Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Vinyl: AI meeting assistant for accounting and bookkeeping firms that automates client meeting notes and post-meeting actions. 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 Vinyl when tracking post-meeting action items and deadlines across multiple clients 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 meeting assistant for accounting and bookkeeping firms that automates client meeting notes and post-meeting actions.
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
Vinyl is an AI meeting assistant built specifically for accounting and bookkeeping firms to automate the documentation and follow-up work around client meetings. It joins or captures meetings across Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet, and offers a mobile app for in-person client meetings, then produces AI summaries that highlight key points and action items organized by client entity. Vinyl captures and tracks follow-up tasks with deadlines so commitments do not fall through the cracks, and it can deploy notes and actions into a firm's practice management software automatically. An AI chat capability lets users query previous meetings and analyze trends across multiple client interactions, and the tool can help generate follow-up emails, scope-of-work documents, and handoff notes from meeting content. Aimed at improving client experience and reducing post-meeting admin, Vinyl positions itself around saving time on documentation for each hour of client meetings. It launched into private beta with a group of firms before becoming generally available, and is operating as a live product for accounting and bookkeeping professionals managing recurring client relationships. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Vinyl is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Vinyl |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Meeting capture across Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Mobile app for in-person client meetings |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | AI summaries with key points and action items organized by client entity |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Action item tracking with deadlines |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Deployment of notes and actions into practice management software |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | AI chat to query past meetings and analyze trends across clients |
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.
Vinyl
Choose Vinyl if you need documenting client onboarding and advisory meetings at accounting firms — strengths include purpose-built for accounting and bookkeeping firm workflows.
Buzz
Vinyl
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Vinyl is strong for documenting client onboarding and advisory meetings at accounting firms. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Vinyl 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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