Alter
Verified Oct 16, 2026 ActivemacOS assistant that reads what is on your screen and acts on it from a spoken command
Listed on EffectHub ·
Pricing
- Pricing model
- Freemium
- Paid options from
- $29/mo
- Billing
- Monthly
Free with all features if you connect your own provider keys or local models, plus 7 days of unlimited access to 50+ models. Pro is $29/month or $240/year under a fair-use budget; a $720 one-time licence is the alternative. Local+ speech-to-text is $3.50/month or $29/year, and credit refills are $20 for 500 credits.
Use tool ↗About Alter
Alter runs on macOS and combines what it can see on screen and in the frontmost app with a spoken or typed instruction, then triggers one of 80-plus built-in actions or reaches into around 2,000 connected services. It also records meetings and identifies speakers, in the cloud or fully locally. Model choice stays open: more than 50 cloud models, or local models for work that should not leave the machine. The free plan unlocks the features but expects you to bring your own API keys or run locally; Pro adds fair-use access to the bundled cloud models, billed monthly or yearly, and a one-time licence buys the same permanently. It is Mac-only.
- Platforms
- macOS
- API
- Not confirmed
- Last verified
- Oct 16, 2026
Verified sources
- Pricing page: Free with own API keys or local models; Pro $29/month or $240/year (Save 30%); Lifetime $720; Local+ $3.50/month or $29/year; $20 credit refill for 500 credits (15 October 2026)alterhq.com ↗
- Pricing FAQ: past the monthly fair-use budget, queries may be routed to more cost-effective models; lifetime licence allows one active device at a time (15 October 2026)alterhq.com ↗
Is Alter legit?
We don’t label tools safe or unsafe. Below are the records we checked ourselves, each with the date we read it.
- Domain registered
- Mar 20, 2024 (2 years ago)Registry record (RDAP), registrar NameCheap, Inc., looked up Sep 6, 2026
- TLS certificate
- Issued by Google Trust Services, valid until Nov 20, 2026Seen in our own connection to the site on Oct 16, 2026
- Last checked
- Oct 16, 2026The site answered
- Operated by
- AlterOur research, card verified Oct 15, 2026
Pros & cons of Alter
A Mac assistant that starts from screen context rather than an empty chat box, which is the difference between asking about a document and pasting it in first. Bring-your-own-key on the free tier is unusually generous. Pro is now offered monthly as well as yearly, but stays single-user under a fair-use budget, and the whole thing is Mac-only with no mobile or web surface.
Pros
- Reads screen and app context so commands do not need the content pasted in
- 80+ built-in actions plus roughly 2,000 service integrations
- Supports 50+ cloud models and local models, so you are not tied to one provider
- Free tier keeps all features if you bring your own keys or run locally
- Meeting recording with speaker identification is included rather than a separate product
Cons
- macOS only, with no Windows, mobile or web version
- Pro's bundled models run under a monthly fair-use budget, after which queries may be routed to cheaper models
- The licence is single-user and only one device can be active at a time
- Screen-context access is a broad permission to grant a third-party app
Best for
- Mac power users who want context-aware actions without copy and paste
- People who already pay for model API access and want a better client
- Anyone needing local models for work that cannot go to a cloud provider
Not for
- Windows or Linux users, and anyone needing a mobile companion
- Teams wanting shared seats — the licence is single-user
Watch out: The published macOS requirement differs between the homepage and the download panel, so check the version gate on the download page before buying.
Alternatives to Alter
Alter head-to-head
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