Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Polar Notes: AI note taker for students that turns lectures, audio, slides, PDFs, and videos into notes and study packs. 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 Polar Notes when converting youtube videos, slides, and pdfs into a study pack matters most. Try them side by side on real calls before deciding — needs vary by team.
Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper.
AI note taker for students that turns lectures, audio, slides, PDFs, and videos into notes and study packs.
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
Polar Notes (PolarNotes AI) is an AI note-taking tool built for students and teachers that converts lectures and course materials into organized study resources. Users can record or upload a lecture, paste a YouTube link, or import slides and PDFs, and the app automatically transcribes audio when needed and analyzes the content to produce summarized notes, key concepts, section headings, and short overviews. From the same source material it can generate a study pack that includes study guides, flashcards, and assessment questions, and results can be exported to Google Docs or PDF with study sets organized in one place. Polar Notes emphasizes privacy and offline access on iOS, keeping notes stored locally on the device unless the user chooses to back them up or share them, which lets students review notes without an internet connection. It also supports multilingual transcription, making it usable for international students and teachers recording in different languages. The tool is delivered as an iOS app with an accompanying web experience and free online tools, and is aimed at learners who want lecture and document content distilled into exam-ready study material rather than verbatim meeting records. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Polar Notes is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Polar Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Record or upload lectures, paste YouTube links, and import slides or PDFs |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Automatic audio transcription and AI-generated summarized notes with headings |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Study pack generation including study guides, flashcards, and quiz questions |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Export to Google Docs and PDF with organized study sets |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Offline access on iOS with notes stored locally by default |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Multilingual transcription for international students and teachers |
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.
Polar Notes
Choose Polar Notes if you need turning recorded lectures into summarized notes and flashcards — strengths include turns multiple source types into exam-ready study material.
Buzz
Polar Notes
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Polar Notes is strong for turning recorded lectures into summarized notes and flashcards. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Polar Notes 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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