Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. SpeechText.AI: AI speech-to-text service that transcribes interviews, meetings and podcasts with speaker ID, domain models and searchable audio. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Buzz when transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline matters most, and SpeechText.AI when converting meeting and podcast recordings into searchable, editable text matters most. Trial each on a few real meetings before you commit — the better fit usually shows fast.
Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper.
AI speech-to-text service that transcribes interviews, meetings and podcasts with speaker ID, domain models and searchable audio.
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
SpeechText.AI is an AI-powered transcription service that converts audio and video into text using automatic speech recognition. It is built to transcribe interviews, meetings, podcasts and other recorded conversations, applying speaker identification to detect which participant spoke which words in multi-person recordings and adding automatic punctuation and formatting. The platform supports more than thirty languages along with various regional accents and offers domain-optimized recognition models for specialized vocabulary in fields such as healthcare, finance and legal work, which helps accuracy on industry-specific terminology. Users can review and verify transcripts with interactive editing tools and export results in multiple formats including TXT, PDF and DOCX. A distinctive feature is natural-language audio search, which lets users find spoken phrases inside their recordings. The company emphasizes European data hosting and GDPR-aligned data residency, which is relevant for researchers and organizations with privacy requirements. SpeechText.AI is a production-ready product with a freemium and pay-as-you-go pricing model, and it serves researchers, medical and legal professionals, podcasters and journalists who need accurate transcripts of recorded audio and the ability to search and edit them efficiently. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); SpeechText.AI is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | SpeechText.AI |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Automatic transcription of uploaded audio and video files |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Speaker identification across multi-participant recordings |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Support for 30+ languages with regional accents |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Domain-optimized models for fields like healthcare, finance and legal |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Interactive transcript editing and verification tools |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Natural-language search inside audio recordings |
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.
SpeechText.AI
Choose SpeechText.AI if you need transcribing research and journalistic interviews with privacy requirements — strengths include domain-specific models can improve accuracy on specialized terminology.
Buzz
SpeechText.AI
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while SpeechText.AI is strong for transcribing research and journalistic interviews with privacy requirements. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and SpeechText.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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