Raycast vs Alfred vs Spotlight: which Mac launcher?

If your Mac runs macOS Tahoe 26 or later, start with Spotlight. It is free, it is already on Cmd+Space, and since Tahoe it runs actions, takes quick keys and searches your clipboard history, which covers much of what people used to install a launcher for. Install Raycast or Alfred for a job Spotlight still doesn’t do: snippets, window management, an extension store, or the same launcher on a Windows PC. Every price and feature below was checked on October 28, 2026, against Apple’s Mac User Guide for macOS 27 Golden Gate and the makers’ own pages, with Raycast at version 2.9 and Alfred at 5.8.1.

Which one to pick

• Keep Spotlight if you open apps and files, run the odd action and want your clipboard history, and would rather not add another app. It costs nothing and runs only on a Mac.
• Install Raycast if you want snippets, window management, extensions, or one launcher on a Mac and a Windows PC. The core is free; Pro, at $8 a month billed yearly, adds Raycast AI, Cloud Sync and unlimited clipboard history.
• Install Alfred if you would rather pay once than subscribe, or your Mac is too old for Tahoe. The core is free; the Powerpack, £34 once, adds clipboard history, snippets and workflows. Mac only.

All three work the same way under your hands: press one shortcut, type three or four letters, press Return. The habit carries over whichever you choose, so the choice is about what’s waiting when you press it.

What Spotlight does now

macOS Tahoe 26 turned Spotlight from a search box into something close to a launcher. On the current macOS, these are the parts worth learning:

• Browse by type. After Cmd+Space, Cmd+1 shows only apps, Cmd+2 files, Cmd+3 actions and Cmd+4 your clipboard, as Apple’s list of Spotlight keyboard shortcuts sets out.
• Actions. Send an email, translate text, start a FaceTime call or change the case of copied text without opening the app first. Type the action’s name, press Return, fill in any blanks and press Return again. Apps can offer actions of their own, and your Shortcuts run from here too.
• Quick keys. A few letters that go straight to an action. Spotlight suggests one after you run an action once, and Add quick keys beside an action sets your own. Apple’s example gives Start FaceTime Call the quick keys “ft”, so “ft Ashley” calls Ashley.
• Clipboard history. Cmd+Space, then Cmd+4, lists what you’ve copied recently. The first time, Spotlight may ask whether to allow Clipboard results; Clear History, under the More button, empties it.
• Menu commands. Spotlight also searches the menu bar of the app you’re working in.

Apple’s page on actions and quick keys in Spotlight lists the built-in actions, some of which need Apple Intelligence.

Tip: before you decide Spotlight isn’t enough, give your three most-used actions two-letter quick keys. Typing “ft” and a name builds the same habit as a launcher’s keywords.

What Spotlight doesn’t do is just as clear. It has no snippets: Text Replacements, in System Settings, swaps fixed text, which is a different tool. It has no window commands, although macOS itself tiles windows from the keys on Sequoia 15 and later (Fn+Ctrl+←Left or Right, row 14 of the macOS Shortcut Sheet). Its add-ons are the actions apps choose to offer, not a store you browse. And on macOS Sequoia 15 or earlier, the actions, quick keys and clipboard history aren’t there at all.

Raycast: a free core, Pro for AI and sync

Raycast opens with Option+Space out of the box. The free plan, for personal use, includes clipboard history kept for three months, snippets, window management, quicklinks (saved links and searches you open by name), a calculator and what Raycast calls thousands of extensions in its store, plus the tools to write your own.

Pro costs $8 a month billed yearly ($96) or $10 billed monthly, and adds:

• Raycast AI, with 500 AI credits a month;
• Cloud Sync for your snippets, quicklinks and settings;
• unlimited clipboard history and notes;
• custom themes, a translator and dictation;
• custom window management commands.

Raycast sells Pro only with AI included, and says AI can be turned off in its settings. Its pricing page has the team plans and the higher tiers.

Raycast 2.0, the version that runs on both Mac and Windows, left beta on August 25, 2026, and there is an iPhone app as well. If snippets are your reason to look at Raycast, the best text expanders for Mac and Windows sets its free snippets beside the apps built only for that job.

Alfred: free, with a Powerpack bought once

Alfred also opens with Option+Space. Free Alfred launches apps, finds files, runs web searches and does sums, and Alfred says the core is free to download and use forever. It runs only on a Mac: Alfred 5.8.1 needs macOS 10.14 Mojave or later, on Intel or Apple silicon, which makes it the choice for a Mac that can’t run Tahoe and its newer Spotlight.

The Alfred Powerpack is a one-off purchase. Alfred prices it in pounds: £34 for a single license, or £59 for the Mega Supporter license with free lifetime upgrades, and its store says a license bought now includes a free upgrade to Alfred 6. The Powerpack adds:

• workflows, which chain actions behind a hotkey or a keyword;
• clipboard history for text, images and file paths;
• snippets that expand from keywords;
• keyboard navigation and actions for files, contacts and terminal commands;
• custom themes, 1Password bookmarks, and settings sync through a file-syncing service.

Neither AI nor window management is on the Powerpack’s list of features.

Side by side

Checked October 28, 2026	Spotlight	Raycast	Alfred
Price	Free, built into macOS	Free; Pro $8/month billed yearly, $10 monthly	Free; Powerpack £34 once
Shortcut out of the box	Cmd+Space	Option+Space	Option+Space
Apps and files	Yes	Yes	Yes, free
Clipboard history	Yes, Cmd+4 (Tahoe 26 and later)	Free, kept 3 months; unlimited with Pro	With the Powerpack
Snippets	No	Free	With the Powerpack
Window management	No; macOS tiling keys instead	Free; custom commands with Pro	Not built in
Extensions or workflows	Actions that apps offer, and your Shortcuts	Extension store, free	Workflows, with the Powerpack
AI	Apple Intelligence actions, where available	Raycast AI, with Pro	Not built in
Runs on	Mac	Mac, Windows, iPhone	Mac, macOS 10.14 and later

Alfred’s price is in pounds because that is how Alfred sells it; the others are in US dollars.

Moving your launcher to Cmd+Space

Raycast and Alfred both start on Option+Space, but your thumb already knows Cmd+Space from Spotlight. macOS keeps Cmd+Space for Spotlight, so free it first:

1. Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Keyboard in the sidebar, then click Keyboard Shortcuts.
2. Select Spotlight in the sidebar and deselect the checkbox next to the Cmd+Space shortcut. Click Done.
3. In Raycast, press Cmd+, to open its settings and, on the General tab, click the Raycast Hotkey field and press Cmd+Space. In Alfred, open its preferences, choose General, click the Alfred Hotkey field and press Cmd+Space.
4. To keep Spotlight on a key of its own, go back to Keyboard Shortcuts > Spotlight, select the checkbox again, double-click the shortcut and press a new one, such as Option+Space, the combo your launcher just gave up.

Apple says to quit and reopen any apps you’re using for a new shortcut to take effect. If Cmd+Space still won’t set, Alfred’s help suggests checking Input Sources, in the same Keyboard Shortcuts list, and any other app that may have claimed the combo.

If you also use Windows

If your other computer runs Windows, you have three launchers to choose from, and one that needs no install at all:

• Raycast for Windows is the same app, free, for Windows 10 21H2 and later and Windows 11. Raycast says it is still bringing macOS features across, so check that the extensions you rely on are there.
• PowerToys Command Palette is Microsoft’s free, open-source launcher, part of PowerToys. Win+Alt+Space opens it to launch apps, run commands, search files, do sums, switch windows and browse your clipboard history, and Microsoft’s Command Palette guide covers its extension gallery and settings.
• Flow Launcher is free and open source, for Windows 10 and later. Alt+Space opens it to find apps, files and bookmarks, and plugins add more.
• Windows itself: press Win and start typing, row 1 of the Windows Shortcut Sheet.

One detail makes the switch easier on your hands. On a Mac keyboard, Cmd sits next to the space bar; on a Windows keyboard, Alt does. A launcher on Alt+Space on Windows sits under the same thumb as Cmd+Space on a Mac: Flow Launcher starts there, and Command Palette lets you change its shortcut in its settings. Mac keyboard shortcuts for Windows users maps the rest of the keys between the two systems.

Raycast, Alfred, PowerToys and Flow Launcher are all on the Kit, with their prices and the systems they run on. More apps weighed by how fast they are from the keyboard are in Productivity Apps.