side by side

MacAutocomplete vs Cotypist

Cotypist is a genuinely good on-device autocomplete for Mac, and it's the rival people ask about most. The two apps do the same job — greyed ghost text at your cursor that you ⇥ Tab to accept. The real difference is the deal: MacAutocomplete is a one-time purchase that runs entirely on your Mac.

Where they're the same

Both run a model on-device on Apple Silicon, so your text doesn't leave the Mac for a completion. Both put the suggestion inline as you type — start a line and the rest fills in as ghost text you can take or ignore— and both work across standard macOS text fields, not just one app. If you've liked Cotypist's feel, MacAutocomplete will feel familiar.

Where they differ

The split is pricing. MacAutocomplete is $125 once— lifetime, with free updates and no account tied to a renewal. Cotypist has moved toward a freemium model with paid tiers, so the full experience trends toward an ongoing subscription. If you'd rather buy a tool and own it, that's the wedge.

Pay once, fully local

MacAutocomplete's completions are generated by a local MLX model on your Apple Silicon — zero outbound network for predictions, which you can verify yourself with Little Snitch by pulling your Wi-Fi and watching it keep working. Nothing you draft is uploaded, and password and secure-input fields are never read. You buy it once for $125, install it on up to three Macs, and keep every future update. More on how private and local it stays.

Being honest about limits

Neither app is magic everywhere. MacAutocomplete works great in Mail, Slack, Notes, Messages, and most browser text fields, but it can't see into a few rendered surfaces: the Google Docs and Sheets canvas, some GPU- or canvas-based editors, and games. Those are honest dead zones, not bugs — the text simply isn't in a field the system exposes. Cotypist hits similar walls for the same reason.

If subscriptions aren't your thing, that's the whole pitch. See the broader Cotypist alternative breakdown, or read why on-device beats the cloud for anything you type.

Frequently asked questions