Raycast
Keyboard launcher that grows well past Spotlight, with extensions
Raycast is a keyboard-driven launcher: one hotkey opens a command palette over whatever you are doing, for launching apps, searching files, running window management commands, pasting from clipboard history, expanding snippets and following quicklinks. Thousands of community extensions add commands for the tools you already use, and there is an API for writing your own. Raycast AI puts chat, agents, AI commands and AI extensions behind the same palette, with screen awareness, memory and the option to bring your own model key. Paid plans add cloud sync across machines, dictation, a translator and unlimited notes, team plans add shared commands and snippets, and there are Windows and iOS versions alongside the original Mac app.
- One hotkey opens a command palette over whatever you are doing
- Clipboard history, snippets, quicklinks and a calculator built in
- Window management commands, including custom ones
- Thousands of community extensions, and an API to write your own
- Raycast AI with chat, agents, AI commands and AI extensions
- Screen awareness and memory, or bring your own model key
- Cloud sync across machines, dictation and a translator
- Shared commands, quicklinks and snippets across a team
Based on what people have said
Every answer links back to the mentions it came fromWhat are the common complaints regarding Raycast's pricing and feature availability?
Several users have expressed frustration over features being moved behind a paywall, specifically noting that note creation was locked behind a Pro plan, leaving existing notes in read-only mode. Others have mentioned that the subscription cost is steep for users in certain regions, and some potential users have reported being unable to purchase the service in their country.
4 mentions · r/macapps · r/coolgithubprojects · r/raycastapp · r/raycastapp · Aug 2026 – Sep 2026
How do users feel about the reliability and performance of the software?
Experiences vary; some users report issues with voice features being down, settings disappearing after updates, or the application failing to override Spotlight after a reboot. While some users praise the speed of the unified-list approach, others compare it unfavorably to older, more lightweight launchers, noting that it can feel heavy or unnecessary for simple tasks.
8 mentions · r/raycastapp · r/raycastapp · r/omarchy · r/raycastapp · r/raycastapp · Aug 2026 – Sep 2026
What are the primary concerns regarding privacy and security?
Some users have raised questions about how the software maintains SOC2 compliance without mandatory code reviews. Additionally, there are calls for the application to require explicit, separate approval for data mutations rather than having read-only access by default.
4 mentions · @thebasedcapital · r/raycastapp · Aug 2026
How does Raycast compare to alternatives like Alfred?
Opinions are divided. Some users prefer Alfred, citing long-term ownership of the Powerpack or a lack of compelling reasons to switch. Conversely, others find Raycast's unified-list approach superior to other launchers that hide functionality behind modes, and some users find it difficult to leave the ecosystem due to the quality of its extensions.
7 mentions · r/macapps · r/macbook · r/omarchy · r/raycastapp · r/raycastapp · @davidfano · Aug 2026 – Sep 2026
These summarise counts and dates only. Read the quotes themselves under what people are saying.
What people are saying about Raycast
42% negative“📺 Raycast v2 has sent me back...to Spotlight. And I finally learned about a "hidden" toggle in Shortcuts that completely changes the game.”
“Silent Mention on @raycast does this btw. Or vibe code your own!”
“Note that e.g. Attio, Notion, and Raycast do this. I'd guess there's tens or hundreds of things that make a design feel like it was made by AI, so it feels a bit pointless to highlight individual techniques like this.”
“I don’t like the direction they’ve taken with v2, so I uninstalled it and switched to Tinycast.”
“Raycast is krunner but with better UI, more features and more flexibility from plugin.”
“If you add in semantic search users don't even need to know the app name.So I’m looking at the Raycast web site, and aside from the UI being a little different, Raycast seems like it is itself a clone of the already long-existing KDE Plasma start menu (Kickoff) and KRunner? I guess the only thing missing from the KDE one is “AI”.”
“I would replace the start menu with a Raycast clone. Most people want to open files, ask a question or run an app they know the name of, not scroll a list of things they might never use.”
“I know this has been an ongoing conversation, but is this also what makes Raycast take 3 seconds to open after clicking it's dedicated hotkey? I don't care about general performance (as in how much compute power it's taking up from the rest of the computer) but waiting 3 seconds to type anything is getting to me”
“Guys if you have this issue please run the "Copy Raycast Logs" command and send a bug report to Raycast, they are up to help, and they said it's not normal, so the more bug report we send the better date they have to debug”
“Sad to watch a product this good, with a community this loyal, get gutted to chase something it'll never catch.”
“Welcome to Raycast 2.0 Gb”
“High memory usage → 2GB+ Is this expected? It seems like Raycast is using a lot of memory for me.”
“TIL: You can bring your own model to Raycast, and it doesn't require their subscription!”
“nobody at OpenAI uses Raycast lol”
“With CLIProxyAPI you can use the BYOK (Raycast Pro) feature and use that. ChatGPT Work/Codex can help you set it up.”
“Has anyone figured out a workflow or community extension to route Raycast AI queries through an active ChatGPT Plus account rather than the standard API models?”
“I just tried everything I could find and might go back to Raycast just for the calculator and calculator history.”
“After all these pricing changes ignoring support requests is not a good look.”
“Used Raycast for a while before macOS 26. It was genuinely useful, but it never felt smooth for me. Small hitches opening it, and it just didn't feel as snappy as a launcher should.”
“I'd be happy to move away from Raycast but I can't really find any other launcher that has got such good integration with GitHub and Linear. If any of you know any, I'd be happy to give them a go!”
“Raycast’s fine if you mostly work in English. The comments here about Norwegian / German / Greek are the real gap.”
“I mean, as you correctly said yourself, Raycast team is a great and professional team. And since for us these plan updates didn't change anything really, why don't we just trust in Raycast?”
“I couldn't agree more! Right now, I'm also searching for an open-source alternative. It doesn't have to be as feature-packed as Raycast, as long as it won't screw over the developer community.”
“what did I miss? did raycast betray?”
“Though, does it describe why I need a Raycast subscription to use my AI subscription I already paid for? 🤔”