Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Whisper Memos: iPhone and Apple Watch voice recorder that transcribes memos and meetings and emails you a formatted transcript with an AI summary. 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 Whisper Memos when recording meetings and extracting action items via custom summary prompts matters most. Test each on your own meetings; the right choice tends to become obvious quickly.
Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper.
iPhone and Apple Watch voice recorder that transcribes memos and meetings and emails you a formatted transcript with an AI summary.
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
Whisper Memos is an AI voice-recording app for iPhone and Apple Watch, created by independent developer Vojtech Rinik, that records spoken memos and delivers them back as nicely formatted email transcripts within seconds. You can start a recording from a one-tap iPhone lock-screen widget or hands-free from an Apple Watch complication, making it suited to quick capture of rambling thoughts, meeting notes, lectures, or journal entries. Under the hood it offers multiple transcription engines, including OpenAI Whisper, ElevenLabs, and Cohere, and supports many languages with automatic paragraphing. Every voice note can get an automatic AI summary, and you can create custom summary tabs with your own prompts, for example to extract action items from meeting notes or to reorganize thoughts by topic. The app supports importing audio files in formats such as MP3, M4A, WAV, AAC, and FLAC. An Agents system routes different memos to different destinations, and integrations cover Notion, Trello, Things 3, Todoist, Day One, Evernote, Reflect, and Drafts, plus thousands more via Zapier or Mail Drop. It markets itself explicitly as a dictaphone, an audio recorder for meetings, and a voice journaling app, and has been covered by outlets like Six Colors and MacSparky. Pricing varies by plan. Check the official website for current pricing.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Whisper Memos is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Whisper Memos |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | One-tap iPhone lock-screen and hands-free Apple Watch recording |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Multiple transcription engines (OpenAI Whisper, ElevenLabs, Cohere) |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Automatic AI summaries with custom prompt-based summary tabs |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Transcripts delivered as formatted email with automatic paragraphs |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Audio file import (MP3, M4A, WAV, AAC, FLAC) |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Integrations with Notion, Things 3, Todoist, Day One, and Zapier |
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.
Whisper Memos
Choose Whisper Memos if you need dictating quick notes or ideas hands-free and receiving them by email — strengths include frictionless capture from lock screen or apple watch.
Buzz
Whisper Memos
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Whisper Memos is strong for dictating quick notes or ideas hands-free and receiving them by email. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Whisper Memos 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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