Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Tactiq: Tactiq is a browser-based AI meeting assistant that transcribes Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams calls in real time with no bot, then generates summaries and action items. 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 Tactiq when capturing action items and follow-ups without manual note-taking 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.
Tactiq is a browser-based AI meeting assistant that transcribes Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams calls in real time with no bot, then generates summaries and action items.
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
Tactiq is an AI meeting assistant that runs as a Chrome (and Edge) browser extension and captures live captions to transcribe Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams calls in real time, without sending a bot to join the meeting. After each call it produces AI summaries, extracts action items and follow-ups, and lets you run custom AI prompts against the transcript to pull out decisions or answers. Transcripts can be shared, exported, and pushed into other tools through its integrations, which include Slack, HubSpot, Salesforce, Notion, and Confluence, with Linear and Google Docs among the workflows (Google Docs is marked coming soon). It supports 60+ languages. The free plan allows 10 transcripts and 5 AI credits per month with no credit card required; paid plans add unlimited transcripts, more or unlimited AI credits, team auto-sharing, and enterprise controls such as SAML SSO and advanced data retention.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Tactiq is from $8/mo (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Tactiq |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Real-time no-bot transcription |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | AI meeting summaries |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Action item extraction |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Custom AI prompts |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Workflow integrations & export |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Real-time no-bot transcription |
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.
Tactiq
Choose Tactiq if you need automatically transcribing and summarizing recurring team or client meetings — strengths include transcribes in real time without adding a bot to the call, since it works as a browser extension capturing live captions.
Buzz
Tactiq
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Tactiq is strong for automatically transcribing and summarizing recurring team or client meetings. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Tactiq is from $8/mo. 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.
More head-to-head comparisons involving Buzz and Tactiq.
Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. CLOVA Note: South Korean AI meeting-minutes service by Naver that records meetings, transcribes speech, separates speakers, and generates summaries and action items. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Calendly Notetaker: An AI meeting notetaker built into the Calendly scheduling platform that records meetings and generates summaries, transcripts, and action items. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.
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Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Castmagic: AI content platform that transcribes podcasts, videos, and recorded meetings with speaker diarization and turns them into show notes, summaries, and other assets. The right pick comes down to team size, budget, and the workflows you want to automate.
Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Celeste AI: Brazilian Portuguese-focused AI voice and transcription platform offering on-demand transcription plus a meeting assistant and AI notes, with credit-based and subscription plans. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Choppity: AI video and audio platform that transcribes recordings, generates styled captions, and turns long-form content into short clips. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Claap: Async video plus AI meeting recording and CRM updates This comparison weighs them on pricing, features, and everyday workflow fit.
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