Alfred Alternatives for Mac: What Replaces Each Feature

Raycast is the closest Alfred alternative on Mac. It is a keyboard launcher with clipboard history, snippets, a calculator and extensions, and you can start for free. If you mostly use Alfred to open apps, find files and do quick sums, Spotlight (⌘Space, Command-Space) already does that at no cost. For the clipboard history and snippets that need Alfred's paid Powerpack, a dedicated clipboard manager such as Maccy plus macOS Text Replacements covers most of it.

People usually look for alternatives for a few reasons. Alfred's clipboard history, Snippets and workflows all need the paid Powerpack, and the cheaper Single License covers only the current major version on two Macs. Alfred is also Mac only, and we found no notes or to-do features in it.

Quick list:

• Raycast: best for a full Alfred replacement with a large extension library.
• Spotlight: best for launching apps, finding files and quick math with nothing to install.
• Text Replacements and Shortcuts (built into macOS): best for free snippets and simple automations.
• Maccy: best for clipboard history on its own, cheap and open source.
• Gubb: best if you want a notes scratchpad and text clipboard history in one window, bought once. It is not a launcher.

We make Gubb, so weigh our view accordingly. We've tried to be fair to every app here, including the free ones that may be all you need.

Which Alfred alternative replaces each feature

Alfred bundles several jobs. You don't have to replace them all with one app.

Alfred alternatives compared: price and limits

Prices are as of November 2026.

Raycast

Raycast covers the same core jobs as Alfred and the Powerpack, and adds more. It is a keyboard launcher with extensions, clipboard history, snippets, notes, a calculator, window management, dictation and AI.

What it does well:

• Clipboard history with pinning, filtering by type and paste as plain text. The free plan keeps 3 months of history; Pro keeps unlimited history.
• A large extension library, which is the nearest thing to Alfred workflows.
• A calculator rebuilt in version 2.12 (12 November 2026) that handles dates, time zones and similar maths.
• Raycast Notes. One review says the free plan keeps 5 notes.
• It also runs on Windows and iOS, though some commands differ between macOS and Windows.

What it lacks: there is no one-time purchase in the sources we checked. Dictation, unlimited clipboard history, cloud sync and AI all need a subscription. It is a launcher, not a dedicated notes window or board app.

Price (as of November 2026): free plan; Pro $10/month with 500 AI credits (Raycast's own blog), or about $8/month billed yearly according to reviews; Pro+ $20/month with 3,000 credits; Max $50/month.

Pick Raycast if you want a single launcher that replaces Alfred and the Powerpack, and you're fine with the free plan or a subscription. If Raycast isn't right either, see our list of Raycast alternatives.

Spotlight and the other free tools built into macOS

If your Alfred use is mostly "open an app, find a file, do a sum", you may not need a third-party launcher at all.

Spotlight for launching, files and math

Press ⌘Space, type part of an app or file name and press Return. Spotlight also answers calculations and converts units and currencies as you type.

On macOS 26 Tahoe, Spotlight also has clipboard history. If you don't see it, open System Settings and search for "Spotlight" to check its options. On macOS 14 Sonoma and 15 Sequoia, the Mac clipboard holds only the last item you copied, so you still need a separate app for history. Our guide to clipboard history on Mac covers the options.

Text Replacements for snippets

macOS can expand a short phrase into longer text in most apps:

1. Open System Settings.
2. Choose Keyboard.
3. Click Text Replacements.
4. Click + and fill in the Replace and With fields.

Each replacement is fixed text that expands when you type the short phrase. If your Alfred snippets do more than that, check what Raycast's snippets offer before you switch.

Shortcuts for workflows

The Shortcuts app is built into macOS and handles multi-step automations such as resizing images or moving files. Rebuilding an Alfred workflow there takes some work, but it costs nothing and needs no extra app.

Pick the built-in route if you mainly launched apps and did quick sums in Alfred, and you used few or no Powerpack features.

Clipboard history on its own: Maccy

If clipboard history was the main reason you bought the Powerpack, a dedicated clipboard manager is the most direct swap. Pair it with Text Replacements and you have covered Alfred's two most-used Powerpack features.

Maccy is a small, open-source (MIT) clipboard manager for Mac. It keeps a searchable history of what you copy. You open it from the menu bar or with a hotkey (⌘⇧C by default, according to Softpedia). The App Store listing says it supports Shortcuts actions.

What it lacks: it is clipboard only, with no notes, to-dos or launcher. It is Mac only. Its GitHub README warns about fake websites posing as Maccy, so download it from maccy.app, the Mac App Store or the official GitHub repository.

Price (as of November 2026): $9.99 one-time on the Mac App Store, sold to support development. You can also build it from the GitHub source for free.

Pick Maccy if you want clipboard history and nothing else. For more choices, see the best clipboard managers for Mac and Maccy alternatives.

Gubb for notes and clipboard history

To be clear up front: Gubb does not replace Alfred's launcher. It has no app search and no global hotkeys. What it can replace is the Powerpack's clipboard history for text, while also giving you a quick notes window.

Gubb is a small window that you can pin above other windows. Its notes support Markdown typing shortcuts, checklists, to-do lists and Kanban boards. The same window holds a clipboard history panel.

How the clipboard history works

1. Hover over the right edge of a note and click Clipboard History. The panel opens on the right.
2. Search with Search clipboard..., or filter by Text, Links or Code.
3. Hover over an item and click Copy to clipboard, then paste it into any app with ⌘V. Paste to note drops it into the current Gubb note instead.
4. Click Pin/Favorite item to keep something. Pinned items appear under Favorites and are never removed automatically.
   Limits you should know before relying on it:

• Text only. Images, files and rich text are not captured.
• Capture starts when you first open the panel in a session. Anything copied before that is not recorded.
• No quick-paste popup and no hotkey to call it up from another app. You switch to Gubb (left-click the menu bar icon to show it) and copy the item back.
• No app exclusions or password filtering. Text copied from a password manager is stored like anything else, in an unencrypted local database. Clear it with Clear History (the Keep favorites switch keeps pinned items).
• It keeps up to 1,000 unpinned items and deletes the oldest beyond that. The history stays on your device, with no sync and no account.

The notes side

This is the part Alfred doesn't cover. Type [ ] and Space for a checklist item, or # and Space for a heading. Type gubb@todo on its own line for a to-do list with due dates and priorities, or gubb@board on its own line for a Kanban board. gubb@conversions converts units offline. gubb@currency converts currencies but needs an internet connection. gubb@math handles basic arithmetic (+ - * / ^ and brackets), but not percentages or functions, so Spotlight or Raycast are better for anything beyond simple sums.

Price (as of November 2026): $59 one-time for a lifetime license from gubb.net, which activates on up to 3 devices. It is also on the Mac App Store and the Microsoft Store for Windows.

Pick Gubb if you want a pinned scratchpad, lists and text clipboard history in one place without a subscription, and you're happy to use Spotlight for launching. The clipboard section of the help center has the full details. You can download the Mac version and try it free for 7 days.

Should you switch at all?

Alfred still has real strengths, as of November 2026:

• The core app is free and includes app launching, web search and calculations.
• The Powerpack is a one-time purchase, not a subscription. The £59 Mega Supporter license includes free lifetime upgrades; only the Single License is tied to the current major version.
• One review says its clipboard history keeps plain text, images and file references, with retention options from 24 hours up to unlimited.
• It is actively maintained: version 5.8.1 came out on 24 September 2026.

If you already own a Powerpack and your workflows run fine, switching mainly gets you Raycast's extension library, AI features and apps on other platforms. If you never bought the Powerpack, the free combination of Spotlight, Text Replacements and Shortcuts, plus Maccy for clipboard history, covers most of what Alfred does. The only possible cost is Maccy's $9.99, and even that is optional if you build it from source.

FAQ

Does Alfred's free version include clipboard history?

No. Clipboard history, Snippets and workflows need the paid Powerpack. The free version does launching, search and calculations.

Is there a completely free Alfred alternative?

Yes. Use Spotlight for launching and math, Text Replacements for snippets and the Shortcuts app for automations. Add Raycast's free plan or Maccy built from source if you need clipboard history on macOS 14 or 15.

Is there an Alfred alternative that also runs on Windows?

Alfred is Mac only. Raycast has a Windows app, though some commands differ from the Mac version. Windows also has built-in clipboard history (Win+V), and Gubb is available on the Microsoft Store.