Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Whisperit: Whisperit is a Swiss-hosted, AI-powered workspace for legal professionals that turns voice dictation into formatted legal documents and supports case analysis and research. This comparison weighs them on pricing, features, and everyday workflow fit.
How Hosiqo compares and tests toolsFinal recommendation
Shortlist Buzz when transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline matters most, and Whisperit when reviewing and extracting key facts, parties, and timelines from case files and contracts 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.
Whisperit is a Swiss-hosted, AI-powered workspace for legal professionals that turns voice dictation into formatted legal documents and supports case analysis and research.
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
Whisperit is an AI-powered workspace built for lawyers, law firms, solo practitioners, and notaries. Its core is voice-first dictation: users speak naturally and Whisperit transcribes their words in real time, with speaker labels and legal-specific vocabulary, then turns the result into a structured, formatted legal document ready to review and edit. Beyond dictation, the platform analyzes uploaded case files, PDFs, and emails to extract parties, dates, and key facts, and offers legal research that returns cited answers from a user's documents and external legal databases. Drafting templates and style profiles apply firm-specific citation, numbering, and tone rules. It supports dictation and correspondence in German, French, Italian, Dutch, and English. Whisperit emphasizes security and compliance: data is hosted on Swiss servers, encrypted, and compliant with GDPR and Swiss data protection law, with team collaboration features including real-time editing and version tracking. Integrations include Microsoft Word, Outlook, Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint, Gmail, DocuSign, IncaMail, and PDF tools. It primarily serves European legal teams.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Whisperit is custom pricing (contact sales). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Whisperit |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Real-time voice dictation transcribed into formatted legal documents |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Speaker labels and legal-specific vocabulary recognition |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Document analysis extracting parties, dates, and key facts from case files, PDFs, and emails |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Legal research returning cited answers from documents and external databases |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Drafting templates and style profiles enforcing firm-specific citation, numbering, and tone |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | Multilingual support across German, French, Italian, Dutch, and English |
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.
Whisperit
Choose Whisperit if you need lawyers dictating and drafting formatted legal documents by voice — strengths include purpose-built for legal workflows with practice-area templates and legal vocabulary.
Buzz
Whisperit
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Whisperit is strong for lawyers dictating and drafting formatted legal documents by voice. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Whisperit is custom pricing. 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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