Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Tana: AI workspace with a bot-less meeting notetaker that transcribes and summarizes meetings directly into a connected knowledge base. 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 Tana when turning meeting notes into linked tasks and project knowledge matters most. Run both through a week of actual calls to see which suits your workflow.
Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper.
AI workspace with a bot-less meeting notetaker that transcribes and summarizes meetings directly into a connected knowledge base.
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
Tana is an AI-native workspace that combines outlining, knowledge management, and a built-in meeting notetaker. Its Meeting Notetaker captures, transcribes, and summarizes meetings without requiring a bot to join the call; instead, it records computer system audio directly from the desktop app, which means it works across Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, and even in-person meetings, lectures, and interviews started on the computer. On Mac, Tana can detect when a meeting link is opened and offer to start transcribing immediately. Once captured, transcripts and summaries flow directly into the Tana workspace, where the AI can extract action items and push them to task boards, link the meeting to relevant people and projects, and surface notes where they are needed. It supports many languages with automatic detection and is available on Mac and Windows desktop apps. Tana is aimed at professionals and teams who want their meeting notes to become structured, connected knowledge rather than isolated transcripts, integrating capture with an ongoing personal or team knowledge system. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Tana is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Tana |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Bot-less meeting capture using computer system audio |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Transcription and AI summaries for online and in-person meetings |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Action items pushed directly to task boards in the workspace |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Links meeting notes to relevant people and projects |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Automatic meeting detection on Mac |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | 60+ language support with automatic detection |
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.
Tana
Choose Tana if you need transcribing and summarizing meetings without a bot in the call — strengths include captures meetings without adding a bot to the call.
Buzz
Tana
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Tana is strong for transcribing and summarizing meetings without a bot in the call. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Tana 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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