BYOAIK — Bring Your Own AI Key: a directory of AI tools that run on your own API key.

Buzz

Cross-platform desktop app to transcribe and translate audio offline with Whisper, or via your own OpenAI-compatible API key.

Website Source code

Category:

Voice and Transcription Tools

Pricing:

Open Source

Open source:

Yes (MIT)

Self-hostable:

Yes

Local-first:

Yes

Platforms:

Desktop, CLI, Self-hosted, Docker

AI providers (bring your own key):

OpenAI, Groq, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Ollama, Hugging Face, Custom / OpenAI-compatible

API key storage:

Stored locally on device

Key risk level:

LOW

Trust score:

90/100

Buzz is an open-source, cross-platform desktop application (macOS, Windows, Linux) built with Python and Qt that transcribes and translates audio and video. By default it runs entirely offline using local Whisper implementations (Whisper, Whisper.cpp, Faster Whisper, and Whisper-compatible Hugging Face models, with CUDA/Apple Silicon/Vulkan acceleration). For remote speech recognition, users can set their own OpenAI API key in Preferences. The Preferences screen also exposes a configurable Base URL (default https://api.openai.com/v1/), so the end user can point Buzz at any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. The maintainer-documented Discussion #827 confirms working setups with the user's own keys for Groq (https://api.groq.com/openai/v1, free transcription), Lemonfox, and self-hosted Whisper.cpp servers (RunPod/Vast.ai/TensorDock), and for the translation feature, OpenAI-compatible endpoints from Anthropic, Google Gemini, Ollama, and Groq via custom base URL plus API key. Exports to TXT/SRT/VTT; supports files, YouTube links, live microphone, watch folders, and a CLI.

How your API key is handled

Your API key is stored locally on your device. Requests are sent directly to the AI provider. Because it can be self-hosted, your key never has to touch a third-party backend.

Setup

Open settings, paste your provider API key, choose a model, and start — the key stays on your device.