Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Speakwise: iPhone-first AI note taker that records in-person conversations and turns them into transcripts, summaries, and action items with Notion sync. The right pick comes down to team size, budget, and the workflows you want to automate.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Buzz when transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline matters most, and Speakwise when capturing field or site meetings for recruiters, agents, and managers 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.
iPhone-first AI note taker that records in-person conversations and turns them into transcripts, summaries, and action items with Notion sync.
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
Speakwise is an iPhone-focused AI voice recorder and note taker designed for capturing in-person meetings and conversations. Users tap record to capture audio directly from the iPhone microphone, without joining a video call or adding a meeting bot, and the app produces voice-to-text transcripts in a wide range of languages along with AI-generated summaries, key decisions, and extracted action items. It supports offline recording so conversations can be captured in areas without connectivity, keeps a searchable archive of past transcripts, and syncs captured notes to Notion for downstream organization. Speakwise positions itself for professionals who hold frequent face-to-face conversations and need hands-free documentation, including consultants, recruiters, real estate agents, construction managers, and executives, as well as people who want a personal knowledge record of meetings on the go. Because it is built natively for iOS and captures from the device microphone rather than the meeting platform, it is oriented toward in-room and mobile use rather than automated bot capture of remote video calls; an Android version is not offered. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Speakwise is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Speakwise |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Direct iPhone microphone recording with no bot or video-call join required |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Voice-to-text transcription across many languages |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | AI-generated summaries, decisions, and action items |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Offline recording for low-connectivity environments |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Notion integration for syncing notes |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Searchable transcript archive |
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.
Speakwise
Choose Speakwise if you need recording in-person client or sales conversations hands-free — strengths include strong fit for in-person meetings and mobile capture.
Buzz
Speakwise
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Speakwise is strong for recording in-person client or sales conversations hands-free. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Speakwise 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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