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Alfred VS Putback

Compare Alfred VS Putback and see what are their differences

Alfred

Alfred is an award-winning app for macOS which boosts your efficiency with hotkeys, keywords, text expansion and more. Search your Mac and the web, and be more productive with custom actions to control your Mac.

Rating
0 reviews
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Alternatives Is it good?
Putback

Putback is a Mac window manager that puts every window back where it was when your displays change, and switches named layouts with one hotkey.

Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Paid Free trial $19 / One-off (1 Mac. Family 5 Macs $29, Team 20 Macs $79)
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Alternatives Is it good?
cobwebs.app
Tap a thing and the counter resets. A quiet, local-first day counter for the things you keep meaning to do. No account needed, no spreadsheet. sponsored

Which is more popular?

Based on our record, Alfred seems to be more popular. It has been mentioned 6 times since March 2021.

social mentions
6 vs 0
Productivity popularity
100% vs 0%
alternatives listed
240+ vs 17

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

Alfred
Putback
Website alfredapp.com putback.app
Pricing —
Paid Free trial $19 / One-off (1 Mac. Family 5 Macs $29, Team 20 Macs $79) Official pricing
Platforms —
Mac
Company Startup from the United Kingdom Startup from Australia · 1 - 9 employees · 2026
Listed in
Mac Productivity Text Expander App Launcher +1
Window Manager OSX Window Manager Mac Tools OSX Tools Productivity Menu Bar Apps +3

About Alfred and Putback

In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.

Alfred
Putback

No description of Alfred yet.

Every time your display setup changes, macOS moves your windows and does not move them back. Undock from a monitor and everything piles onto the laptop screen. Dock again and it stays piled. Putback is a menu bar window manager for macOS that fixes this. It learns where your windows sit while you...

Read more about Putback

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

Alfred 6 features
Putback 8 features
  • Efficiency
    Alfred significantly speeds up searches and workflows with keyboard shortcuts, reducing the time spent navigating through files and applications.
  • Customizability
    Users can create custom workflows, scripts, and hotkeys tailored to their needs, enhancing productivity through personalization.
  • Clipboard History
    Alfred maintains a history of clipboard entries, allowing users to quickly retrieve recently copied items, which is highly useful for multi-tasking.
  • Integrations
    It integrates seamlessly with other macOS features and apps, like Contacts and Safari, providing a cohesive user experience.
  • File Management
    Alfred offers robust file management through quick commands, making it easier to move, copy, and open files without relying on Finder.
  • Snippets
    Users can create and manage text snippets for frequently used phrases, speeding up repetitive typing tasks.

Possible disadvantages

  • Learning Curve
    Despite its benefits, Alfred can be complex for new users, requiring time and effort to learn and fully utilize its features.
  • Premium Features
    Many advanced features, such as custom workflows and clipboard history, are only available through the paid Powerpack version.
  • Resource Usage
    Alfred can consume a significant amount of system resources, particularly when using complex workflows, which may affect the performance of older Macs.
  • Inconsistent Results
    Search results and functionality might occasionally be inconsistent, requiring users to refine queries or adjust settings to achieve desired outcomes.
  • Dependency on Spotlight
    While Alfred extends Spotlight's capabilities, it remains dependent on Spotlight indexing. Any issues with Spotlight can affect Alfred's performance.
  • Restores windows on display change
    Puts every window back on the screen and in the position it came from when you dock, undock or plug in a monitor.
  • A memory for every desk
    Keeps a separate layout for each display setup: laptop only, desk with a monitor, office dock.
  • Scenes with one hotkey
    Name any arrangement as a Scene and switch to it with a single hotkey.
  • Scene Studio
    Draw a desk with a box for each app, even apps that are not open yet, plus a wallpaper per Scene.
  • Triggers
    Apply a Scene by time or calendar, like Coding at 9am or Meeting for a video call. Off by default.
  • Stash
    Tucks every window aside with one shortcut, then brings them all back exactly where they were.
  • Undo and history
    Undo the whole desk, and see every restore with the reason it happened.
  • Private, no account
    Window data never leaves your Mac. One-time purchase, no subscription, signed and notarized.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

Alfred
Putback

Overall verdict

  • Alfred is considered an excellent choice for anyone looking to boost their productivity on a Mac. Its feature-rich environment, combined with a user-friendly interface and robust customization options, makes it a favorite among many Mac enthusiasts.

Why this product is good

  • Alfred is widely regarded as a powerful productivity tool for macOS users. It enhances the user experience with features like a quick keyboard launcher, a comprehensive search functionality, clipboard history, and customizable workflows. Users often praise its ability to speed up daily tasks, integrate with various applications, and automate repetitive processes.

Recommended for

  • Mac users who want to improve their efficiency.
  • Individuals looking for advanced search and application-launch capabilities.
  • Users interested in automation and creating custom workflows.
  • Anyone who frequently works with text snippets and clipboard history.

Overall verdict

  • Putback is a niche app designed to help resellers and organizers track items that need to be returned to their proper place, which can be genuinely useful for people managing inventory, decluttering, or reselling goods, though its value depends heavily on your specific workflow needs and how well it integrates with tools you already use.

Why this product is good

  • Helps maintain organization by tracking items that need to be put back or returned
  • Can save time by reducing the need to remember or manually log misplaced items
  • Useful for resellers who need to track inventory location and status
  • Simple, focused functionality without unnecessary feature bloat

Recommended for

  • Resellers managing physical inventory across multiple locations
  • People decluttering or organizing home spaces who need a tracking system
  • Small business owners who need lightweight inventory location tracking
  • Users who prefer simple single-purpose apps over complex all-in-one solutions

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

Alfred 3 videos + Add
Putback 0 videos + Add

Alfred for Mac [Tutorial] Basics

More videos

  • - Alfred app review is Alfred worth your time?
  • - Alfred’s Basic Adult Piano Course [Method Guide + Review]

No Putback videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
Alfred
Putback
100% 100%
Productivity
0% 0%
0% 0%
OSX Tools
100% 100%
100% 100%
Mac
0% 0%
89% 89%
Mac Tools
11% 11%

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing Alfred and Putback.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

Putback's answer:

Mac users who move between display setups: a MacBook that docks to a monitor at the desk, a second screen at the office, a laptop on the couch. Developers, designers and anyone who runs a lot of windows and is tired of putting them back by hand every morning.

What makes your product unique?

Putback's answer:

Most Mac window managers snap windows into place when you ask. Putback remembers. It learns where your windows sit while you work, keeps a separate memory for every display setup, and puts everything back when that setup returns. Named Scenes, drawn in Scene Studio and switched with one hotkey, turn any arrangement into something you can recall in a second.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

Putback's answer:

Rectangle and Magnet are great at snapping a window to half the screen, and Putback runs happily alongside them. Choose Putback if your problem is that your windows get scrambled every time you dock, undock or plug in a monitor, or if you want whole desks you can switch between with a hotkey. It is a one-time purchase with a 7 day free trial, no account, and your window data never leaves your Mac. On first launch it even checks your Mission Control settings and tells you if the free macOS fix is enough before you pay.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

Putback's answer:

A native macOS app in Swift and SwiftUI, using the macOS Accessibility API to move windows and Sparkle for updates. Licensing and the website run on Cloudflare (Workers, D1 and Pages).

What's the story behind your product?

Putback's answer:

Putback launched in July 2026 with a simple pitch: unplug your MacBook and macOS piles every window onto one screen. The launch post passed 60,000 views and the replies split down the middle, half saying "I've needed this for years" and half saying "my Mac already does this." So we went and found out. The real answer is two Mission Control settings most people never touch, and we published that free fix ourselves. Even with those settings, restores still fail when a dock reconnects slowly or an app resists being moved, and nothing in macOS remembers more than one desk or lets you name a layout. That gap is Putback. About half of its first features came straight from those launch replies.

User comments

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Reviews and articles

External articles and on-site reviews we used to compare the two products.

Alfred no reviews yet
Putback no reviews yet

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We have no reviews of Putback yet. Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

Alfred 6 mentions
Putback 0 mentions

View more

Tracking Putback since Jul 2026.

Alternatives to Alfred and Putback

When comparing Alfred and Putback, you can also consider the following products.

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