Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Pickle: An in-meeting AI notetaker for Zoom focused on SMB sales teams, capturing context, key moments, and summaries inside the Zoom app. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Buzz when transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline matters most, and Pickle when adding time-stamped notes and action items during live sales meetings 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.
An in-meeting AI notetaker for Zoom focused on SMB sales teams, capturing context, key moments, and summaries inside the Zoom app.
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
Pickle is a conversation-intelligence and AI notetaker product centered on Zoom, positioned for small and mid-sized business sales teams. Its AI Smart Notes is built as an in-meeting notetaker that surfaces pre-meeting context and captures important moments directly inside the Zoom app, rather than relying solely on a post-call summary. During calls it can automatically record meetings, generate AI summaries and transcripts, and let users add time-stamped notes and follow-up action items in real time. Features such as custom agenda templates help structure meetings, while Snapshots and Collections let users capture and share memorable moments with their team for coaching and knowledge sharing. By focusing on capturing, finding, and sharing key sales moments from Zoom meetings, Pickle aims to help revenue teams improve their sales process and keep deal context organized. It offers a free tier alongside paid and custom plans. Pickle is best suited to SMB sales representatives and teams that primarily run customer conversations on Zoom and want lightweight conversation intelligence tied tightly to that platform. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Pickle is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Pickle |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | In-meeting AI Smart Notes inside the Zoom app |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Automatic recording, transcripts, and AI summaries |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Real-time time-stamped notes and follow-up action items |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Custom agenda templates for structuring meetings |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Snapshots and Collections for capturing and sharing key moments |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Conversation-intelligence focus for sales teams |
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.
Pickle
Choose Pickle if you need smb sales reps capturing and sharing key moments from zoom calls — strengths include tight, in-meeting integration with zoom.
Buzz
Pickle
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Pickle is strong for smb sales reps capturing and sharing key moments from zoom calls. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Pickle is a free tier with paid upgrades. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
Sure. Running both makes sense when their strengths don't overlap and the budget allows.
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