Vibe
FreeThe lightest local transcription desktop app — a few dozen MB to install
A cross-platform desktop transcription app: open it, drag a file in, fully offline. Its installers are the smallest of the class at 43.2 MB on Windows, 39.8 MB on macOS and roughly 38 MB for the Linux deb — about a tenth of Buzz's macOS build.
Why we picked it
Vibe optimizes for lightness. 7,091 stars, MIT, latest v3.0.23 (15 July 2026) — shipping even more often than Buzz.
The obvious advantage is size: 43.2 MB on Windows and 39.8 MB on macOS, against Buzz's 449 MB macOS ARM64 build. It has fewer features (less batch tooling, fewer export formats), but for the everyday job of turning one recording into text it is clean.
It has the fewest stars here, so the community is small and there are fewer answers to find when something goes wrong.