The best Espanso alternatives for Mac

Espanso is a free, open source text expander. You type a keyword and it's replaced with longer text, in any app, on Mac, Windows and Linux. Its site lists forms you fill in before the text is typed, dates in the past or future, the output of shell commands and scripts, and packages you can install from the Espanso Hub or publish there. Option and Space on a Mac opens a search bar to find a snippet by name. It's licensed under GPL 3 and paid for by donations.

Everything lives in plain YAML files. On a Mac that's ~/Library/Application Support/espanso, with your snippets in match/base.yml. Its getting started guide has you add a trigger and its replacement there, warns that the indentation must be right and that spaces beat tabs, and says Espanso reloads by itself when you save. There's no editor app; one is planned.

We make Koi, so read this with that in mind. Koi is first below because it's ours, and it is not a text expander: its snippets work by voice, while you dictate. If you type and want something like Espanso with a window to manage it, the real alternatives start at number 2. Every fact about another app comes from that app's own site, checked October 21, 2026.

• YAML. A wrong indent breaks a snippet, and there's no window to add one.
• You want your snippets on an iPhone or iPad too.
• You want formatted text or pictures in a snippet, which Espanso's site doesn't list.
• Your team needs one shared library with permissions.
• You talk more than you type, and want saved text typed when you say a phrase.

In Espanso, from its guide:

1. Run espanso edit in Terminal, or open match/base.yml in Espanso's folder.
2. Under matches, add a trigger, like :br, and the replace text, indented with spaces.
3. Save the file. Espanso reloads by itself.
4. Type :br in any app and the text appears.

In Koi, by voice:

1. Open Koi's Settings and pick Dictation.
2. Under Snippets, add a phrase and its text, like “my sign-off” and the lines you end emails with.
3. Tap Fn + ⌥ in any app and talk. When you say the phrase, the saved text is typed in its place.

Koi matches the phrase whatever its case and the punctuation between its words. Said as a sentence on its own, its full stop goes with it, and the longer phrase wins when two overlap. Details in names, snippets and styles.

Espanso watches what you type and swaps a trigger, often starting with a colon like “:br”, for its text. It's precise and scriptable: a snippet can run a shell command, fill in a form or work out a date. The cost is that you learn and remember the triggers, and edit YAML to add new ones.

Koi listens instead. While you dictate, it watches for phrases you saved, like “my address” or “my sign-off”, and types their text in their place. There's no trigger syntax, and you add a snippet in a window. In return, it's much less powerful: the text is typed exactly as you saved it, with nothing worked out at the time.

The two don't clash. Koi's snippets only fire inside dictation, and Espanso only reacts to typing, so you can run both: Espanso when you type, Koi when you talk.

Snippets often hold the things you'd least like to leak: addresses, phone numbers, account numbers, stock replies to clients. Here's where each app keeps them, from their own sites:

• Espanso: YAML files in a folder on your computer.
• Typinator: stored on your Mac, with sync through iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive or your own server only if you turn it on.
• TextExpander: synced through your TextExpander account on every plan, including Free.
• aText: on your Mac, with optional sync through iCloud Drive or Dropbox.
• Koi: on your Mac, with your dictionary and the rest of your dictation settings. Dictation runs on your Mac too, so what you say isn't sent anywhere to be written down.

Koi has no sync and no iPhone app, so the same thing that keeps snippets on your Mac also keeps them off your other devices.

From each app's own site. “Not listed” means the site doesn't mention it.

• Free, with a window instead of YAML? Raycast Snippets, or Alfred's Powerpack.
• Polished, kept on your Mac, paid once? Typinator.
• A team, and snippets on every device? TextExpander.
• A few plain shortcuts? macOS Text Replacements.
• You dictate, and want saved text typed when you say a phrase? Koi.

If you're curious about writing by voice, read how to dictate on a Mac, then see Koi's plans.