I'm not sure I see the benefit of this over PowerToys beyond system-wide indexing for file search (which I'd want in Explorer, not a separate launcher app). Let alone the premium tiers.
- AI? What's the benefit beyond agents in more domain-specific environments (or gen-purpose site) vs native to a launcher app?
- Custom window management is available with PowerToys
- Unlimited clipboard history - I'm not sure I want or need this over PowerToys retaining it for system uptime.
- (Free?) Extension library looks a step beyond what's currently available for PowerToys' Command Palette, but will Raycast gain more Windows-focused extensions faster than Command Palette does?
Competition is good, but I don't see how this adds value as a premium service beyond PowerToys
Ditto is the best tool for clipboard history I've found. One of my first installs on any Windows machine.
I agree with you on PowerToys - that's also a first install. Raycast is really PowerToys for Mac... But now on Windows, perhaps for the people that started on Mac and have to use Windows, rather than the other way around.
We already have hundreds of extensions to integrate with Notion, GitHub, Slack and many other services. They all work on Windows as well. A whole community builds those extensions. And there is pretty much something new every day.
While we don’t have all features on Windows yet, we see this a nice uplift.
I'm currently trying both Raycast windows (beta) and Flow Launcher. I've never really used this kind of launcher before (just the highly frustrating Windows main search feature).
- Raycast has a nice UI that can expand to work well with extensions
- Flow is faster to use. With Raycast you often need to enter an extension to finish your action. To launch a scrip on Flow I just type "r [shortcut] -> enter" while Raycast is "quicklinks -> enter -> [shortcut] -> enter. [edit, with minimal setup using aliases, you can have similar speed. See __jonas comment below]
- Performance-wise, Raycast was often eating my RAM, but a dev mentioned it's expected in the beta, they'll fix it for the launch. Otherwise, both feel snappy
- Both seem to have enough community support and extensions
- I never really tried the AI features, I don't know if it's the right place for me to augment my workflow w/ it
Curious about the experience of others with these tools or similar ones
> Flow is faster to use. With Raycast you often need to enter an extension to finish your action. To launch a scrip on Flow I just type "r [shortcut] -> enter" while Raycast is "quicklinks -> enter -> [shortcut] -> enter
That’s surprising to me, since it’s not how it works in the mac version of Raycast.
There you just type the extension name to trigger it, which you can also set an alias for, so I have it set so that if I type “c” then press space I see my list of vscode projects which I can search. “f” goes into file search (I think that’s the default even)
Nope, sorry. My main use case is app launch, finding settings, and some scripts. I don't use file search that much.
Small point for Flow here again, because you just have to use the prefix doc: to search through your files, whereas on Raycast, you need to set up an alias and enter the extension. Both have file preview
A little bit irrelevant, but as a Mac user I couldn't prevent Raycast from phoning home even though I disabled AI, telemetry etc. Finally I blocked all connections from Little Snitch.
As a tool I think it's superior to Spotlight, but I still have concerns about privacy, specifically why their developers think that it's okay to send requests without user's knowledge.
The biggest feature that was missing when I was testing the closed beta was Window Management! Hope that made / makes it into this version of the app soon.
Great piece of software and proud to advocate for its use on macOS to anyone willing to listen.
Have used Alfred for 10+ years at this point. Some colleagues are hyped about Raycast, but to me the pricing model is a joke. Pay (monthly) for AI - how about I bring my own API key? Pay (again, monthly) for unlimited clipboard history - lol. Free plan, "Free, forever". Yeah, until it isn't.
Alfred isn't the shiniest thing anymore but it's stood the time remarkably well, something I value very highly for tools as central to my workflow as Alfred.
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- AI? What's the benefit beyond agents in more domain-specific environments (or gen-purpose site) vs native to a launcher app?
- Custom window management is available with PowerToys
- Unlimited clipboard history - I'm not sure I want or need this over PowerToys retaining it for system uptime.
- (Free?) Extension library looks a step beyond what's currently available for PowerToys' Command Palette, but will Raycast gain more Windows-focused extensions faster than Command Palette does?
Competition is good, but I don't see how this adds value as a premium service beyond PowerToys
I agree with you on PowerToys - that's also a first install. Raycast is really PowerToys for Mac... But now on Windows, perhaps for the people that started on Mac and have to use Windows, rather than the other way around.
Not even if it's Everything? IMHO the best file search for Windows. Does one thing and does it perfectly.
While we don’t have all features on Windows yet, we see this a nice uplift.
And I forked Switcheroo to accommodate how I want Alt+Tab yo behave: https://github.com/coezbek/switcheroo
- Raycast has a nice UI that can expand to work well with extensions
- Flow is faster to use. With Raycast you often need to enter an extension to finish your action. To launch a scrip on Flow I just type "r [shortcut] -> enter" while Raycast is "quicklinks -> enter -> [shortcut] -> enter. [edit, with minimal setup using aliases, you can have similar speed. See __jonas comment below]
- Performance-wise, Raycast was often eating my RAM, but a dev mentioned it's expected in the beta, they'll fix it for the launch. Otherwise, both feel snappy
- Both seem to have enough community support and extensions
- I never really tried the AI features, I don't know if it's the right place for me to augment my workflow w/ it
Curious about the experience of others with these tools or similar ones
That’s surprising to me, since it’s not how it works in the mac version of Raycast.
There you just type the extension name to trigger it, which you can also set an alias for, so I have it set so that if I type “c” then press space I see my list of vscode projects which I can search. “f” goes into file search (I think that’s the default even)
F is not set as an alias by default tho
https://www.voidtools.com/
Small point for Flow here again, because you just have to use the prefix doc: to search through your files, whereas on Raycast, you need to set up an alias and enter the extension. Both have file preview
raycast.com/pricing
As a tool I think it's superior to Spotlight, but I still have concerns about privacy, specifically why their developers think that it's okay to send requests without user's knowledge.
Great piece of software and proud to advocate for its use on macOS to anyone willing to listen.
Because of that, I've found it difficult to even give Raycast a try, let alone switch over to it.
Perhaps you could offer your best argument to persuade me why it would be worthwhile.
Without knowing what you value about Alfred, there could be a million different things one could argue on.
Alfred isn't the shiniest thing anymore but it's stood the time remarkably well, something I value very highly for tools as central to my workflow as Alfred.
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