Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Riverside: Browser-based podcast and video recording studio with AI transcription, captions, and text-based editing that also handles interviews and remote meetings. Here's where each one pulls ahead on pricing, features, and the meetings it suits best.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Buzz when transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline matters most, and Riverside when running and documenting remote interviews or small group conversations 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.
Browser-based podcast and video recording studio with AI transcription, captions, and text-based editing that also handles interviews and remote meetings.
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
Riverside is a web-based recording and editing studio built primarily for podcasters and video creators, with capabilities that extend to remote interviews and meetings. Participants join through a browser link without signing up, and Riverside records each person's audio and video locally on their own device before uploading the high-quality files after the session, which avoids the compression and dropout problems of standard video-call recording. Once a session is recorded or an existing file is uploaded, Riverside automatically generates a transcript using AI speech recognition, detects and labels separate speakers, and supports transcription across more than 100 languages. The transcript can be downloaded as plain text or as SRT/VTT caption files, and it powers text-based editing, where users trim or rearrange the recording by editing the transcript rather than a waveform. Riverside also offers AI clip generation for short-form social video and a teleprompter. It is aimed at podcasters, content creators, marketing teams, and anyone running recorded interviews or small group conversations that need clean transcripts and captions. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Riverside is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Riverside |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | AI-generated transcripts with automatic speaker detection and labeling |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Transcription support across more than 100 languages |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Caption and subtitle export in SRT and VTT formats |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Text-based editing that lets users cut and rearrange recordings by editing the transcript |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Local high-quality recording of each participant's audio and video track |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | AI clip generation for short-form social video |
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.
Riverside
Choose Riverside if you need transcribing and captioning recorded podcast episodes and video interviews — strengths include records each participant locally, producing cleaner audio and video than typical call recording.
Buzz
Riverside
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Riverside is strong for transcribing and captioning recorded podcast episodes and video interviews. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Riverside 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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