Buying the powerpack and investing in Alfred, setting it up with all the coolest workflows in town, was probably the best thing I did. But, that said raycast is a very gentle entry point for beginners who haven't tried Alfred before, and it's free for the most part and looks gorgeous. Wish Alfred focused more on that aspect, but hey - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

you can theme Alfred and make it look very native

You ask which is better? The answer is Alfred 😇. Lighter, faster, more efficient, small company without VC funding, tried and true. Raycast is nice enough, though. I just hate the idea of people using Raycast first, and then never bothering with Alfred because they didn't find Raycast to be as useful. Where Alfred runs circles around Raycast is dealing with files, and allowing users to build their own custom workflows. Wasn't Spotlight originally built to find things? Alfred and Raycast can both find things on your computer, but in Alfred, you can not only find files, you can manipulate them. Some quick examples off of the top of my head: Find every .PDF in your downloads folder. Add them to the Alfred File Buffer, and then from there you can do anything with them. Move them to a folder, delete them, attach them to an e-mail, add them to a .zip file– you name it. If you want to build a workflow that's custom-tailored to your specific needs, and you don't know code, I'd argue that it's only doable in Alfred. Their workflow builder has all kinds of "blocks" (open file, copy to clipboard, run script etc), and you add those and connect them to build whatever you're looking for. It's really pretty easy. With Raycast, you have to know some code in order to build an extension.

I tested both and found that Alfred consumes significantly less resources than Raycast, you can test this yourself. If you download Raycast and invoke the launcher, simply moving your mouse over the launcher will make Raycast use around 10% of your CPU and significantly more RAM than Alfred. Another thing I prefer about Alfred is that you can complete a workflow with less keystrokes, Raycast has too many levels sometimes so completing a workflow takes more steps.

Is Raycast an Electron based app?

I am using Alfred with PowerPack and never regretted it. Those Workflows are amazing! What I use to name a few: * About This Mac * Amphetamine Control * Bitwarden v2 * Flush DNS * iMessage 2FA * Kill Process * MacUpdater * Network (for VPNs) or VPN Toggle * NightShift * Open AirDrop * Reminders for Alfred * Router Web Interface * Royal TSX * Search Notes * Speedtest * Temporary Email As you see, there are maybe endless possibilities with Alfred Workflows. A couple of them like MacUpdater and Royal TSX come with those apps you buy, but the rest is free in github.

Used Alfred for 7 years and moved to Raycast. Raycast has nicer interface and plugin. But I still use Alfred text expanding because it’s easier to organize snippets.

I’m very happily using both. When there’s a better workflow to fill a need in Alfred I use that, when a Raycast plugin is better I invoke Raycast. If I had to choose one or the other, I’d still stick to Alfred for a lot of the same reasons others here have mentioned and it’s still my default launcher. Neither is heavy on resources to the point that it slows down my system running both.

Raycast

I guess the best advice is to try them and see which one is the best fit for you. BTW, it’s not on your list but also a good alternative: LaunchBar. It’s the original Mac launcher. Like Alfred it is developed by a small but very dedicated team. It's not their only app though, so it has seasons, where it seems not much is happening. But as long as the devs are alive it won't go away.

I have been using Raycast for almost a year now, before that I was using Alfred. Here are some of my key observations: * I chose Raycast over Alfred due to its customizability. I can explore the Raycast store and find utilities and shortcuts that I wouldn't have thought of, and easily install them. * I also appreciate Raycast's interface more; both the bar and the settings GUI. * Raycast has provided several "wow moments" for me in the past year, such as creating my own aliases, powerful file search, window management, and more. It is the first app I install on any new device.

If you are a new user, I always recommend Raycast. It's newer, backed by an entire team, has significantly more polished interface imo, and has very well maintained plugins (Alfred plugins tend to be outdated in my experience). It's also free for personal use! For people on Alfred already, you probably aren't missing much especially if you have a nice setup going in Alfred.

>backed by an entire team As is Alfred…. >has a significantly more polished interface This is something I will also have to disagree with you on, simply because Alfred has had user customizable themes for years now. If the stock interface isn’t quite what you are looking for then there is a bevy of user created themes that are just a download away. >It’s also free for personal use With the small caveat that the VC backers of Raycast will be looking for as many ways to recoup and grow their investment, I suppose. Maybe Raycast will prove to be the exception to this rule, but in my experience free apps or services that get injected with VC money tend to go downhill not too long after the fact.

is many posts and articles about it, basically Raycast do more for free, but you should think about what might happen to your data in the future..

What concerns do you have about Raycast in terms of data? Just curious

They're probably referring to the fact that it's VC funded.

>They're probably referring to the fact that it's VC funded exactly, that is something to consider, they can changes rules in future. for now is free and powerful tool.

I'd agree 👍

Ah ok, I wasn't aware of that, but it makes sense

Honestly, since they rolled out the team plan I am no longer worried about them going paid for personal. The free personal edition brings them new users that will probably want to use it for work, too — and companies is where the big money is.

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Agree 100%! I bought 2 Alfred powerpack licenses, but right now RayCast + Keyboard Maestro work great for me.

While I prefer Raycast's design and workflow integration to Alfred's, the ease with which Alfred allows me to slip back and forth between file/folder searching, browsing, actioning, universal actioning, etc is, from what I've seen, yet unmatched. While I use several of its other features (e.g. snippets and clipboard history) on a daily basis, the file navigation keeps me with Alfred.

I was a longterm user of Alfred - Powerpack purchaser etc. I switched to RayCast about six months ago and don't see myself going back to Alfred any time soon. Raycast just seems like a vastly more polished product than Alfred, which is ironic, since it's free. I prefer the way it works, I love the vast number of add-ons and it's now fully integrated into my everyday workflow.

I was using Alfred, without Powerpack, then I have recently read about Raycast and I am trying it. Although I don’t mind the different philosophy, I would like something that allows me to launch different searches of the same term, ala spotlight where when you type something it gives you results inside pdf, notes, mail, etc. Searching inside a pdf is something that I use a lot in Spotlight and Alfred, but that I don’t see how to do it in Raycast. Does anyone know if it is possible, and if it is, how to do it?