Launchy vs Raycast
Launchy
launchy.net
Raycast
raycast.comSide by side
| Figure | Launchy | Raycast |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $8/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 20 |
| Spec score · App Launchers | 9.1 (#3) | 9.5 (#1) |
| Spec score · App launchers | 9.0 (#3) | 9.5 (#1) |
| Spec score · App Launcher Software | 8.6 (#6) | 8.9 (#3) |
| Integrations | The official plugin list includes PuTTY sessions, Todoist, Windows Live Messenger, system power controls and task switching. | Official examples include Linear, Google Translate, Spotify, Arc, TinyPNG, 1Password, Jira, Slack, Zoom, Notion, Todoist, Google Chrome, Obsidian and CleanShot X. |
| Praise: productivity | SourceForge reviewers repeatedly describe Launchy as a major time saver that clears the desktop and opens apps or documents quickly. | G2 reviewers repeatedly praise Raycast as a fast Spotlight replacement that centralizes shortcuts, clipboard access, window management and integrations. |
| What it does | Launchy is a free cross-platform utility that indexes programs and opens documents, project files, folders and bookmarks from keystrokes. | Raycast is a keyboard-first launcher combining apps, files, commands, workflows and productivity tools in one interface. |
Plans
Raycast
- FreeFree
- Raycast FreeFree
- Raycast Teams FreeFree
- Teams FreeFree
- Pro$10 a month
- Raycast Pro$10 a month
- Raycast Teams Pro$15 a month
- Teams Pro$15 a month
- Pro+$20 a month
- Raycast Pro+$20 a month
In their own words
Launchy
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.
Raycast
Raycast is a set of productivity tools organized around an extendable launcher, where a keyboard-focused interface opens tools and runs workflows. Built-in features include Clipboard History, Calendar, Window Management, Snippets, Quicklinks, Notes, file search and Calculator. Its Store offers community-made extensions, with examples for Linear, Slack, Notion, Google Translate, Spotify, 1Password and Jira. Developers can build integrations with an extension API, and Teams can publish private extensions. Raycast AI includes chat, quick AI actions, agents, commands and extensions, and supports models from multiple providers. The free plan includes core features and thousands of extensions, with Clipboard History limited to three months and Notes to five. Pro costs $10 a month and includes 500 AI credits each month, cloud sync, dictation, custom themes, Translator, and unlimited Clipboard History and Notes. Raycast is available on macOS, Windows, iOS and iPadOS, but not Android. Its browser extension supports Chromium-based browsers, Safari and Firefox. Eligible new accounts can start a seven-day Pro trial; advanced AI models are excluded.