Regex Shuttle vs RegexPilot

Regex Shuttle is a free browser-based tool for testing, explaining, and learning regular expressions. As users type, it highlights matches and displays match details, groups, and indices. Its explainer separates expressions into tokens and gives plain-English descriptions, while a library provides ready-to-use patterns to copy or open in the tester. A cheat sheet covers regex characters, quantifiers, anchors, groups, and flags. The tool can preview find-and-replace results in real time, including capture-group references such as $1 and $2. It uses JavaScript's built-in RegExp engine, so its behavior follows JavaScript regex behavior in browsers and Node.js. The maker says it supports capturing groups, lookahead and lookbehind assertions, named groups, and Unicode patterns. Regex processing occurs locally in the browser; patterns and test strings are not uploaded, collected, or shared with third parties. The maker says it continues working offline after its first load. No signup or email is required, and the interface is available in English and Chinese. The Free plan is free, with no limits or ads.

RegexPilot is a Mac-native visual regular-expression builder with AI for composing, inspecting and testing patterns. Users assemble expressions from categorized drag-and-drop blocks, inspect them in a panel and follow a plain-English breakdown tree linked to the pattern. Sample text shows highlighted matches and capture groups, and replacements can be assembled from blocks. The product supports 21 regex flavors and routes patterns to the corresponding language engines. Users can provide API keys for listed AI providers or run AI offline with LM Studio, Ollama, llama.cpp or LocalAI. Its library includes 50 curated patterns and supports folders, tags and JSON import/export. A VS Code extension synchronizes changes between the app and regex literals in the editor. Users can export code for 21 languages, create SVG or PNG railroad diagrams and make browser-openable share links. The desktop app says it sends no usage statistics, telemetry or analytics to a server on its own; patterns and settings remain on-device unless a share link is created. It requires macOS 14 or newer. The free plan covers JavaScript and TypeScript engines; the one-time license costs 19.00 EUR.