LaunchBar
Ranked 8 of 8 app launchers by recommenders
Mac launcher people recommend for running common actions and searching quickly, though some say it lost momentum and that Raycast's plugins perform better.
Mac launcher people recommend for running common actions and searching quickly, though some say it lost momentum and that Raycast's plugins perform better.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Handles common actions well
“I've yet to find another launcher that handles my most common actions quite as well”
Comment from 25 Feb 2026 in “Tuna: A new, modern, modal launcher for macOS” Instantly searches by name
“basically works exactly like it should, instantly searching the emoji names”
Comment from 3 Aug 2026 in “Manual: •.,:;?·” Solid, fine app overall
“a fine app. It seemed to lose momentum after a while”
Comment from 27 Feb 2026 in “Tuna: A new, modern, modal launcher for macOS”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Raycast plugins perform better
“I loved it, but eventually found that Raycasts approach of having predefined plugins for each use case is more performant”
Comment from 25 Feb 2026 in “Tuna: A new, modern, modal launcher for macOS” Lost momentum over time
“a fine app. It seemed to lose momentum after a while”
Comment from 27 Feb 2026 in “Tuna: A new, modern, modal launcher for macOS”
Other app launchers people recommend
The four most recommended other app launchers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raycast | 95 | 27 | 78% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Alfred for macOS | 55 | 4 | 93% | 12 | 10 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| Spotlight | 43 | 133 | 24% | 11 | 6 yrs5 owners | — |
| Tuna launcher for macOS | 10 | 6 | 63% | 2 | — | — |
| LaunchBarThis page | 5 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
4 of the 5 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“basically works exactly like it should, instantly searching the emoji names”
“a fine app. It seemed to lose momentum after a while”
“I've yet to find another launcher that handles my most common actions quite as well”
“I loved it, but eventually found that Raycasts approach of having predefined plugins for each use case is more performant”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.