Launchy vs PowerToys Command Palette

Launchy is a free utility for opening programs, files, folders, and websites with a few keystrokes. It indexes start-menu programs and can search directories and file types that users add. It stays in the background until the hotkey is pressed: Alt+Space by default, or Control+Space on Linux. Users can customize its appearance with skins and extend it through plugins for web searches, calculations, custom commands, and bookmark access. Other listed plugin examples include PuTTY sessions, task switching, and system power controls; these are made by other developers, and Launchy does not guarantee their functionality or behavior. Portable mode stores configuration files in the directory where Launchy runs, so it can be used from a USB stick. The bundled Calcy calculator supports addition, division, subtraction, multiplication, and parentheses. The listed platforms are Android, Linux, macOS, and Windows. Launchy is free to download with no fixed price; the listed recommended value is $10 USD, and the plan notes suggest considering a $3 contribution.

PowerToys Command Palette is a free Windows interface for launching applications, running commands, searching files, browsing the web and reaching Windows tools. Enable it and keep it running in the background, then use Win+Alt+Space by default. Search covers apps, shell commands, files and folders, web searches through the default browser, and calculator expressions. The interface can navigate Windows Settings, find and install apps with WinGet, switch windows, open clipboard history, manage services, launch Windows Terminal profiles, query the Registry, connect to Remote Desktop, show performance metrics and run system commands. Commands can be pinned to Home or to the persistent edge Dock, with separate pinned bands on each display. Named bookmarks open files, folders, URLs or shell commands. Themes, backdrops, background images and custom colors control appearance. A built-in Gallery manages community extensions, which run in separate processes and communicate through a WinRT API. PowerToys requires Windows 11 or Windows 10 version 2004 (build 19041) or newer on 64-bit x64 or ARM64 processors. Diagnostic data is optional and off by default in version 0.86 and later.