Two great open-source tools, different use cases
Buzz is a capable open-source Whisper GUI for transcribing files — with impressive model backend support and export options. Echo is built for the "speak and it types for you" workflow: global shortcut, auto-paste, VAD, and LLM refinement, optimized for daily dictation.
Buzz is great for transcribing files. Echo is designed for the "speak and it types for you" workflow.
Download Echo FreeFeature by feature
| Feature | Echo | Buzz |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ✓Free forever | ✓Free forever |
| Open Source | ✓MIT License | ✓MIT License (github.com/chidiwilliams/buzz) |
| Platforms | ✓macOS, Windows, Linux | ✓macOS, Windows, Linux |
| Account Required | ✓Never | ✓Never |
| Global Shortcut + Auto-Paste | ✓Yes — speak and it types in any app | ✗Limited — no clean global dictation |
| Voice Activity Detection | ✓Yes — auto-detects speech | ✗Manual recording |
| LLM Post-Processing | ✓Yes — optional AI refinement | ✗Not available |
| Offline Processing | ✓100% local | ✓100% local (multiple backends) |
| Whisper Backends | ✓Local Whisper with three model sizes | ✓Whisper, whisper.cpp, faster-whisper, HuggingFace, OpenAI API |
| Language Support | ✓100 languages via Whisper | ✓1000+ languages via Meta MMS models |
| Export Formats | ✓Not available | ✓SRT, VTT, TXT, and more |
| Batch File Processing | ✓Not available | ✓Yes |
Why Echo for daily voice dictation
Designed for Daily Dictation
Buzz is excellent for transcribing files — but the workflow Echo is built for is different: press shortcut, speak, it types directly into your email, code editor, or document. This 'speak and it types' flow is Echo's core purpose.
Auto-Paste Into Any App
Echo's global shortcut triggers dictation and automatically pastes the result into whatever app has focus. No copy-paste step, no switching windows. Buzz doesn't offer this out of the box.
Voice Activity Detection + LLM
Echo automatically detects when you start and stop speaking using VAD, then optionally passes your transcription through a local LLM to clean up punctuation and remove filler words. Buzz requires manual recording controls.
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Download Echo FreeFree forever · MIT License · Open source on GitHub