Alter has superior productivity features, better privacy, and a generous free plan.

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macOS Ventura 13 or higher is recommended

macOS Ventura 13 or higher is recommended

How does Alter compare with ChatGPT desktop for mac?

TLDR: Alter offers a free plan with 100 GPT-4o messages, full privacy with local models when needed, and features like acting on files and folders from the Finder. ChatGPT desktop limits to 8 GPT-4o messages hourly with fewer productivity features.

Alter ChatGPT desktop
Free plan
  • about 100 messages* with GPT-4o
  • unlimited with local models
  • no limits per hour
  • all features
  • 8 messages per hour with GPT-4o
  • unlimited with GPT-3.5
  • Limited access to features like file uploads and web browsing
Most popular
pricing plan		 $240/year, perpetual license $240/year
Max consumption
per month with
a paid plan
  • about 875 messages with GPT-4o
  • unlimited with smaller or local models
  • no limits per hour
  • can purchase one-time credits for heavy use
  • limited to 40 messsages per hour with GPT-4o
  • unlimited with GPT-3.5
  • cannot lift limits for heavy use
Support for local models (Ollama, LM Studio)
✅
full privacy for sensitive data
❌
Keyboard shortcuts
✅
Automatic, Mnemonic
🚧
Limited: open app
Ready-to-use AI models
✅
Multi-providers: OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Groq, Together
✅
Single provider: OpenAI
Support for OpenAI compatible endpoints
✅
❌
Chat
✅
✅
Act on screenshot capture
❌
✅
Act on text-selections
✅
❌
Act on files and folders
✅
From Finder selections
🚧
Picker, files only
Ready-to-use AI actions
✅
❌
Reuse AI output with other actions
✅
❌
Voice mode
❌
✅
Extensibility
✅
❌
Web search, Perplexity like
✅
✅
Native app
✅
✅
*A message has 4296 tokens, which is roughly 3 200 words.

Try Alter for free

Interested in detailed comparisons between macOS AI native apps?
Check the links below: