Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. RemNote: RemNote is an AI-powered note-taking and learning platform that can record and transcribe lectures, meetings, and other spoken sessions into searchable, timestamped notes. 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 RemNote when uploading recorded meetings or audio sessions for transcription and review 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.
RemNote is an AI-powered note-taking and learning platform that can record and transcribe lectures, meetings, and other spoken sessions into searchable, timestamped notes.
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
RemNote is a knowledge-management and learning tool that combines note-taking, PDF and PowerPoint annotation, flashcards, and spaced repetition in one app. Its Lecture Recorder feature captures live audio and produces real-time transcription with timestamped notes, and it also accepts uploaded audio files in MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, and OGG formats for transcription after the fact. Once a session is recorded, users get a raw transcript of every word spoken alongside AI-organized bullet-point summaries, and can click any sentence to play back the audio at that timestamp, highlight it, or generate flashcards and quizzes. An AI tutor can answer questions by referencing the transcript and citing specific timestamps. RemNote runs as a web app and on desktop, iOS, and Android, with offline access available. It is built primarily for students and serious learners, including medical, law, and language students, who want to capture spoken material such as lectures or meetings and convert it into study-ready notes and review material.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); RemNote is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | RemNote |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Live audio recording with real-time transcription and timestamped notes |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Audio file upload and transcription (MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, OGG) |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Click-to-play audio from any transcript sentence |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | AI-generated summaries, flashcards, and quizzes from transcripts |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | AI tutor that answers questions citing transcript timestamps |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Note-taking, PDF/PowerPoint annotation, and spaced-repetition flashcards |
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.
RemNote
Choose RemNote if you need recording and transcribing lectures into searchable, timestamped study notes — strengths include turns recorded audio directly into searchable, study-ready notes and review material.
Buzz
RemNote
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while RemNote is strong for recording and transcribing lectures into searchable, timestamped study notes. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and RemNote is a free tier with paid upgrades. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
You can — some teams pair them when each covers a different part of the meeting workflow.
More head-to-head comparisons involving Buzz and RemNote.
Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. CLOVA Note: South Korean AI meeting-minutes service by Naver that records meetings, transcribes speech, separates speakers, and generates summaries and action items. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
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