Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. SummarizeX: AI voice-memo app that records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings, calls, and lectures across phone, smartwatch, and web. Here's where each one pulls ahead on pricing, features, and the meetings it suits best.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Buzz when transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline matters most, and SummarizeX when turning recorded lectures into structured study notes matters most. Test each on your own meetings; the right choice tends to become obvious quickly.
Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper.
AI voice-memo app that records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings, calls, and lectures across phone, smartwatch, and web.
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
SummarizeX is an AI voice-recording and note-taking app built by SoftRadix Technologies that lets you capture meetings, calls, lectures, and personal voice memos and turn them into transcripts and structured summaries. You can record live audio directly on a phone, Apple Watch, or Wear OS device, including offline without an internet connection, or import existing files such as audio, video, PDFs, Word documents, spreadsheets, and images containing text, as well as YouTube and website links. Its AI engine transcribes speech in more than 120 languages and offers several summary output formats, including a quick overview with key points, a detailed summary, a lecture-notes mode, and a structured list of action items for meetings. An interactive chat feature lets you ask questions about any transcript. The app integrates with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams for meeting capture, and supports multi-format export. SummarizeX is available on iOS (iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac with Apple Silicon, and Vision Pro), Android phones and Wear OS, and as a web app at app.summarizex.ai. The website footer reflects active operation into 2026. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); SummarizeX is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | SummarizeX |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Records meetings, calls, lectures, and voice memos on phone, Apple Watch, or Wear OS, including offline |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | AI transcription supporting 120+ languages |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Multiple summary formats: overview/key points, detailed summary, lecture notes, and action items |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Imports audio, video, PDFs, documents, images with text, plus YouTube and website links |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Interactive chat to ask questions about a transcript |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Integrations with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams |
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.
SummarizeX
Choose SummarizeX if you need capturing and summarizing in-person or remote meetings with action items — strengths include wide platform coverage including ios, android, smartwatches, and web.
Buzz
SummarizeX
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while SummarizeX is strong for capturing and summarizing in-person or remote meetings with action items. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and SummarizeX 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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