Did macOS 26’s Spotlight update leave you wanting more? It did for me, too. That’s why I’m still using Alfred. Alfred is so much more than a Spotlight replacement, and isn’t even on the same playing field as Apple’s search tool.
With Alfred, I’m able to not just search for programs or files. I can build custom search tools, use text expansion features, and so much more. While I used to love Spotlight, Alfred simply stole the show and there’s no going back for me.
Spotlight In macOS 26 Got Huge Upgrades
macOS 26 brought the first major Spotlight refresh in quite some time. As such, Spotlight is now much more powerful than it used to be.
In macOS 26, Spotlight now has the ability to execute actions from within the search bar. While you could use Spotlight to launch into an app and accomplish an action in the past, with macOS 26 you’re able to actually send a message from within Spotlight, or create an event, run a Shortcut, and so much more.
However, Spotlight is still lacking quite a few features that replacement programs, like Alfred, offer.
Alfred Is a Great Spotlight Replacement
I’ve used Alfred for years as a Spotlight replacement. However, it wasn’t until recently that I really started to leverage the features it has to offer.
At its core, Alfred replaces Spotlight with a similarly-designed search interface to find things on your computer. However, searching your computer is far from the only thing that Alfred is capable of. With Alfred, you’re able to launch apps, create custom search terms, build out workflows, and so much more.
- OS
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macOS
- Brand
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Alfred
- Price
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$0-$80
- Free trial
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Yes
Alfred replaces the default macOS Spotlight search engine with a more powerful alternative.
Alfred Doesn’t Just Handle Searching Your Mac
While the latest version of Spotlight can send messages, create events, and more with simple commands or keystrokes, Alfred offers many more features than just that.
One of my favorite features that Alfred brings to the table is custom search engines. While it’s possible to add custom searches to your browser, having them available across the entire system is much more convenient.
For instance, when I type “h” into Alfred (without the quotes), it performs a site search on Google tat’s limited to howtogeek.com. So, if I type “h airpods pro 3 review” then it would search the How-To Geek website for our AirPods Pro 3 review.
Similarly, if I type “hg” then it’ll search Google with the search term “site:howtogeek.com [search term],” which can sometimes give better results than searching a website itself. Lastly, if I type “hgi” Alfred searches Google Images for “site:howtogeek.com [search term].”
This is just one of the many additional features that Alfred brings to the table when it comes to enhancing your macOS experience. Alfred can handle fully custom workflows, searching your browser’s bookmarks, managing clipboard history, running advanced calculator functions, giving both spelling hints and dictionary definitions, and so much more.
I personally have the Legendary Supporter Powerpack, which is the same level as the current Mega Supporter license. However, you can use Alfred for free. Some of the more advanced features are only available with a Powerpack, but the free version lets you test drive the app to make sure it works for you before spending any money.
How I Use Alfred in My Daily Workflow
I already mentioned how I use Alfred to search Google for articles and images at How-To Geek—and you have no idea how much time that saves me. Before programming the custom searches into Alfred, I was constantly opening new tabs, manually typing in site:howtogeek.com and the search term, and then searching. That might not seem like a lot, but doing it dozens of times a day and hundreds of times a week really adds up.
With Alfred, I can choose if I want to search Google or Google Images for a term with the simple tap of my keyboard.
I also used Alfred to replace TextExpander with Snippets. In the past, I paid $40 per year for TextExpander, which allowed me to type in specific phrases and have it expand that phrase (or sometimes just random letters) into full words. However, Alfred does this same thing as part of its one-time payment Powerpack.
With Alfred, I have Snippets set up for my shipping address, phone number, email, and several other things. All I have to do is type “kkem” and my email is inserted in whatever text field I have selected. Typing “kkad” inserts my shipping address—line breaks and all!
I also use Alfred to check word counts in various places across the macOS operating system. While some programs, like Microsoft Word, have a word counter built in, not every writing application has this easily accessible. With Alfred, I simply hit the keyboard shortcut Command+Shift+U (which I mapped) and it pulls up Universal Actions.
While Universal Actions can do a whole lot of things, the main function I have for it is viewing the word count of whatever text I have selected. It works anywhere in the operating system, and this is something that also saves me a ton of time. In the past, to get word or character counts I’d select some text, copy it to my clipboard, navigate to the WordCounter website, and then paste it there.
That’s a fine workflow, but selecting the text and hitting a quick keyboard shortcut is so much faster. Given that I sometimes do this multiple times per article and hundreds of times per week, that’s a lot of saved time.
Alfred is not the only premium macOS software that I don’t regret paying for. I love free software as much as anyone, but sometimes paying for premium products is simply the better way to go—and Alfred is no exception.