Buzz: Popular open-source desktop app that transcribes and translates audio offline on your own computer using OpenAI's Whisper. Yung Sidekick: An AI assistant that turns therapy session recordings or spoken recaps into structured clinical progress notes for mental health professionals. 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 Yung Sidekick when creating treatment plans and client/therapist reports for mental health practices 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.
An AI assistant that turns therapy session recordings or spoken recaps into structured clinical progress notes for mental health professionals.
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
Yung Sidekick is an AI documentation assistant built specifically for mental health professionals such as psychotherapists, psychologists, counselors, and group practices. It captures sessions in three ways: recording online sessions with its built-in tool, uploading existing audio files, or using a "Dictate Recap" feature where the clinician describes the session verbally afterward. From this audio, the platform generates progress notes in multiple clinical formats including SOAP, DAP, BIRP, and GIRP, along with treatment plans and detailed therapist and client reports, plus session transcripts and analytics. The service runs as a web application (app.yung-sidekick.com), and generated reports can be copied or integrated into a clinician's existing clinical software and workflow. It emphasizes privacy and regulatory compliance, stating it is HIPAA, PHIPA, PIPEDA, and GDPR compliant, with a Business Associate Agreement available, end-to-end encryption, and automatic audio deletion after processing. It is aimed at clinicians who want to reduce time spent on administrative documentation while maintaining clinical focus.
Best suited for
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium); Yung Sidekick is a free tier with paid upgrades (freemium). Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site before buying.
| Feature | Buzz | Yung Sidekick |
|---|---|---|
| Core capability | Offline transcription and translation using OpenAI's Whisper | Records online sessions, accepts audio uploads, or generates notes from a spoken Dictate Recap |
| Standout feature | Real-time transcription from microphone input | Generates progress notes in multiple clinical formats (SOAP, DAP, BIRP, GIRP, and more) |
| Team usage | Speaker identification and speech separation for noisy audio | Produces treatment plans and detailed therapist and client reports |
| Integrations | Exports to TXT, SRT, and VTT | Provides session transcripts and progress analytics |
| Languages & capture | Watch folder for automatic transcription and a command-line interface | Notes and reports can be copied or integrated into existing clinical software |
| Best-fit workflow | GPU acceleration via CUDA, Apple Silicon, and Vulkan | HIPAA, PHIPA, PIPEDA, and GDPR compliance with end-to-end encryption and automatic audio deletion |
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.
Yung Sidekick
Choose Yung Sidekick if you need automatically drafting therapy progress notes from recorded or dictated sessions — strengths include purpose-built for therapy documentation with multiple recognized clinical note formats.
Buzz
Yung Sidekick
It depends on your workflow. Buzz is strong for transcribing recorded meetings, interviews, podcasts, or lectures offline, while Yung Sidekick is strong for automatically drafting therapy progress notes from recorded or dictated sessions. Both transcribe and summarize meetings.
Buzz is a free tier with paid upgrades and Yung Sidekick 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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