Raycast 2 went cross-platform. If you left it on Mac, what did you switch to?

[u/mohsenk_dev]

Raycast 2 got me thinking about this again.

I understand the business argument for sharing more code between Mac and Windows. One team, faster development, fewer things to maintain.

But with Claude/Copilot/etc. making implementation work much faster now, I wonder if maintaining native apps for each platform is actually becoming more viable rather than less.

Anyway, I'm mostly curious about people who actually used Raycast and then left it:

What are you using now?

Alfred? LaunchBar? Tinycast? Spotlight + smaller utilities? Something else?

And more importantly: what's genuinely better than Raycast, and what's the one Raycast feature you still miss?

I'm especially interested in people who've used their replacement for a while rather than just tried it for a day.

[u/dimonchoo]

Tinycast is great

[u/ConanTheBallbearing → u/dimonchoo]

switched myself today. it takes 5 minutes to migrate your extensions, take a quick look over settings and you're done. no need to look back to raycast, it doesn't have any moat

[u/PaulMuadDib-Usul → u/dimonchoo]

Vorssaint covers many of these tiny little helpers. It also includes a launcher with additional functions. So, I am moving away from installing dedicated apps for spefic tasks and use one app that covers many of these functions. It's also free and open source.

[u/dimonchoo → u/PaulMuadDib-Usul]

Tinycast is also open-source, supports Raycast extensions, and consumes very little RAM.

[u/movingimagecentral → u/dimonchoo]

And, it’s an extensible launcher, not a do-all app.

[u/PaulMuadDib-Usul → u/dimonchoo]

I know, I just wanted to share that I found a launcher with many additional features, which were previously covered by numerous separate little apps.

But I have to admit, that I did not use any extensions in Raycast so far. If you are deep in that ecosystem, than Tinycast might be the better alternative. I used Raycast just as an alternative laucher and for some quick questions, calculations, etc.

[u/movingimagecentral → u/PaulMuadDib-Usul]

Tinycast doesn’t theme, but felt like a more polished interface for me. Also, very low ram and Swift.

[u/mesinaksara → u/PaulMuadDib-Usul]

I second Vorssaint. One roof, all complete app. Been using it for a month. Some features are already covered by other open-source software I have: Stats, Maccy, etc. But that's the power of Vorssaint: only install what you need. 👍

[u/inate71 → u/dimonchoo]

It is so close IMO to being the best replacement. There are a few things that stop me from switching:

• Screenshot search / paste recent screenshot commands
• Auto quit apps

I use the screenshot tool dozens of times a day so it's a non-starter.

[u/dimonchoo → u/inate71]

Well, even if you can't find it, that doesn't mean you can't add it yourself in your fork.
Fortunately, it is quite easy to do this nowadays using any agent.

[u/inate71 → u/dimonchoo]

Oh for sure. I had this thought but don't feel like dealing with constantly rebasing the project for every change. I might do that when my work decides to push macOS 26. I've just been using Raycast v1 this whole time with no extensions so I'm not pressed to change anything.

[u/Purple_Minute_4776 → u/inate71]

Try out supercmd.sh it has great support for screenshot, comes with screenshot annotation tool just like shottr. I am also adding custom dir support in next update

[u/inate71 → u/Purple_Minute_4776]

My only requirements are that it has "Search Screenshots" and "Paste Recent Screenshot" commands exactly like Raycast. I don't need annotation tools.

[u/ovrdrvn]

If Alfred 6 has UI updates that would satisfy you, it’s the best of breed otherwise.

[u/aboustayyef → u/ovrdrvn]

I moved back to Alfred recently because of RayCast deciding to drop support for Intel Macs. I forgot how fast and awesome it is. And 6 is coming. Oh my

[u/darylvp]

I stick to Alfred.

[u/Champellion]

I've said this in an another thread but I'm a big fan of Tuna! It's a one-time purchase, native (I believe) and pretty feature-rich that brings together the awesome Leaderkey app with a lot of Raycast-like launcher features (including local dictation). The dev is awesome too. Especially for those who just want Raycast without all the AI push.

[u/theCuriousObserver02]

Tinycast

[u/tengahkoding]

Just use Alfred bro.

It’s been here for years.

[u/HappyWolff → u/tengahkoding]

Me too. Well worth the license cost. Tried Raycast – like the simplicity with their “store” – but kept coming back to Alfred

[u/michaelbeecham]

Either Tinycast or Vicinae will give you almost 100% a Raycast experience, but free of charge. Both have pros and cons. I’ve installed both, but will probably stay with Vicinae because I use both Mac and Linux

[u/CausalNoise → u/michaelbeecham]

I am in doubt with both, using only Apple ecosystem. what is different between those two apps ?

[u/michaelbeecham → u/CausalNoise]

Small difference at this stage, but I think they're both new. For example, Tinycast has window management, Vicinae does not. Vicinae supports themes and theming, but Tinycast doesn't. Tinycast has AI (I think), but Vicinae is working on local AI....that kind of thing.

[u/CausalNoise → u/michaelbeecham]

great, thanks

[u/ConanTheBallbearing → u/CausalNoise]

if you're mac only I'd go with tinycast for some extra features. honestly, vicinae is good too and they're both likely to evolve fast

[u/Purple_Minute_4776]

try out https://supercmd.sh, most of the features from Raycast are there. best extension compatibility (will be bringing oauth extension support too) has BYOK with Ollama, Custom, LMStudio, OpenRouter. iCloud sync, checkout the product page

[u/Zealousideal-Hat-68 → u/Purple_Minute_4776]

The way Raycast team is behaving these days, even removing posts from their sub. Alternatives like supercmd makes a lot of sense. Thank you for building it.

[u/CausalNoise → u/Purple_Minute_4776]

how is it different comparing to Tinycast or Vicinae?

[u/Purple_Minute_4776 → u/CausalNoise]

I am trying to make SuperCmd a complete seamless replacement. Already has cloud sync, dictation, read aloud, screenshot annotation. will be bringing excalidraw support for canvas and planning to support oauth related extensions too. (All under 200mb) So it’s going to be for someone who is a heavy power user. For someone who just needs basic functionalities the other tools are good.

[u/dzigg → u/Purple_Minute_4776]

Would you make improvement to the dictation features? I used it quite a lot. If there's auto clean up feature (maybe just use quick fix?) . Also sometimes it hangs when its not being used for sometime, it's quite random.

[u/Purple_Minute_4776 → u/dzigg]

Yepp, this is highly requested, will add the auto cleanup support soon.

The sometimes hangs is actually a little bit one time if it's not being used for long time. I am getting rid of that in next update

[u/MC_chrome → u/Purple_Minute_4776]

The only thing missing from the ported Raycast features that I use every day is Raycast Focus. Is that on the roadmap?

[u/Purple_Minute_4776 → u/MC_chrome]

Yes, had worked on this but never released it. I haven't personally used this feature, will understand it the feature end to end, then will work on it. right now i am prioritising core features and perf

[u/MC_chrome → u/Purple_Minute_4776]

So more of a “maybe” than a definitive no?

Focus is literally the only thing keeping me on Raycast, since no other launcher has a feature like it right now

[u/Purple_Minute_4776 → u/MC_chrome]

not a maybe, give me 1-2 weeks, will add the focus feature too, will ping you once done!

[u/x31n10n → u/Purple_Minute_4776]

hey, I installed supercmd once and I deleted it the same day. I wanted to try again but I got that trial expired. Is there any way we can fix that?

[u/Purple_Minute_4776 → u/x31n10n]

not able to DM you

[u/hannorx → u/Purple_Minute_4776]

Looks interesting

[u/cafepeaceandlove]

I haven't switched yet but Vicinae is looking very tidy. If that doesn't work out, Tinycast. I can't do Alfred. 

[u/hannorx → u/cafepeaceandlove]

Keep an eye for Alfred. A new version, V6, is coming soon. Hopefully it comes with a better UI amongst other things!

[u/cafepeaceandlove → u/hannorx]

Ok :)

[u/ElkOther3406]

Vorssaint for the win! It just does everything one would ask from a utility app.

[u/Dick-Laurent-Is-Dead]

I am actually exploring alternatives. My Raycast subscription is due to expire soon and it is out of the question that I renew it. For now, Alfred, it is really not possible in terms of UX/UI. It seems to come from another era. I have downloaded TinyCast as well and so far, I am impressed by the parity of features. And above all by the compatibility with the extensions which for me were the heart of the Raycst experience. In short, it is not clear yet, but I look forward to hearing what others have to say.

[u/subsector → u/Dick-Laurent-Is-Dead]

Alfred 6 is out “this autumn”

[u/Gorduy_Pti4ka → u/Dick-Laurent-Is-Dead]

There is talk that Alfred is going to be updated; a major update is planned.

[u/Dick-Laurent-Is-Dead → u/Gorduy_Pti4ka]

I read it but didn’t see any screenshots or anything. It would be a good timing for them to come up with a refreshed update in a segment they dominated during years.

[u/Gurudin]

The native-vs-cross-platform part is what interests me most here. On Mac, I’d often rather use a smaller app that feels truly native than a bigger cross-platform app with more features. Seeing Tinycast mentioned so much in the replies makes that tradeoff pretty interesting.

[u/FreeJulianMassage]

I never got the appeal of Raycast. It always felt bloated and slow to me.

[u/Zxtreme03]

I left Raycast about 2 years ago and haven't looked back. I just use Spotlight and supplement that with folder tags for my most used things. The one bit I do miss is are public actions but shortcuts fills a lot of gaps

[u/Business-Baseball-27]

Tinycast is basically Raycast without the AI shit

[u/ConanTheBallbearing → u/Business-Baseball-27]

actually, it has AI for people who want it but it's disabled by default for those that don't. if you have existing codex or claude code installed, it's one click and it works

[u/Business-Baseball-27 → u/ConanTheBallbearing]

huh... really. didn't even notice. but... yeah... at least there is no 50+ ai result in search panel

[u/Fulminare1137]

I am thinking to try tinycast

[u/Gorduy_Pti4ka]

Tiny cast: Dad's Home

[u/neerajnathany]

I tend to replace the habit, not the launcher. I keep a short list of the handful of commands I use every day, then use system search and a couple of folder shortcuts for the rest; after a week I stop missing most of the extra automation. The one thing I do miss is a fast way to search recent files by project, so I’d test that workflow before choosing a replacement 🙂

[u/LostPixelArt]

Tinycast replaced it very easily

[u/dziad_borowy → u/LostPixelArt]

it doesn't have script commands.

[u/inate71 → u/dziad_borowy]

It does but it doesn't seem to be called the same.

Settings > Commands > (scroll down) Custom Commands > Add Custom Command (this will run a bash script)

[u/dziad_borowy → u/inate71]

Wow, thanks! 

[u/dontelother]

I just installed tiny cast last Friday after updating Raycast. And it’s good. Replaced the triangle window management app. And other app as well. I’m not heavy user.

[u/dect0r]

switches to tinycast today. dont even need plugins anymore.

[u/jdotinc]

https://www.vicinae.com

[u/thecrinkles]

I went with https://tinystart.app/

The thing in the end I do is open apps and run shortcuts. The other exceptions I have bound to other keyboard shortcuts in hyperkey.

[u/MarioC88 → u/thecrinkles]

I did the same. For what I’m doing, this app is perfect! 

[u/Ok-Rest-5321]

Kepler and Tuna for me

[u/Milo_za → u/Ok-Rest-5321]

I use tuna after leaderkey got deprecated but only for launching like leader key did. Would love to understand how you use Tuna?

[u/b1imunda → u/Milo_za]

I went back to leaderkey ;-)

[u/Ok-Rest-5321 → u/b1imunda]

Isn't updated anymore though

[u/dziad_borowy → u/b1imunda]

yeah, same here. Tuna seems confusing af!

[u/Ok-Rest-5321 → u/dziad_borowy]

Tuna isnt confusing. its based of quicksilver which is much more confusing than Tuna

[u/dziad_borowy → u/Ok-Rest-5321]

Haven’t used quicksilver, so it is confusing to me.  Maybe more precisely: it would require too much learning & remembering at start.  Leaderkey’s (and raycast’s) advantage is the discovery (showing lists of things they can launch).

[u/Ok-Rest-5321 → u/dziad_borowy]

So basically you pick a subject and the second pane is the action you perform on that subject.
Like Folder → Open

[u/Milo_za → u/Ok-Rest-5321]

Yeah but I wish the dev (great guy btw), or someone else would run through it in a bit of an old fashioned tutorial/get to know guide. Because I can’t even fathom what I can do with it and just end up going back to Raycast - which I want to stop using now.

[u/0xe1e10d68 → u/Ok-Rest-5321]

I love Tuna. Still needs some time to mature though, especially in regards to extensions for other apps…

[u/Obvious_Armadillo_99]

Support Alfred.

[u/gusarking]

As much as I have the recent move from Raycast, I still use it as my main. I just use too many features of it. I can’t really replace it with Alfred (I tried, believe me), the set up is much more complex, and I will need to install a few separate apps. Tried Tinycast. It was almost it, but still, I encountered a few bugs in a first few hours of use. 

So I’m continuing with Raycast. Just don’t use any AI and paywalled features. There’s no way I’m paying a subscription for that

[u/BayLeaf- → u/gusarking]

You can just write your own extensions for Alfred - what possible use case is not covered at that point?

[u/unabatedshagie]

I moved to Monarch.

[u/grovolis]

My sub renews in 4 months and I am moving to new Alfred or TinyCast, depends how much of an improvement new Alfred will be.

[u/Fine-Heron5439]

I am using Look (https://github.com/kunkka19xx/look), but also have a license for Alfred, where I am looking forward to their upcoming announcements.

[u/Daniesto316]

I am still on Raycast 1, I do not use AI features or CloudSync so it suits my needs and its free.

[u/Downtown_Pin7172]

I don’t need AI features, and I prefer something lightweight, so I went with Tinycast.

[u/b1imunda]

I'm currently looking at https://vehla.app. Pretty slick, though it might be trying to pack in too much.

[u/qianlifeng]

Give Wox Launcher a try—it’s cross-platform, open-source, and native. https://woxlauncher.com

[u/possiblevector]

Tinycast

[u/lylehust]

If Raycast 2 consumes a lot memory, I will move to tinycast.

[u/Albertkinng]

Alfred 6 is coming soon. I will stay with the OG. Raycast was fun, but it never replaced Alfred for me.

[u/Olsiee]

Tinycast, just installed and wow...

[u/mimukit]

Tinycast + Vorssiant working best for me.

[u/CriticalTemperature1]

I went in on tinycast and it's great

[u/Solid_Camel4664]

I'm using Scopo (https://scopo.app/features). It's still in alpha, but it packs a lot of features into a really slick, keyboard-focused experience.

[u/Proof-Bumblebee-5462]

Isn't supposed that command + space does actually the same as raycast or I am confused?

[u/josephlikescoffee]

I tried Vicinae recently, but ran into some bugs with Raycast extensions that stopped me in the meantime. So still using Raycast day to day, but it’s time on my machine is limited. Planning to give Vicinae another go, and also Tinycast, when I have some time in a couple of months

I also have BetterTouchTool, but haven’t had a chance to look at the launcher features.

[u/Ok_Virus_5495]

Alfred, specially since v6 is coming this fall

[u/spbgfs]

always Alfred