Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Speechmatics: Speech-to-text and voice AI provider offering real-time transcription and live captioning APIs. 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 Speechmatics when embedding automated transcription into meeting or media platforms 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.
Speech-to-text and voice AI provider offering real-time transcription and live captioning APIs.
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
Speechmatics is a speech-to-text and voice AI company that provides transcription and captioning technology through APIs, supporting both recorded and real-time audio across many languages. Its core offering converts speech to text for multilingual, multi-speaker conversations, with low-latency real-time processing suitable for live use. The platform powers live captioning for events, sports, news, and broadcasts, and its transcription technology can be embedded into other products, including meeting platforms that need automated note-taking and captions. Because Speechmatics is delivered primarily as a developer-facing engine, it serves teams building their own applications as well as media and enterprise customers who need accurate speech recognition at scale. It supports features such as multi-speaker handling and broad language coverage, and the company emphasizes security and compliance certifications. Speechmatics is aimed at developers, product teams, media organizations, and enterprises that need to add accurate transcription, subtitles, or live captions to their own workflows and applications rather than use a packaged consumer note-taker. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Speechmatics is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Speechmatics |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Speech-to-text transcription for recorded and real-time audio |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Low-latency real-time processing for live use |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Live captioning for events, broadcasts, and streams |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Multi-speaker and multilingual support across many languages |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | APIs for embedding transcription into other applications |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Speech-to-text transcription for recorded and real-time audio |
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.
Speechmatics
Choose Speechmatics if you need adding live captions to broadcasts, sports, and events — strengths include real-time, low-latency transcription suitable for live captioning.
Buzz
Speechmatics
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Speechmatics is strong for adding live captions to broadcasts, sports, and events. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Speechmatics 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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