Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Sally: German AI meeting assistant that joins calls to record, transcribe, and summarize meetings while extracting tasks and decisions. 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 Sally when sales and customer teams syncing meeting outcomes to crm systems 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.
German AI meeting assistant that joins calls to record, transcribe, and summarize meetings while extracting tasks and decisions.
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
Sally is an AI meeting assistant built by Aliru GmbH in Mannheim, Germany, aimed at German-speaking and international teams that want automatic meeting documentation. Users add Sally as a participant by inviting its email address to a calendar event, after which it joins meetings on Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, or Webex to capture audio and produce a transcript. The platform supports a large number of languages, recognizes German dialects and linguistic nuances, and can also transcribe uploaded audio files for in-person meetings. After a meeting, Sally generates a structured summary and automatically identifies action items and decisions, which can be assigned and tracked. It additionally surfaces meeting analytics such as speaker talk time. Sally connects to a wide range of business tools, including CRM and collaboration software such as HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack, and Asana, so that notes and tasks flow into existing workflows. The company emphasizes European data-protection standards, GDPR compliance, and SOC 2 alignment. It is aimed at teams that need accurate German-language records and integrated follow-up management. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Sally is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Sally |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Joins Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, and Webex meetings to record and transcribe |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Strong German-language transcription including dialect handling, plus many other languages |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Automatic summaries with action item and decision extraction and assignment |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Meeting analytics such as speaker talk time |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Integrations with CRM and collaboration tools (HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack, Asana) |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Offline/uploaded audio file transcription for in-person meetings |
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.
Sally
Choose Sally if you need german-speaking teams needing accurate meeting minutes and action items — strengths include optimized for german language and dialects, useful for german-speaking organizations.
Buzz
Sally
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Sally is strong for german-speaking teams needing accurate meeting minutes and action items. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Sally 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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