Review Summary
Raycast is the ultimate launcher for macOS, replacing Spotlight with hundreds of powerful extensions, automation, and a built-in AI assistant.
About This Product
2020
London, United Kingdom / Berlin, Germany
Thomas Paul Mann (CEO, German) and Petr Nikolaev (CTO, Russian)
Detailed Review
Raycast was founded in 2020 by Thomas Paul Mann and Petr Nikolaev, who met while working at Facebook London. Thomas, a German with a passion for tools and productivity, and Petr, a Russian with a strong engineering background, decided to tackle a problem they both faced every day: macOS Spotlight was too limited for the needs of developers and power users.
Raycast launched in 2020 and quickly attracted the developer community with its Extension Store — a community-created extension marketplace similar to VS Code plugins. From GitHub PR management to Jira issue creation to Spotify playback control — there's an extension for every workflow. Script Commands let anyone create simple extensions using just bash or Python scripts.
AI integration in Raycast was an important step forward in 2023: Command AI lets you use an AI assistant directly within Raycast without opening a separate app. AI Commands can "summarize clipboard text," "translate to Vietnamese," or "fix grammar" — applying to any text currently in the clipboard. This creates a frictionless AI workflow across all of macOS.
Current Developments (2025–2026)
Raycast 2.0 with integrated Window Management is directly competing with Rectangle Pro and BetterTouchTool. Raycast Notes — a fast note-taking feature integrated into the launcher — is being used by many users as a Notion replacement for quick capture. Team Sharing lets you share Scripts and Commands with an entire team. The Raycast Pro tier with expanded AI features is creating a sustainable revenue model for the company. A $15 million Series A from Accel Partners.
Strengths
- 1,000+ free community extensions — manage windows, snippets, clipboard, and APIs all via keyboard
- AI integrated anywhere in macOS — no need to open a new tab or switch to ChatGPT
- Clipboard history saves text, images, and files — paste back anything you copied in the past week
- Response time under 100ms — 10x faster than Spotlight when opening apps or finding files
Areas for Improvement
- macOS only — Windows and Linux users cannot use it
- Raycast Pro at $8/month is required for AI features and unlimited clipboard — fairly expensive for a launcher app
- Some community extensions are low quality and need careful vetting before installing to avoid conflicts
Verdict
Raycast is an excellent choice for anyone needing a powerful tool in the PC Software category. Founded in 2020 by Thomas Paul Mann (CEO, German) and Petr Nikolaev (CTO, Russian), this product has undergone years of development and continuous improvement. With a rating of 9.7/10, it ranks among the best in its segment. We encourage you to try the free version before deciding to upgrade.
