Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Vizard: Vizard is an AI video tool that transcribes audio and video into searchable, editable text in 30+ languages while automatically detecting highlights and turning long recordings into short clips. Below, they line up on price, capture method, and how each fits a real meeting stack.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Buzz when transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline matters most, and Vizard when converting zoom or other recorded meetings into transcripts and shareable clips 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.
Vizard is an AI video tool that transcribes audio and video into searchable, editable text in 30+ languages while automatically detecting highlights and turning long recordings into short clips.
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
Vizard is a multimodal AI video platform whose transcription engine converts uploaded audio and video into searchable, editable text. Users can transcribe files from their computer, paste a YouTube link, or import Zoom recordings, then read and edit the result like a document. The tool supports 30+ languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Hindi, and Arabic, and lets users export transcripts as .SRT or .TXT files. Beyond plain transcription, Vizard analyzes the recording to identify key moments and highlights, auto-generate captions and subtitles, and produce short, social-ready clips with smart titles. Its transcript-based editor lets you trim footage, cut bad takes, and remove silences simply by deleting words. Vizard is aimed primarily at content creators, podcasters, marketers, coaches, and agencies who repurpose long-form video, but the transcription and Zoom-import features also serve anyone needing voice-to-text. It offers a team workspace for collaboration, brand templates, and caption translation into many additional languages.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Vizard is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Vizard |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | AI transcription of audio and video into searchable, editable text in 30+ languages |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Imports from computer uploads, YouTube links, and Zoom recordings |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Transcript-based editing - cut footage by deleting words, remove silences and bad takes |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Automatic highlight/chapter and key-clip detection from long recordings |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Auto-generated captions and subtitles with translation into many languages |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Transcript export to .SRT and .TXT, plus team workspace collaboration |
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.
Vizard
Choose Vizard if you need transcribing podcasts, webinars, or recorded videos into editable, searchable text — strengths include transcribes both audio and video and supports a wide range of languages.
Buzz
Vizard
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Vizard is strong for transcribing podcasts, webinars, or recorded videos into editable, searchable text. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Vizard 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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