The free text expander that works on Windows, Mac and Linux (2026)

Lightning Assist is free to use for text expansion — not a trial, not a teaser. Type a short trigger and it expands into the full text, in every desktop app, on all three operating systems, for as long as you like.

The short answer

Yes, there is a free text expander with a real interface on Windows, macOS and Linux: Lightning Assist. The free plan gives you unlimited expansion, up to 20 snippets, folders, one shared team and every AI feature on pay-as-you-go credits — with no card and no time limit. Nothing you create is ever locked or deleted. Pro ($5.99/mo, $2.99 with LIFETIME50) adds unlimited snippets, suggestions as you type, Lightning Recall and whole-library imports from TextExpander, Espanso or Text Blaze.

Free forever. No card. Two minutes to your first expansion.

Download for Windows, macOS or Linux, type your first trigger, and it just works — everywhere you type.

Download free

What you get on the free plan

Unlimited expansion

Type your snippets as often as you like. No daily cap, no metering — expansion itself is never counted.

20 snippets, kept forever

Create up to 20 snippets. Reach the cap and everything keeps working — only the "New" button pauses. Nothing is locked, nothing is deleted.

Every desktop app, all three OSes

Windows, macOS and Linux — inline as you type, or on a hotkey. Email, browser, chat, editors, terminals.

Folders and one team

Organise with folders and share snippets with one team — for real, not a demo — before you decide anything.

Every AI feature, on credits

AI Chat, AI Commands, AI Enhance and push-to-talk voice work on the free plan. They use AI Credits, not a subscription — every account starts with some.

Free import

Coming from TextExpander, Espanso or Text Blaze? See your whole library converted — free — before you decide to bring it in.

Nothing you build on the free plan is ever locked or deleted. If you ever try Pro and stop, every snippet you own keeps expanding.

What Pro adds — and why it exists

Pro is for the day your library outgrows your memory: unlimited snippets, suggestions that pop up as you type, Lightning Recall (write the phrase naturally and the snippet appears — no trigger to remember), up to 15 teams, and your whole old library in a single import. $5.99/month, or $2.99 with code LIFETIME50. 14 days free, no card.

See the full comparison on the pricing page →

How it compares with other free text expanders

The other tools here are good and genuinely free — the table shows where they differ, not that they are bad. Verified August 2026.

Feature	Lightning Assist (free)	Espanso	Beeftext	AutoHotkey
Visual snippet manager (no config files)	Yes	No (YAML files)	Yes	No (scripts)
Windows + macOS + Linux	Yes	Yes	Windows only	Windows only
Push-to-talk voice typing	Yes (on credits)	No	No	No
AI rewrite commands	Yes (on credits)	No	No	No
Cloud sync across devices	Yes	No (manual)	No	No
Shared team snippets	One team free	No	No	No
Snippets on the free plan	20 (unlimited expansion)	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Open source	No	Yes	Yes	Yes

Looking for a tool that makes a paragraph longer or rewrites your text? That is a different thing — see the AI writing assistant instead.

Frequently asked questions

Is Lightning Assist really free, or is it a trial?

Really free. Text expansion, 20 snippets, folders, one team and AI on credits never expire and never ask for a card. There is also a separate 14-day trial of Pro, but the free plan does not end when it does.

What happens when I reach 20 snippets?

Everything keeps working. All 20 keep expanding, editing and syncing — only creating a 21st pauses. Nothing is locked or deleted. Pro lifts the cap.

Does the free plan work on Linux?

Yes — the same app, with a real GUI, ships as AppImage and .deb. It supports X11 and Wayland (including pure Wayland sessions), GNOME, KDE and terminals. It is the only free text expander with voice and AI on Linux.

Is my data safe on the free plan?

Snippet values are encrypted at rest on our servers and cached locally on your device. Expansion runs on your machine. AI features send only the text you explicitly ask AI to work on.

Can I import my TextExpander, Espanso or Text Blaze snippets for free?

Yes. You preview the whole import for free — every snippet converted, with its trigger — and then bring in as many as the free plan holds. Pro lifts the limit so the whole library lands at once. Nothing changes until you import.

How is this different from Espanso, which is also free?

Espanso is excellent and open source. It has no visual interface (snippets live in YAML files), no sync, no teams, no voice and no AI. Lightning Assist gives you those in a native app — and its expansion is free on the same three operating systems.