TextSniper alternatives for Mac

The closest TextSniper alternatives are other shortcut-and-drag apps, such as TRex, Text Lens, LudyLens, Letra and Unpixel, plus screenshot tools with OCR built in, such as CleanShot X and Shottr. If you only grab text now and then, you may not need any of them, because macOS has free tools that do the same job with a step or two more.

We make Unpixel, one of the apps below, so weigh its entry with that in mind. Facts about the other apps come from their own sites and App Store listings, read in October 2026 and linked under Sources. Prices and features change, so check before you buy.

First, list what you use TextSniper for

TextSniper’s core is simple: press a shortcut, drag over text you can’t select, and paste. Its App Store listing says recognition happens on the device, and it adds QR and barcode reading, text-to-speech and text from an iPhone or iPad camera. As of October 2026, the website lists one-time licenses at $7.99 for one Mac, $9.99 for three and $11.99 for an unlimited license, and the Mac App Store version costs $9.99. The website says it needs macOS Catalina or newer; the App Store listing says macOS 12 or later.

Before you switch, note which of these you actually rely on:

• The capture itself, from a video, a call, a PDF or an app.
• QR codes and barcodes.
• Hearing text read aloud.
• Text from paper, through your iPhone or iPad camera.
• Running on an older Mac.

If the first one is all you need, almost any app below will do, and so might macOS itself.

Free options already on your Mac

Live Text reads text in screenshots and photos, but only inside apps that support it. To use it on anything on screen:

1. Press ⇧⌘4 and drag over the text. The screenshot lands on your desktop.
2. Select the file in Finder and press Space to open it in Quick Look.
3. Drag across the words and press ⌘C.
4. Delete the screenshot when you’re done.

Shortcuts can shrink that to one key. Build a shortcut with Take Screenshot (set to Interactive), then Extract Text from Image, then Copy to Clipboard, and give it a key with Add Keyboard Shortcut in its details. Our Shortcuts guide walks through each setting.

Both are free and keep everything on your Mac. What they lack: the Shortcuts action doesn’t decode QR codes, tables come out as loose lines, and nothing keeps a record of what you copied.

Capture-anywhere apps

These work like TextSniper: a global shortcut, a crosshair, text on the clipboard. Details as of October 2026, from each maker.

TRex is the free pick. Install it with brew install --cask trex or from GitHub; its README says every feature works offline. It suits people who like to automate, thanks to its URL scheme and command-line tool.

Text Lens is by Sindre Sorhus. Its page says the app can’t connect to the internet at all, which is as private as it gets. It can also show captured text in a window where you can edit it and combine several captures, and it reads photos taken with an iPhone or iPad.

LudyLens is the app that used to be called TextGlance. It’s the only paid app in the table with a free version, limited to three captures a day, and the closest match to TextSniper’s camera feature: its site says you can use your iPhone as a wireless scanner. It also has a Code Mode for snippets whose indentation matters.

Letra covers the same ground as TextSniper’s core and adds a searchable local history. As of October 2026 its site doesn’t list translation or table capture, and it offers a 7-day refund instead of a trial.

Unpixel is our app. Press ⇧⌘2, drag, and the text is on your clipboard, read on your Mac with Apple’s Vision framework. A captured table pastes into Numbers or Excel as real cells, and holding ⌥ as you let go copies a translation instead. Holding ⇧ adds the text to what’s already on the clipboard, and ⇧⌘1 reads the same area again. It also reads image files and PDFs of up to 50 pages. It isn’t for everyone: it needs macOS 26 on Apple silicon, has no trial (a 14-day money-back guarantee instead) and doesn’t read text aloud.

Screenshot suites with OCR

If you also take a lot of annotated screenshots, one app can do both jobs.

• CleanShot X includes text recognition that its site says runs on the device. As of October 2026, the Basic license is $35 one-time with a year of updates, and the Pro plan is $10 per user per month, billed annually. It needs macOS 13 or later.
• Shottr has an OCR hotkey that copies the text in an area and reads QR codes. As of October 2026 it’s free to use with a pay-what-you-want license, and it runs on macOS 10.15 or later.

These are the better buy if you’d use the annotation, scrolling capture or, in CleanShot X, screen recording too. For text alone, they’re more app than you need.

Open source

TRex is the obvious open-source choice. NormCap is another: it runs on macOS, Windows and Linux and uses the Tesseract engine. Its README warns that macOS treats it as an unsigned app, so you allow it once with Open Anyway, then grant screen capture access. If you’re comfortable in Terminal, our guide to open-source OCR engines covers Tesseract and Apple’s Vision from Python.

When to stay with TextSniper

Switching isn’t always worth it. TextSniper is still the right tool when:

• Your Mac can’t run newer macOS. Its wide support beats every app in the table except TRex.
• Text-to-speech is part of your routine. You can get close with macOS itself: turn on Speak selection in System Settings → Accessibility → Read & Speak, paste the text, select it and press ⌥Esc. That’s still an extra step.
• You turn paper into text. Its iPhone and iPad camera import is a feature most of these apps don’t have. The free route is Continuity Camera: Control-click the desktop, choose Insert from iPhone or iPad, and scan the page with your phone. The scan appears as a file on your Mac. Open it in Preview and drag across the words; if a scanned PDF won’t let you select them, choose File → Export and turn on Embed Text to save a searchable copy.
• It already works for you. A new app means a new shortcut to learn. Change only if something specific is missing.

Whichever you try, test it on the three things you copy most, such as a paused video, a scanned page and a table, within the refund window.