Plutarch says that he lived to the age of 106, and that he died on the stage while being crowned. According to Suidas, he wrote 245 comedies, of which some 130 titles are preserved. Only fragments of any of the plays have survived - about 340 in all, totalling about 1000 lines. They attest the wit and refinement of the author (Koch, Comicorum Atticorum Fragmenta).
The Suidas also calls him Menander's uncle, but an anonymous tractate on Comedy more plausibly states that Menander was his pupil. Alexis was known in Roman times; Aulus Gellius noted that Alexis' plays were used by Roman comedians, including Turpilius and possibly Plautus.