
Buzz
Nota
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Nota is strong for recording and transcribing in-person meetings and conversations. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Nota 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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