Shadowtype
Cotabby alternative

The best Cotabby alternative
for Mac.

Cotabby is a genuinely good free, open-source beta — a local LLM predicts your next words as ghost text in any field, and Tab accepts. If you love free, open source, and importing your own GGUF models, keep using it. But if you’d rather buy a finished, notarized tool once — with dedicated support, a refund, and a clear license — Shadowtype is built for you.

Download Shadowtype free Become a Founder — $39
  • Stable & notarized
  • Dedicated support
  • Up to 5 Macs
  • 14-day refund
The honest comparison

Side by side

Cotabby wins on free, open source, and custom-model import — we mark that honestly. Where they tie, we say so. Shadowtype wins on a stable notarized release, dedicated support, refund, optional screen recording, and built-in personalization.

Capability Shadowtype Cotabby
System-wide inline ghost-text completionYesYes
On-device LLM · offline · no accountYesYes
Tab-to-accept · zero telemetryYesYes
Open source (AGPL-3.0)Source-available roadmapYes
Import your own custom GGUF modelCurated catalogYes
Apple Foundation Models enginellama.cpp + MetalOptional
Release maturityStable · notarizedBeta (v0.4.x)
SupportDedicated emailGitHub issues
Per-app instructions & personalizationYesLength presets only
Selection rewrite (⌥⌘K, on-device)YesCompletion only
Screen Recording permissionOptionalRequired
Macs per license · refundUp to 5 · 14-dayN/A (free)
Pricing$79 once (Founders from $39) · free tierFree
RequirementsmacOS 14+ · Apple SiliconmacOS 15+ · Apple Silicon

Figures reflect each project’s public repo and docs as of June 2026. Cotabby is a genuinely good open-source project — if free and tinkerable is what you want, it’s the right choice. This page is about which trade-offs fit you.

Why people switch to Shadowtype

Same local autocomplete. Finished, supported, owned.

A finished product, not a beta

Cotabby ships as a beta you build from source or grab from GitHub releases. Shadowtype is a stable, notarized macOS app with a homegrown auto-updater — install it once and it just keeps working, no Xcode and no open-issue triage required.

Real support and a refund

When something breaks in an open-source beta, your recourse is a GitHub issue and the maintainer’s spare time. Shadowtype has dedicated support@shadowtype.app and a 14-day refund, so a paid tool answers to you.

Optional screen recording, built-in personalization

Cotabby requires Accessibility, Input Monitoring and Screen Recording. Shadowtype keeps screen-aware OCR optional, adds per-app instructions, personalization, and on-device selection rewrite with ⌥⌘K — all on a single license for up to 5 Macs.

Questions

Switching from Cotabby — FAQ

Is Cotabby free?
Yes — genuinely. Cotabby is free and open source (AGPL-3.0), runs on-device with llama.cpp or Apple’s Foundation Models, needs no account, and lets you import custom GGUF models. If free, open, and tinkerable is your priority, Cotabby is the right pick. Shadowtype is for people who’d rather buy a finished tool.
Why pay for Shadowtype if Cotabby is free?
For polish, stability and support. Cotabby is a beta (v0.4.x) supported through GitHub issues. Shadowtype is a stable, notarized release with dedicated email support, a 14-day refund, a curated tuned-model catalog, built-in personalization and selection rewrite, and a single license covering up to 5 Macs. It also keeps a useful free tier (100 words/day) so you can try before you buy.
Will I keep the on-device, offline experience?
Yes. Like Cotabby, Shadowtype runs a local LLM with llama.cpp and Metal on Apple Silicon, works fully offline, needs no account, and sends zero telemetry. Tab-to-accept and system-wide completion behave the same — you’re trading beta tinkering for a finished build, not giving up local-first.
Does Shadowtype need Screen Recording like Cotabby?
No. Cotabby requires Accessibility, Input Monitoring and Screen Recording. Shadowtype’s screen-aware context is optional — completion works on Accessibility and Input Monitoring alone, and you only grant Screen Recording if you want OCR context. One fewer mandatory permission.
Ready when you are

Keep what you love about Cotabby — add polish and support.

Download Shadowtype free, accept your first word with Tab, and upgrade once when you’re ready.

Download for macOS Become a Founder — $39
  • Stable & notarized
  • Dedicated support
  • No account
  • Zero telemetry
  • 14-day refund