Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. SecureMemo: Japanese on-premise and offline AI meeting-minutes tool from Nishika for confidential, security-sensitive organizations. 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 SecureMemo when documenting hr interviews and sensitive consultations containing personal information matters most. Try them side by side on real calls before deciding — needs vary by team.
Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper.
Japanese on-premise and offline AI meeting-minutes tool from Nishika for confidential, security-sensitive organizations.
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
SecureMemo is an AI meeting-minutes application developed by Nishika, Inc., a Japanese company, and is designed for organizations that handle confidential or sensitive meetings and cannot use cloud-based services. It runs in on-premise, closed-network, or fully offline environments, processing audio entirely within the customer's own infrastructure so that voice data never leaves the organization to an external cloud. SecureMemo is powered by Nishika's in-house speech recognition AI called "shirushi," which the company states maintains high recognition accuracy even with background noise or overlapping speech, and can transcribe audio in roughly 100 languages including Japanese, English, Chinese, and Thai. The product offers five core capabilities: accurate voice recognition, automatic speaker identification, automatic meeting-minutes generation that organizes decisions and key points, translation across about 100 languages, and custom terminology support through word registration for specialized vocabulary. The workflow follows a simple three-step process of transcription, speaker recognition, and summarization. It is offered in standalone, USB-dongle, and client-server deployment models, with case studies spanning police, government agencies, universities, manufacturers, and financial institutions. A two-week free trial of the standalone version is available. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); SecureMemo is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | SecureMemo |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | On-premise, closed-network, and fully offline operation |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Proprietary "shirushi" speech recognition engine |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Automatic speaker identification |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Automatic meeting-minutes generation with decisions and key points |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Translation across roughly 100 languages |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Custom terminology registration for specialized vocabulary |
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.
SecureMemo
Choose SecureMemo if you need recording board, audit, and executive meetings that cannot leave the organization — strengths include keeps audio and transcripts entirely within the organization for high data security.
Buzz
SecureMemo
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while SecureMemo is strong for recording board, audit, and executive meetings that cannot leave the organization. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and SecureMemo 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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