Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Qualtranscribe: Qualtranscribe is a transcription and translation service for research, legal, and business professionals, pairing human-verified transcripts with an AI option that generates fast drafts, summaries, and qualitative insights. 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 Qualtranscribe when producing analysis-ready transcripts for academic, clinical, and market research 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.
Qualtranscribe is a transcription and translation service for research, legal, and business professionals, pairing human-verified transcripts with an AI option that generates fast drafts, summaries, and qualitative insights.
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
Qualtranscribe (QUALTRANSCRIBE LLC) is a transcription and translation service built primarily for qualitative researchers, market research teams, academic, clinical, legal, and business professionals. Users upload audio or video recordings of interviews, focus groups, and calls, and choose between human-verified transcripts produced by trained transcriptionists or faster AI-generated drafts. Transcripts are delivered with speaker labels, timestamps, and a choice of clean verbatim or full verbatim formatting. Its AI layer, branded Smart Insights Studio, turns uploaded recordings into instant summaries, research memos, thematic analysis, sentiment and emotion mapping, and extracted action items, and can export structured CSV files for direct import into qualitative analysis tools. It supports transcription across many languages and emphasizes confidential handling with HIPAA and GDPR compliance. The platform integrates with NVivo and ATLAS.ti to fit existing qualitative research workflows. Capture is upload-based rather than via a live meeting-joining bot, making it best suited to researchers and analysts who record sessions and need analysis-ready transcripts and first-pass insights rather than real-time meeting note-taking.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Qualtranscribe is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Qualtranscribe |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Human-verified transcription with clean or full verbatim options, speaker labels, and timestamps |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | AI transcription drafts via Smart Insights Studio from uploaded recordings |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | AI-generated summaries, research memos, thematic analysis, sentiment mapping, and action items |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Transcription and translation across many languages |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | HIPAA- and GDPR-compliant confidential handling |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Integrations and CSV exports for NVivo and ATLAS.ti |
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.
Qualtranscribe
Choose Qualtranscribe if you need transcribing and analyzing qualitative research interviews and focus groups — strengths include combines human-verified accuracy with optional faster ai drafts and insights.
Buzz
Qualtranscribe
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Qualtranscribe is strong for transcribing and analyzing qualitative research interviews and focus groups. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Qualtranscribe 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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