Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Strella: AI-moderated customer research platform that runs in-depth interviews and synthesizes findings in real time, with an option for human-led calls. 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 Strella when b2b and b2c qualitative studies with built-in recruitment 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.
AI-moderated customer research platform that runs in-depth interviews and synthesizes findings in real time, with an option for human-led calls.
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
Strella is an AI-powered customer research platform designed to run in-depth interviews and generate actionable insights in hours rather than weeks. Teams create a study in minutes using AI-generated, unbiased discussion guides that any team member can refine and launch, and they can either lead interviews themselves or hand moderation to Strella's AI moderator for faster results. During AI-moderated sessions, the platform conducts the conversation and adapts questions in real time based on each participant's responses, asking thoughtful follow-up questions to explore topics more deeply. Strella handles study logistics including recruitment, incentives, and scheduling, and offers a choice between interviewing customers a team already knows or recruiting from a panel of millions of global participants with targeting across professional, demographic, and behavioral segments; it supports research in dozens of languages for both B2B and B2C studies. On the analysis side, the platform synthesizes findings in real time, identifies themes across participants and segments, and lets researchers chat with their research to generate video highlight reels and pull insights at multiple levels, from an individual participant up to broader strategic patterns. The company is venture-backed and reports use by recognized consumer brands. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Strella is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Strella |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | AI moderator conducting adaptive, in-depth interviews in real time |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Optional human-led moderation alongside AI-moderated sessions |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | AI-generated unbiased discussion guides editable by the team |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Recruitment, incentives, and scheduling handled in-platform |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Real-time synthesis with cross-participant and segment-level themes |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Chat-with-research and video highlight reel generation |
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.
Strella
Choose Strella if you need rapid customer discovery and concept validation interviews — strengths include flexibility to run interviews via ai or have a human moderate.
Buzz
Strella
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Strella is strong for rapid customer discovery and concept validation interviews. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Strella is a free tier with paid upgrades. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
You can — some teams pair them when each covers a different part of the meeting workflow.
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