Alfred

Mac launcher and automation tool sold as a one-time Powerpack licence rather than a subscription

As of 1 September 2026, Alfred has a free plan and paid plans start at £34/one-time. A keyboard-driven application launcher and workflow automation tool for macOS. Softwr lists it under Productivity. Alfred is made by Running with Crayons Ltd, available on Mac.

Visit siteVisit Alfred

Overview

What Alfred does

Alfred indexes applications, files, contacts and system commands behind a single hotkey, and lets the user type a query rather than click through menus or Spotlight. The free version covers basic search and web searches. The Powerpack adds a visual workflow builder, clipboard history, text snippets, custom file actions, a terminal command box and a large third party workflow ecosystem built over more than a decade. The commercial model is the real differentiator. Alfred sells the Powerpack as a one-time purchase per major version, currently around 34 pounds for a single licence covering two Macs, or 59 pounds for a Mega Supporter licence that includes free upgrades to all future major versions. Raycast, the newer competitor, is free at the core with a paid Pro tier billed monthly or yearly for AI features and cloud sync. Buyers who dislike recurring software costs and only need local automation gravitate to Alfred; buyers who want built in AI commands and are comfortable with a subscription gravitate to Raycast. Alfred is bought by power users, developers and writers who script their own workflows, often in Bash, Python or AppleScript. The trade-off is that Alfred workflows use an older XML and script-filter architecture that looks dated next to Raycast extensions written in TypeScript with a public store, and Alfred has no official AI assistant built in, only community workflows that call external APIs.

What people use it for

A developer who wants to trigger scripts, run shell commands and search files from one hotkey without a subscription
A writer who wants text snippets and clipboard history and does not want built in AI
A long time Alfred user with a large personal library of custom workflows built up over years
A user who prefers paying once per major version over a recurring monthly charge

Where it falls short

Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Alfred.

There is no official built in AI assistant, so anything AI related depends on a community workflow calling an external API key you supply yourself.
The workflow format is older XML and script filters, which is less approachable for a beginner than a modern extension store with typed APIs.
It is Mac only, so a user who splits time between Mac and Windows needs a second tool on the other machine.
The free tier is quite limited, with no workflows or clipboard history, so most serious users end up paying for the Powerpack anyway.
Because upgrades to a new major version are a separate purchase for Single Licence holders, users who skip the Mega Supporter tier can face a further one-time charge every few years.

Cross-shopped

What people choose instead of Alfred

Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.

Alfredvs
Raycast
Raycast: If you want a modern extension store, built in AI features and are comfortable paying a subscription
Alfredvs
BetterTouchTool
BetterTouchTool: If your priority is gesture and shortcut customisation rather than search and workflows
Alfredvs
Maccy
Maccy: If all you actually need is clipboard history rather than a full launcher

Pricing

What Alfred costs

Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.

Free

Basic app and file launching
Web searches and system commands
No workflows or clipboard history

Powerpack Single Licence

£34 /one-time

1 user on up to 2 Macs
Workflows, clipboard history and snippets
Free updates within the same major version

Powerpack Mega Supporter

£59 /one-time

1 user on up to 4 Macs
Free upgrades to all future major versions
Early access to betas

Capabilities

Features

Workflows
Visual builder chaining triggers, scripts and actions into custom automations
Clipboard history
Searchable history of copied text, images and files with a hotkey
Snippets
Expandable text snippets with placeholders, separate from macOS text replacement
File actions
Custom actions on search results such as move, tag or run a script
Universal actions
Apply an action to whatever is selected across apps, not just Alfred results
Theming
Custom result window themes independent of macOS light or dark mode

Answered, with sources

Questions people ask

Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.

Is Alfred a subscription?

No. The Powerpack is a one-time purchase per major version, or a one-time Mega Supporter purchase that includes all future major version upgrades.

Does Alfred replace Spotlight?

It can. Alfred can take over the system-wide hotkey and generally returns results faster with more configurable behaviour than Spotlight.

Does Alfred have AI features?

Not officially built in. Some community workflows add AI chat or completion by calling an external API with a key you provide.

Keep looking

Where to go from Alfred

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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Alfred, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.

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