Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Proactor AI: AI note-taking app that records conversations, transcribes in real time, and turns meetings into structured notes and tasks. 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 Proactor AI when recording lectures or interviews with real-time transcription 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.
AI note-taking app that records conversations, transcribes in real time, and turns meetings into structured notes and tasks.
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
Proactor AI, published by PROACTORAI LIMITED, is an AI note-taking and voice-recording application that captures meetings, lectures, interviews, and personal voice memos and converts speech to text in real time. As a recording runs, it analyzes the conversation and surfaces summaries, key insights, and suggestions, then organizes the resulting notes by speaker and topic. A notable aspect of Proactor is its task orientation: it can automatically turn discussion into action items, including assigning owners and due dates, so that spoken conversations become trackable outcomes rather than static transcripts. The app retains context across sessions so it can reference earlier conversations, and it lets users export notes in formats such as PDF, Word, Markdown, and plain text. It supports transcription in multiple languages and can double as a general-purpose voice recorder for journaling, ideas, and quick memos. Proactor is aimed at professionals and teams who want both meeting documentation and follow-up task management, and it syncs notes across iOS, iPad, Android, and the web. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Proactor AI is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Proactor AI |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Real-time speech-to-text transcription |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | AI summaries, key insights, and in-conversation suggestions |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Automatic action items with assigned owners and due dates |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Notes organized by speaker and topic |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Cross-session context retention |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Export to PDF, Word, Markdown, and TXT |
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.
Proactor AI
Choose Proactor AI if you need capturing meetings and immediately generating assignable follow-up tasks — strengths include converts conversations directly into trackable tasks with owners and due dates.
Buzz
Proactor AI
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Proactor AI is strong for capturing meetings and immediately generating assignable follow-up tasks. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Proactor AI 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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