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An open-source alternative to Descript

Buzz is the one project in our catalog listed as a replacement for Descript. It is audio software with 22.3K GitHub stars. Below is how it measures against the questions people usually ask first.

Buzz

Audio

Offline transcripts from the audio you keep.

Buzz brings recorded media and microphone input into a transcript-review workflow. After local recognition, users can search and replay text, prepare timed subtitles, or automate repeated imports. Model backends and acceleration vary with the installation, and the current macOS release requires Apple Silicon.

  • Transcribe or translate local audio, video, microphone input, and YouTube links
  • Run Whisper-family backends with Apple Silicon, CUDA, or Vulkan acceleration
  • Review, search, and export transcripts as TXT, SRT, or VTT

What people use it for

Create subtitles from recorded media

Import an audio or video file, choose a local model and language settings, inspect the transcript alongside playback, and export timed SRT or VTT captions for editing or publication.

Provide live transcription at an event

Capture microphone audio in real time and show the dedicated presentation window so spoken material remains visible during a meeting, lecture, or accessibility-focused event.

Automate a recurring transcription queue

Use a watched folder or the command-line interface to process incoming recordings repeatedly. Optional plugins can add follow-on work; assess a plugin's services and data handling separately from local transcription.

22.3K starsMITPythonLatest release Aug 2026Website ↗Full profile →

Fact checklist

The same questions the pages with more alternatives let you sort by, answered for Buzz.

  • Permissive licence (MIT, Apache, BSD)Licence: MIT (permissive)
  • Open-source licence (copyleft or permissive)Licence: MIT (permissive)
  • Released in the last 90 daysLatest GitHub release Aug 23, 2026 (Aug 2026)
  • Gaining stars this week+143 stars in the last 7 days
  • Written in PythonMain language on GitHub
  • Recommended in a stackIn Content creator

Data from GitHub and our catalog. Every listing is hand-approved. List prices are what the vendor publishes, not a quote, and self-hosting has its own running costs.