Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Voicegain: Speech-to-text and ASR platform with developer APIs plus a private LLM-powered meeting notetaker. We compare them on cost, capture approach, and day-to-day fit so you can choose faster.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Buzz when transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline matters most, and Voicegain when building telephony voice bots and call analytics 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.
Speech-to-text and ASR platform with developer APIs plus a private LLM-powered meeting notetaker.
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
Voicegain is a speech recognition company that offers both speech-to-text APIs for developers and a packaged meeting assistant called Transcribe. Its ASR engine supports batch transcription of recorded files and real-time streaming for live audio, and it can be deployed in the cloud, in a customer's virtual private cloud, or on-premises, which appeals to organizations with strict data-control or privacy requirements. On the developer side, Voicegain provides speech-to-text, speech-analytics, and telephony-bot APIs that can transcribe audio and analyze it for sentiment, named entities, topics, and intent. Its meeting product, Transcribe, is described as a private, LLM-powered meeting notetaker that captures audio from video-meeting browser tabs and uploaded recordings, integrates with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, and automatically identifies topics and highlights from a conversation. A Windows desktop app supports Zoom local recordings. Because Voicegain spans both an underlying ASR platform and an end-user meeting tool, it suits teams that want either to build on its APIs or to use a ready meeting notetaker with flexible deployment and a focus on keeping data private. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Voicegain is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Voicegain |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Batch and real-time speech-to-text APIs |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Private LLM-powered meeting notetaker (Transcribe) |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Integrations with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Speech analytics: sentiment, named entities, topics, and intent |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Cloud, VPC, and on-premises deployment options |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Telephony bot APIs for voice agents |
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.
Voicegain
Choose Voicegain if you need taking private, automated notes for zoom, teams, and meet calls — strengths include flexible deployment including on-premises for data control.
Buzz
Voicegain
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Voicegain is strong for taking private, automated notes for zoom, teams, and meet calls. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Voicegain is a free tier with paid upgrades. Check each vendor's pricing page for the latest plans and free-tier limits.
Often yes: teams combine tools when one handles capture and another handles analysis.
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