Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. SoundType AI: SoundType AI is an AI audio and video transcription platform that converts recordings into text with speaker identification, AI summaries, and an interactive chat to query the content. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Buzz when transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline matters most, and SoundType AI when producing labeled transcripts of interviews and podcasts for content creation 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.
SoundType AI is an AI audio and video transcription platform that converts recordings into text with speaker identification, AI summaries, and an interactive chat to query the 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
SoundType AI is an AI-powered transcription platform that converts audio and video recordings into searchable, editable text. It is built for professionals, content creators, students, and researchers handling meetings, interviews, lectures, and podcasts. Users upload common audio formats such as MP3, WAV, M4A, and WMA, and the service transcribes them while automatically identifying and tagging different speakers (speaker diarization) to produce structured, easy-to-follow transcripts. Beyond plain transcription, it generates AI summaries that condense long recordings into key points and highlights, and offers an interactive "chat with your audio" feature that lets users ask questions about a recording and receive answers drawn from the transcribed content. SoundType AI advertises support for over 90 languages and dialects and lets users export transcripts as TXT, SRT, PDF, and DOCX files. It is available across the web, iOS, and Android, with synced access. The product distinguishes itself by combining accurate multilingual transcription with summarization and conversational querying of recordings in one tool.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); SoundType AI is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | SoundType AI |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Audio and video transcription supporting MP3, WAV, M4A, and WMA files |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Automatic speaker identification (diarization) that tags different speakers |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | AI-generated summaries condensing transcripts into key points and highlights |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Interactive chat to ask questions and get answers from recorded content |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Support for over 90 languages and dialects |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Export to TXT, SRT, PDF, and DOCX formats |
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.
SoundType AI
Choose SoundType AI if you need transcribing and summarizing team meetings and capturing action items — strengths include combines transcription, speaker labeling, ai summaries, and chat-with-audio in one tool.
Buzz
SoundType AI
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while SoundType AI is strong for transcribing and summarizing team meetings and capturing action items. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and SoundType AI is a free tier with paid upgrades. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
Yes. Many teams run more than one meeting assistant when the workflows are complementary.
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