Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. VoiceToNotes: AI transcription and dictation tool that captures voice and conversations via the device microphone and turns them into formatted, organized notes. 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 VoiceToNotes when transcribing in-person meetings via a phone or laptop microphone 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 transcription and dictation tool that captures voice and conversations via the device microphone and turns them into formatted, organized notes.
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
VoiceToNotes is an AI transcription and voice-to-text tool that converts spoken audio into formatted, organized notes. Rather than sending a bot into a video call, it captures audio through the device microphone, making it usable for dictation, voice memos and in-person or device-side meeting transcription on phones, computers and tablets. It provides real-time speech-to-text and applies AI processing on top of the raw transcript, including grammar correction and formatting, automatic extraction of action items, and organization of notes into collections and folders so they remain searchable later. The tool supports transcription across more than 20 languages, which makes it usable for multilingual users and globally distributed teams. Because it relies on direct microphone capture rather than meeting-bot integrations, it appeals to users who prioritize a simple, private workflow and want to avoid adding a visible participant to their calls. VoiceToNotes serves a broad audience including students, business professionals, healthcare workers and writers who need to turn spoken content into clean written notes. Mobile apps are available on iOS and Android in addition to its web experience. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); VoiceToNotes is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | VoiceToNotes |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Real-time voice-to-text transcription via device microphone |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | AI grammar correction and automatic formatting |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Automatic action item extraction |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Note organization into collections and folders |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Support for 20+ languages |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | iOS and Android apps plus web access |
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.
VoiceToNotes
Choose VoiceToNotes if you need dictating notes and voice memos that auto-format into clean text — strengths include simple, microphone-based capture with no bot joining calls.
Buzz
VoiceToNotes
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while VoiceToNotes is strong for dictating notes and voice memos that auto-format into clean text. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and VoiceToNotes 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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