What is Espanso used for?

Espanso is a privacy-first, cross-platform text expander written in Rust that replaces typed keywords with snippets, scripts and more. It is a good fit for expanding common phrases and email replies, and system-wide code snippets.

Is Espanso open source?

Yes. Espanso is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at espanso/espanso and is written mainly in Rust.

Yes. Espanso is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Espanso?

Yes. Espanso can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.

What is Espanso an alternative to?

Espanso is an open-source alternative to TextExpander. Other open-source alternatives to TextExpander include AutoKey.

Is Espanso actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Espanso was on 27 September 2026, and the latest release is v2.4.1, published on 2 September 2026. The project has 15k stars on GitHub.

Espanso: open-source alternative to TextExpander

About Espanso

Espanso is a text expander, a program that detects when you type a specific keyword and replaces it with something else. That can save typing by expanding common sentences, provide system-wide code snippets, run custom scripts, insert emojis and act as a personal autocorrect. It is written in Rust and released under the GPL-3.0 license.

It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, with experimental Wayland support, and works with almost any program. Features include image and date expansion, shell commands, regex triggers, app-specific configurations and forms, along with a built-in search bar. Configuration is file-based using YAML, and a package manager installs shared packages from the espanso hub.

The project is privacy-first, working entirely locally with no tracking. It was created by Federico Terzi and is now maintained by a team of volunteers, supported by donations, with code signing for the Windows binaries provided by SignPath.io. Community help is available through Discord, a subreddit, the documentation and the issue tracker.

Key features

Keyword-triggered text expansion
Windows, macOS and Linux support
Shell commands and custom scripts
Forms, regex triggers and app-specific configs
Package manager with espanso hub
YAML file-based configuration

Good fit for

→Expanding common phrases and email replies
→System-wide code snippets

Built with: Rust
Tags: text-expander; productivity; snippets; automation; rust; cross-platform; privacy; typing

Espanso: questions and answers

What is Espanso used for?: Espanso is a privacy-first, cross-platform text expander written in Rust that replaces typed keywords with snippets, scripts and more. It is a good fit for expanding common phrases and email replies, and system-wide code snippets.
Is Espanso open source?: Yes. Espanso is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at espanso/espanso and is written mainly in Rust.
Is Espanso free?: Yes. Espanso is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Espanso?: Yes. Espanso can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.
What is Espanso an alternative to?: Espanso is an open-source alternative to TextExpander. Other open-source alternatives to TextExpander include AutoKey.
Is Espanso actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Espanso was on 27 September 2026, and the latest release is v2.4.1, published on 2 September 2026. The project has 15k stars on GitHub.