{
 "schema_version": "1.0",
 "id": "textexpander",
 "name": "TextExpander",
 "research_status": "researched",
 "vendor_domain": "textexpander.com",
 "category": "Productivity",
 "task": "Writing & inbox",
 "summary": "Text-expansion tool: you type a short abbreviation and it expands into a stored snippet system-wide on macOS and Windows and in Chrome, with fill-in fields, nested snippets, date maths and scripting. The real product is the team layer — a shared snippet library with permissions, sign-up by email domain, auto-subscribe for new hires, usage statistics and SSO — aimed at support, clinical-admin, recruiting and sales teams that need everyone sending the same approved wording. The vendor self-attests SOC 2/SOC 3 and HIPAA compliance with a BAA available, which is the clearest argument for paying rather than using a free expander.",
 "best_for": "support, clinical-admin and recruiting teams that need everyone sending identical approved wording — the shared library, permissions, auto-subscribe and SSO are what the paid tiers actually buy, and the SOC 2 and HIPAA-with-BAA posture is the one thing no free expander offers a compliance-bound team",
 "skip_if": "you are one person on a Mac with a couple of dozen fixed snippets. macOS Text Replacement is built in and free, Espanso is free and open source across all three desktop platforms, and TextExpander's own free plan now covers 5 active snippets. A subscription only starts earning its keep when you need fill-in fields, scripting, or a second person editing the same library",
 "honest_knock": "On a Mac the operating system already does the basic job free: Apple's built-in Text Replacement syncs static snippets across your Apple devices, though Apple's own documentation notes it is not available in every app. And Espanso covers the power-user case free and open source on Mac, Windows and Linux. On Windows there is no built-in equivalent (contrary to a widely repeated claim, PowerToys has no text-expansion utility), so the case for paying is genuinely stronger there. On mobile, only iPhone and iPad are covered: the vendor's mobile page, read 9 October 2026, offers a keyboard app for those, while Android is still a beta signup. Then add the snippet activity history: nothing at all on the free plan, only 24 hours on the $5 Pro tier, 7 days on Business, and unlimited only on Enterprise. Add the vendor's own note that buyers in VAT/GST countries including the EU, UK and Australia may see an estimated 20% uplift on the listed USD price (read 21 July 2026). For one person with a few dozen fixed snippets, the honest answer is usually don't.",
 "pricing": {
  "status": "see_details",
  "entry_price": null,
  "entry_price_terms": null,
  "from_price_usd_month": null,
  "plans": null,
  "plans_source": null,
  "notes": "(re-verified 2026-10-09 on the vendor's own pricing page; USD per user/month billed annually, excluding tax) The line-up was rebuilt after our July reading and now starts at free; nothing on it moved between 18 August and 9 October 2026. Free is $0 forever with no credit card, Pro $5 (billed annually at $60), Business $10 (billed annually at $120), Enterprise quoted. Annual billing is sold as two months free against paying monthly; the rendered page does not print the monthly amounts next to the plans, even with the Monthly toggle selected, so we do not quote them. The free plan is real but deliberately narrow: 5 active snippets out of an unlimited library, one snippet swap every two weeks, 3 teams, 5 team members and no snippet activity history at all. That history — what lets you see changes and restore deleted snippets — is 24 hours on Pro, 7 days on Business and unlimited only on Enterprise. Team members stay capped at 5 on Free and Pro; unlimited members start on Business, which is also the first tier with single sign-on (Google SSO on Business, all providers plus SCIM on Enterprise). New accounts get a 30-day preview of the paid features; when it ends the account moves to Free automatically, all Snippets are kept and 5 stay active. The pricing note for international customers, readable on 9 October 2026, says the USD prices exclude tax, that buyers in VAT or GST countries including the EU, UK and Australia may see an estimated 20% increase, and that the total is converted to local currency by Paddle at checkout.",
  "verified_at": "2026-10-09",
  "source_url": null
 },
 "free_plan": true,
 "free_plan_evidence": "Free is $0 forever with no credit card, Pro $5 (billed annually at $60), Business $10 (billed annually at $120), Enterprise quoted.",
 "cost_traps": [
  {
   "id": "per_seat",
   "label": "Per-seat pricing",
   "evidence": "(re-verified 2026-10-09 on the vendor's own pricing page; USD per user/month billed annually, excluding tax) The line-up was rebuilt after our July reading and now starts at free; nothing on it moved between 18 August and 9 October 2026.",
   "verified_at": "2026-10-09",
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "id": "annual_lock",
   "label": "Annual commitment",
   "evidence": "Annual billing is sold as two months free against paying monthly; the rendered page does not print the monthly amounts next to the plans, even with the Monthly toggle selected, so we do not quote them.",
   "verified_at": "2026-10-09",
   "source_url": null
  }
 ],
 "compare_with": {
  "name": "Text Blaze",
  "why": "Both have a free tier now, and Text Blaze still undercuts every paid rung: Pro $2.99 and Business $6.99 per user per month billed annually, read on their own plans page on 18 August 2026, against $5 and $10. So TextExpander has to win on OS-level expansion outside the browser, and on the SSO, SCIM and HIPAA-BAA paperwork a procurement team asks for — not on price"
 },
 "links": {
  "record": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/api/v1/products/textexpander.json",
  "review": "https://officesoftwaremarketplace.com/textexpander-review.html",
  "marketplace": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/marketplace/textexpander/",
  "vendor_site": "https://textexpander.com"
 },
 "purchase": {
  "seller": "the vendor",
  "how": "AIBuilder Marketplace does not sell this software. Sign up, start a trial or buy on the vendor's site.",
  "handoff_url": "https://textexpander.com/?red=aibuil&utm_source=aibuil&utm_medium=revshare&utm_affiliate_network=reditus",
  "affiliate": true,
  "disclosure": "Where purchase.affiliate is true, purchase.handoff_url is an affiliate link: AIBuilder Marketplace may earn a commission at no extra cost to the buyer. Commission never changes what a record says, and products are not ranked by commission. Where it is false the link is the vendor's plain site."
 },
 "provenance": {
  "research": "hand-researched dossier, read on the vendor's own pages",
  "researched_since": "2026-07",
  "method": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/how-we-review/",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0. Credit 'AIBuilder Marketplace' with a link to https://aibuildermarketplace.com/atlas/.",
  "note": "A rebuild is not a new measurement: pricing.verified_at is the date that matters."
 },
 "cost": {
  "status": "not_yet",
  "engine": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/agents/#cost",
  "rules": null,
  "growth": null
 },
 "unknowns": [
  "Pricing status is 'see_details': no single public entry price.",
  "Plan-by-plan prices are not structured in this record yet; pricing.notes has the full text.",
  "Contract terms (cancellation, data export, data location, minimum seats) are not researched as separate fields; pricing.notes mentions them only where the vendor's pricing page does.",
  "No computable price rules yet: cost at a given team size cannot be calculated for this product.",
  "Not tested hands-on by us: what the product does comes from the vendor's pages and our reading of them."
 ],
 "task_evidence": null,
 "open_questions": [
  {
   "question_id": "textexpander:cancellation_terms",
   "key": "cancellation_terms",
   "question": "Can a customer cancel at any time, and what happens to an annual plan that is cancelled mid-term?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "textexpander:data_export",
   "key": "data_export",
   "question": "Which data can a customer export, in which formats, on which plans?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "textexpander:data_location",
   "key": "data_location",
   "question": "Where is customer data stored, and can a customer choose the region?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "textexpander:minimum_seats",
   "key": "minimum_seats",
   "question": "Is there a minimum number of seats or users on any plan?",
   "status": "open"
  }
 ],
 "vendor_answers": [],
 "agent_channels": {
  "vendor_mcp": null,
  "agent_checkout": {
   "status": "not_found",
   "detail": "No explicit support for purchases by AI agents on the vendor's own pages.",
   "checked_at": "2026-10-07",
   "method": "homepage, /pricing and the pricing page we cite, read as plain HTML (no JavaScript) and searched for explicit support of purchases by AI agents: Agentic Commerce Protocol, Instant Checkout, Agent Payments Protocol, buy in ChatGPT, agentic checkout"
  }
 }
}