Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. VexaScribe: AI transcription service for uploaded files and live meetings, with speaker detection, summaries, and subtitle exports. Which one wins depends on your platform mix, budget, and how hands-off you want notes to be.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Buzz when transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline matters most, and VexaScribe when capturing and summarizing live zoom, meet, or teams meetings via a bot 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 transcription service for uploaded files and live meetings, with speaker detection, summaries, and subtitle exports.
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
VexaScribe is an AI transcription platform that converts audio and video into text for both uploaded recordings and live meetings. Users can upload files such as interviews, podcasts, and lectures, or deploy a bot that joins Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams sessions to capture meetings as they happen. The service supports a wide range of audio and video formats and offers bulk upload so multiple files can be processed at once. Transcripts include automatic speaker detection and labeling along with timestamps, and they can be exported in several formats including TXT, DOCX, JSON, and the SRT and VTT subtitle formats commonly used for captions. VexaScribe also generates AI summaries tailored to different content types, including meeting, interview, sales, lecture, and podcast formats, and offers built-in translation into many languages. The product, which the company notes was previously known as NovaScribe, supports a large set of transcription languages and is presented as an actively operating tool with a free trial. It targets researchers, journalists, content creators, and teams who need both file-based and live meeting transcription with shareable, captionable output. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); VexaScribe is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | VexaScribe |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | File upload transcription plus a bot that joins Zoom, Meet, and Teams meetings |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Automatic speaker detection and labeling with timestamps |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | AI summaries for meeting, interview, sales, lecture, and podcast formats |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Subtitle exports in SRT and VTT plus TXT, DOCX, and JSON |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Built-in translation into many languages |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Bulk upload for processing multiple files at once |
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.
VexaScribe
Choose VexaScribe if you need transcribing recorded interviews and podcasts into editable text — strengths include handles both uploaded files and live meeting capture in one tool.
Buzz
VexaScribe
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while VexaScribe is strong for transcribing recorded interviews and podcasts into editable text. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and VexaScribe is a free tier with paid upgrades. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
Sure. Running both makes sense when their strengths don't overlap and the budget allows.
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