Comparison
Alfred is a mature, beloved launcher — and its best features live behind the paid Powerpack. Walter gives you free, open-source equivalents for the everyday power features, with your whole setup in a git-friendly TOML file. Here's the honest comparison.
| Walter | Alfred | |
|---|---|---|
| Open source | ✓ MIT | Closed source |
| Price | Free — power features included | Free base; Powerpack is paid |
| Account required | None | None |
| Telemetry | None | None / minimal |
| App size | 4.3 MB | tens of MB |
| Native (no Electron) | ✓ Swift / AppKit | ✓ |
| Config format | Plain-text TOML (git-friendly) | GUI / .alfredpreferences |
| Aliases / shortcuts | ✓ free, with {query} | ✓ (Powerpack) |
| Calculator / unit / currency | ✓ free | ✓ (some Powerpack) |
| Themes | 21 free + custom | ✓ (Powerpack) |
| Workflows / deep automation | Simple by design | ✓ powerful (Powerpack) |
| Maturity | Newer, focused | 10+ years, very mature |
Two reasons come up most. First, price and openness: Alfred's everyday power features — themes, clipboard, snippets, richer search — are gated behind the paid Powerpack. Walter's aliases, system commands, calculator, and unit/currency conversion are all free and MIT-licensed. Second, config as code: Walter's entire setup is one plain-text TOML file you can diff, version, and drop in your dotfiles, instead of a GUI preferences pane.
Credit where it's due: Alfred is more than a decade old, deeply polished, and its Workflows are a genuinely powerful visual automation system that Walter doesn't try to match. If you build elaborate multi-step workflows, or you've already bought the Powerpack and love it, Alfred is excellent and there's no reason to leave. Walter is for people who want the common 90% free, open, and in a text file.
The short version
Need powerful visual Workflows? Alfred (with Powerpack) wins. Want free, open-source power features and config in git? Use Walter.
Questions
The basic launcher is free, but the power features (Workflows, clipboard history, themes, and more) need the paid Powerpack. Walter's power features are free and open source.
No, Alfred is closed-source. Walter is the open-source (MIT) alternative.
Walter — its aliases, system commands, calculator, conversions, and 21 themes are all free, with no Powerpack to purchase.
Walter has parameterized aliases (URLs, files, shell commands with {query}) — simpler than Alfred's full Workflows by design, but they cover the everyday cases and live in plain-text TOML.
Free, open source, 4.3 MB. macOS 13 or later. Every feature included, nothing to unlock.