Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. SkyScribe: AI transcription and subtitle platform that turns audio and video into editable text, captions, and repurposed content. 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 SkyScribe when turning interview and meeting recordings into summaries and action items 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.
AI transcription and subtitle platform that turns audio and video into editable text, captions, and repurposed content.
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
SkyScribe is an AI transcription, translation, and audio-to-text platform that converts video and audio into editable text and subtitle files. Users can upload media, paste YouTube links, or record directly, and SkyScribe produces a transcript with speaker labels and timestamps. The platform is built for podcasters, video creators, and professionals who handle meetings and interviews, and it leans into turning raw transcripts into usable content: it offers transcript editing with one-click cleanup and filler-word removal, resegmentation that restructures content into customizable blocks, and custom data extraction for summaries, action items, and sentiment. SkyScribe supports translation into more than one hundred languages while keeping original timestamps aligned, which allows subtitle-ready output for international audiences. Export options are broad, spanning SRT subtitles, VTT captions, plus formats such as DOCX, TXT, Markdown, PDF, JSON, and CSV, and it integrates with tools including YouTube Studio, Notion, n8n, and Supabase. A generous daily free transcription allowance lets users test the service, with paid plans offering larger files and unlimited subtitle generation. This makes SkyScribe suitable for transcribing and captioning podcasts, videos, interviews, and meeting recordings within a single workflow. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); SkyScribe is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | SkyScribe |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | AI transcription with speaker labels and timestamps for audio and video |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Subtitle and caption export including SRT and VTT, plus DOCX, TXT, Markdown, PDF, JSON, and CSV |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Translation into more than one hundred languages with aligned timestamps |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Transcript editing with one-click cleanup and filler-word removal |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Custom data extraction for summaries, action items, and sentiment |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Integrations with YouTube Studio, Notion, n8n, and Supabase |
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.
SkyScribe
Choose SkyScribe if you need transcribing and captioning podcasts and videos with multi-format export — strengths include very broad set of export formats covering captions, documents, and data.
Buzz
SkyScribe
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while SkyScribe is strong for transcribing and captioning podcasts and videos with multi-format export. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and SkyScribe 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.
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