--- title: Raycast showed me what Command Palette should have been... description: A hands-on comparison of Raycast and Windows PowerToys Command Palette as app launchers. Raycast wins on features like richer file search context menus,... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/raycast-showed-me-what-command-palette-should-have-been-all-along-xil92k8bx twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Raycast showed me what Command Palette should have been all along | daily.dev og:description: A hands-on comparison of Raycast and Windows PowerToys Command Palette as app launchers. Raycast wins on features like richer file search context menus,... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/raycast-showed-me-what-command-palette-should-have-been-all-along-xil92k8bx og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/xiL92k8Bx.png og:image:alt: Raycast showed me what Command Palette should have been all along og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Raycast showed me what Command Palette should have been all along **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A hands-on comparison of Raycast and Windows PowerToys Command Palette as app launchers. Raycast wins on features like richer file search context menus, Quicklinks with aliases and data placeholders, Snippets, Script Commands, AI integration, a note-taking tool, and a mature extension store. Command Palette is tightly integrated with Windows and PowerToys but remains basic and lacks aliases, advanced snippet management, and polish. The author concludes Raycast is the better launcher for users who want a refined experience, while Command Palette may improve over time. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What are the main differences between Raycast and PowerToys Command Palette on Windows? Raycast offers more advanced launcher features than Command Palette, including customizable Quicklinks with aliases and data placeholders, Snippets with hotkeys, Script Commands, a Markdown note-taking tool, and a larger extension store. Command Palette requires the full PowerToys suite to run, offers only bare-bones bookmarks without aliases, and has a less developed extension ecosystem. _Weighing launcher tools like Raycast against Command Palette gets easier with comparisons like this on daily.dev._ ### Does Command Palette in PowerToys support aliases for bookmarks? No, Command Palette does not support aliases for its bookmark-like feature, though it does let you assign an optional custom name that appears in search results. This is more limited than Raycast's Quicklinks, which support full aliases, custom icons, and data placeholders for dynamic URLs like search queries. _Developers customizing their launcher workflow can track feature gaps like this via daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [4 things Raycast on Windows does that PowerToys Run still can't](https://daily.dev/posts/4-things-raycast-on-windows-does-that-powertoys-run-still-can-t-xuqjnc9kw) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Forget Alfred or PowerToys Run, the new PowerToys Command Palette already does everything](https://daily.dev/posts/forget-alfred-or-powertoys-run-the-new-powertoys-command-palette-already-does-everything-gxehesisf) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 1 comments - [Windows launchers do something the Start menu can't, and I finally understand why power users swear by them](https://daily.dev/posts/windows-launchers-do-something-the-start-menu-can-t-and-i-finally-understand-why-power-users-swear--m2of13cj7) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [I stopped using Windows Search after finding Microsoft's better launcher](https://daily.dev/posts/i-stopped-using-windows-search-after-finding-microsoft-s-better-launcher-za6ygzrqr) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [PowerToys 0.97 is here: a big Command Palette update and a new mouse utility](https://daily.dev/posts/powertoys-0-97-is-here-a-big-command-palette-update-and-a-new-mouse-utility-kmvpcugz0) · Windows Command Line · 100 upvotes · 4 comments --- Tags: [#productivity](https://daily.dev/tags/productivity), [#windows](https://daily.dev/tags/windows) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/raycast-showed-me-what-command-palette-should-have-been-all-along-xil92k8bx) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Raycast showed me what Command Palette should have been all along","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/raycast-showed-me-what-command-palette-should-have-been-all-along-xil92k8bx","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/raycast-showed-me-what-command-palette-should-have-been-all-along-xil92k8bx"},"datePublished":"2026-07-15T10:01:32.489Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T06:13:23.966Z","description":"A hands-on comparison of Raycast and Windows PowerToys Command Palette as app launchers. 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