The best TextExpander alternatives for Mac

TextExpander turns a short abbreviation into a longer piece of text as you type: an email reply, a signature, an address, a block of code. Snippets can ask you to fill in parts before they're typed, live in groups, and be shared with a team with view and edit permissions. You can search them inline, and its Chrome extension suggests snippets with AI. It runs on Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad and Chrome, with one account and your snippets synced across all of them.

On TextExpander's pricing, Free allows 5 active snippets and one swap every two weeks. Pro is $60 a user a year, billed yearly, and Business $120 a user a year; monthly billing costs more, and Enterprise is priced by sales. New accounts get a 30-day preview of the paid features, then move to Free and keep their snippets with 5 active. An account is required.

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 a TextExpander replacement, the real ones start at number 2. Every fact about another app comes from that app's own site, checked October 21, 2026.

• Price. Pro is $60 a year for one person, and the free plan stops at 5 active snippets.
• The account. You need one, and snippets sync through it, even if you only use one Mac.
• You'd rather pay once. Several Mac expanders sell a one-time license.
• You want something free and open source you can keep in plain files.
• You talk more than you type, and want saved text to come out when you say a phrase.

The free way, built into macOS, from Apple's text replacement guide:

1. Open System Settings, then Keyboard.
2. Click Text Replacements.
3. Click the add button, type the short text in Replace and the full text in With, then click Add.
4. Type the short text in an app and it's replaced as you go.

With Koi, by voice:

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

The phrase works whatever its case and the punctuation Koi hears between its words. Said as a sentence on its own, its full stop goes with it, and when two phrases overlap, the longer one wins. Our help page on names, snippets and styles covers the rest.

A text expander saves keystrokes for people who type. You learn a code, like “;sig”, and the expander watches what you type for it. Voice snippets are for people who already write by talking. There's nothing to memorise beyond a phrase you'd say anyway, like “my address”, and it can come in the middle of a sentence you're dictating.

Each has things the other can't do. Typed snippets work in every field the moment you type, can ask for fill-ins, and on TextExpander, sync to your phone and your team. Voice snippets need dictation to be running, but they let you write a whole email by voice and drop in the fixed parts without touching the keyboard.

They don't get in each other's way. Koi's snippets only fire inside dictation, so you can keep a text expander for typing and use Koi when you talk.

Snippets are one of several things in Koi's Settings, under Dictation, that make dictated text come out right without editing:

• Your words: names, brands and terms spelled your way, up to 300. Fix a word Koi typed while it's still in the field and Koi adds it by itself.
• Voice commands: say “new line”, “new paragraph” or “clear all” while dictating.
• App styles: Casual or Formal for any app. Casual leaves off the full stop at the end, for chats and code.
• Clean-up: the ums and stammers go, “3, no, 4” keeps only the 4, and a list you say comes out as a list. All on your Mac.

Dictation itself runs on your Mac and works offline, so your snippets and what you say stay there. If you're comparing dictation apps rather than expanders, our Wispr Flow alternatives page covers the ones that also have snippets.

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

• Free and powerful, and you don't mind YAML? Espanso.
• The closest Mac match, paid once, kept on your Mac? Typinator.
• You already live in Raycast or Alfred? Their snippets.
• A few plain replacements, free? macOS Text Replacements.
• You dictate, and want your address, sign-off or standard reply typed when you say a phrase? Koi.

New to dictation? Start with how to dictate on a Mac, then see Koi's plans.