## How does Alter compare with ChatGPT desktop for mac?

#### TLDR: Alter outperforms ChatGPT desktop with its generous free plan offering 100 GPT-4o messages, unlimited use with local models, and no hourly limits. Alter excels in productivity with unique features like creating presentations, diagrams, charts, and exporting to HTML or PDF through its powerful artifacts system. It offers full privacy with local models, supports multiple AI providers, and provides extensive capabilities such as acting on files and folders directly from the Finder. In contrast, ChatGPT desktop limits users to 8 GPT-4o messages hourly, lacks advanced productivity features, and doesn't support local models or multiple providers, making Alter the superior choice for macOS users.

|  | Alter | ChatGPT desktop |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free plan | - about 100 messages* with GPT-4o<br>- unlimited with local models<br>- no limits per hour<br>- all features | - 8 messages per hour with GPT-4o<br>- unlimited with GPT-3.5<br>- Limited access to features like file uploads and web browsing |
| Most popular<br>pricing plan | $240/year | $240/year |
| Max consumption<br>per month with<br>a paid plan | - about 875 messages with GPT-4o<br>- unlimited with smaller or local models<br>- no limits per hour<br>- can purchase one-time credits for heavy use | - limited to 40 messages per hour with GPT-4o<br>- unlimited with GPT-3.5<br>- cannot lift limits for heavy use |
| Support for local models (Ollama, LM Studio) | ✅<br>full privacy for sensitive data | ❌ |
| Keyboard shortcuts | ✅<br>Automatic, Mnemonic | 🚧<br>Limited: open app |
| Ready-to-use AI models | ✅<br>Multi-providers: OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Groq, Together | ✅<br>Single provider: OpenAI |
| Support for OpenAI compatible endpoints | ✅ | ❌ |
| Chat + history | ✅ | ✅ |
| Act on apps | ✅ | ❌ |
| Act on screenshot capture | ✅ | ✅ |
| Act on text-selections | ✅ | ❌ |
| Act on files and folders | ✅ | 🚧<br>Picker, files only |
| Create presentations, diagrams, charts and export in HTML or PDF | ✅ | ❌ |
| Generate images | ✅ | ❌ |
| Ready-to-use AI actions | ✅ | ❌ |
| Reuse AI output with other actions | ✅ | ❌ |
| Voice mode | ✅<br>Dictation, Speak-to-command | ✅ |
| Extensibility | ✅ | ❌ |
| Web search, Perplexity like | ✅ | ✅ |
| Native app | ✅<br>macOS 14+, 45MB | ✅<br>MacOS 14+ with Apple Silicon, 175MB |

*A message has 4296 tokens, which is roughly 3 200 words.

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