Makro vs Magical
Makro vs Magical.
Browser-based, export requires DevTools extraction, no self-serve JSON export.
Matrix
Side by side, no hedge-words.
Pricing reflects Magical's published site as of April 2026 (US region).
Feature
Makro
Magical
Free tier
Yes
Yes
End-to-end encrypted sync
Yes
No
Local AI (Ollama / LM Studio)
Yes
No
On-device OCR (Smart Copy)
Yes
No
Import from other tools
10 formats
No
Platform
Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Brave
Chrome extension
Lowest paid tier
$2.99/mo or $149 lifetime
Free (freemium; paid tier for teams)
Verification: 2,495 automated tests in the Makro repo and continuous external code review. Full threat model on /security/architecture.
Magical strengths vs tradeoffs
Where Magical wins, and where Makro does.
Magical strengths
- Built-in automations for recruiting and sales workflows
- Large shared-template library
- Clean Gmail integration
Magical tradeoffs
- No first-class export - extraction via DevTools console
- No end-to-end encryption
- Not general-purpose (workflow-first, not snippet-first)
Verdict: Magical targets recruiters and sales SDRs with opinionated workflows. Choose it if you need their specific automations ("open this site, then fill this form"). Choose Makro if you want a text expander without the automations.
Migration
Moving from Magical to Makro.
Step by step: Run the JSON extraction snippet in DevTools (linked from Makro's importer UI), save the result, then Settings > Import > Magical (.json). See the full migration guide for what carries over.