Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Sotto: Sotto is a native macOS voice-to-text dictation app that turns speech into text system-wide using local AI transcription models. 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 Sotto when privacy-first transcription of imported audio recordings on-device 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.
Sotto is a native macOS voice-to-text dictation app that turns speech into text system-wide using local AI transcription models.
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
Sotto is a native Swift dictation app for macOS 13 and later that converts speech to text in real time. It works as a system-wide push-to-talk layer: the user holds a hotkey, speaks, and Sotto inserts clean text into whatever app is in focus, from Slack and Notion to Xcode and email fields. Audio is transcribed by local engines, including OpenAI Whisper models (Tiny through Large V3 Turbo and Distil Large V3) and NVIDIA Parakeet v2/v3, so by default recordings never leave the Mac; users can optionally connect cloud providers such as OpenAI or Groq with their own API keys for added accuracy. Beyond live dictation, it can import and re-transcribe audio files, supports 90+ languages, keeps a searchable history of recordings with timestamps, and offers a custom vocabulary dictionary. One-click AI processing can rewrite, summarize, translate, or reformat dictated text. It is aimed at developers, writers, and privacy-conscious professionals who want fast, local voice input rather than a cloud meeting-bot service.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Sotto is a free tier with paid upgrades (paid). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Sotto |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | System-wide push-to-talk dictation that inserts text into any app |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Local on-device transcription via Whisper and NVIDIA Parakeet models |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Audio file import and re-transcription with searchable, timestamped history |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Support for 90+ languages with per-language hotkeys |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | One-click AI processing to summarize, translate, or rewrite dictated text |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Optional cloud transcription via user-supplied OpenAI or Groq API keys |
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.
Sotto
Choose Sotto if you need hands-free dictation of emails, messages, and documents across mac apps — strengths include local processing keeps audio on-device for strong privacy.
Buzz
Sotto
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Sotto is strong for hands-free dictation of emails, messages, and documents across mac apps. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Sotto 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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