Launchy vs Rofi

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.

Rofi is a free utility for Linux and macOS that combines window switching, application launching, SSH access, and menu workflows. It can move between open windows, start applications, or provide a dialog for connecting to a remote machine. Its modes include window, windowcd, run, drun, ssh, keys, script, and combi. Navigation supports keyboard and mouse input, filtering by typing, and tokenized search. A dedicated script mode can replace dmenu. Configuration can come from a system configuration file, a Rasi theme file, or command-line options. Rofi builds with X11 and Wayland backends when available, and either can be disabled. Installation guidance covers Debian or Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch Linux, Gentoo, openSUSE, and FreeBSD; macOS installation is through MacPorts. The downloads page lists release archives, with version 1.7.9 as its newest listed release. Development versions have no tarball release; the installation instructions explain how to obtain and compile one. Support links lead to GitHub issues and discussions.