The best replacement for ampersand is and.

The best alternatives to ampersand are rated as following:
★★★★★  and
★★★★  asterisk c++
★★★★  treble clef
★★  ampersat
★★  nohup
★  and ruby
★  concatenate
  plus sign

Your alternative for ampersand is not listed? Suggest!
Speaking about ampersand, one probably shouldn't forget about oxford comma.

Other search terms related to ampersand and their ratings are:
★★★★★ oxford comma
You have in mind a companion for ampersand and it is not yet here? Propose!



Google Trends

Scale is based on the average worldwide traffic of ampersand in all years. Click on graph for more.
ampersand
and
asterisk c++