aText vs XtraFinder
When comparing aText vs XtraFinder, the Slant community recommends XtraFinder for most people. In the question“What are the best power user tools for macOS?” XtraFinder is ranked 23rd while aText is ranked 49th.
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Pros
Pro No Update
Pro A snippet can be expanded to plain or styled text and include pictures
Pro Has built-in snippets for common typos
Pro Cheaper than competition
$4.99, cheaper than textExpander ($35)
Pro Compatible with TextExpander snippets
TextExpander snippets can be imported into aText
Pro Works with VMs
Pro Imports from most alternative text expansion apps
aText can import data from TextExpander, TypeIt4Me, SpellCatcherX, Automaton and CSV file.
Pro Has common HTML & JS snippets built-in
Pro Snippets can include editable fields
Pro Data can be synced through cloud storage services
Pro Snippets can include a wide variety of variables
Possible variables include date, time, other snippets, clipboard content, etc.
Pro Free
Pro Old full-size color labels from OS X < 10.9
Pro Adds useful toolbar items
XtraFinder provides useful options for toolbar such as: Launch as Root, New Terminal Here, New File..., and Select...
Pro Additional right-click options
Xtra Finder provides additional options when performing the right click.
Pro Custom hotkeys
Pro Copy Path
Pro Can open a terminal in set position
XtraFinder can open up a terminal from the right-click menu in given path with "New Terminal Here".
Pro Dual panel
Split the Finder window into to windows to achieve better file handling.
Pro Colored icons in the Finder sidebar
Cons
Con Doesn't work in Mojave
The current version, with no issues. In fact, I've never had any issue with it with Mojave, so I assume when Mojave was released, aText was already up to date for it.
Con Frequent crashes in MacOS Sierra
aText crashes frequently, and the developer is unresponsive. Not clear if app is supported or under current development: last update was in 11/15; last post to aText Facebook page 10/15.
Con Long time no update
Seems to be abandoned.
Con Doesn't work on recent macOS versions without a workaround
This tool doesn't work on recent macOS versions, except if you try workaraound that may or may not work. It involves disabling System Integrity Protection and details on how to do it can be found on the XtraFinder website.