Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Recap AI: An Apple-platform app that records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings, lectures, videos, and podcasts, with a chat-with-your-notes feature. 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 Recap AI when turning lectures or podcasts into searchable notes and summaries 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 Apple-platform app that records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings, lectures, videos, and podcasts, with a chat-with-your-notes feature.
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
Recap AI is an AI note-taking and summarization app for Apple platforms that turns meetings, lectures, videos, and podcasts into transcripts and shareable summaries. Users can record audio or work from existing content, and the app produces searchable transcriptions along with summaries that highlight key points and action items. A chat feature lets users ask questions about their notes and receive answers with citations back to the source material, and one-click sharing lets recipients view and interact with notes without creating an account. The app is developed by Blacksheep Lab (Gray Matter Enterprise Inc.) and runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision, with iPod touch support as well. It emphasizes letting users stay engaged in a conversation or recording rather than taking notes manually, then surfacing insights afterward. Recap AI includes search across recorded material and references encryption and privacy protections for stored content. It is offered as a free download with optional paid upgrades for additional capabilities. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Recap AI is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Recap AI |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Summaries highlighting key points and action items |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Chat with your notes with cited answers |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings, lectures, videos, and podcasts |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Searchable AI transcriptions |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | One-click sharing that requires no account for recipients |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision |
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.
Recap AI
Choose Recap AI if you need summarizing recorded meetings and capturing action items — strengths include handles multiple content types beyond meetings, including lectures and podcasts.
Buzz
Recap AI
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Recap AI is strong for summarizing recorded meetings and capturing action items. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Recap AI is a free tier with paid upgrades. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
Often yes: teams combine tools when one handles capture and another handles analysis.
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