Vicinae
Ranked 5 of 8 app launchers by recommenders
Free, open-source command palette that runs most Raycast extensions and feels faster and lighter than Raycast.
Free, open-source command palette that runs most Raycast extensions and feels faster and lighter than Raycast.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 82%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: 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: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 4.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, 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
Compatible with most Raycast extensions
“I've been enjoying Vicinae for this. Not rust. Has some compatibility with Raycast extensions. And it works on Linux!”
Comment from 24 Feb 2026 in “RustCast -open-source Raycast-style launcher written in Rust” “it can run >50% of the Raycast plugins without a sweat, is designed to be drop in compatible”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Ideas on modernizing the open-source desktop” “Vicinae works great and is compatible with most plugins”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Ideas on modernizing the open-source desktop” - Comment from 23 Nov 2025 in “Raycast for Windows”
Faster and more memory-efficient
“a lot more memory efficient too, especially if you compare it to V2”
Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: Vicinae – open-source, Raycast-compatible command palette, now on macOS” “i feel like vicinae is also a lot faster than raycast”
Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: Vicinae – open-source, Raycast-compatible command palette, now on macOS” “Vicinae is so much faster and memory-efficient.”
Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: Vicinae – open-source, Raycast-compatible command palette, now on macOS” Works on Linux
“I've been enjoying Vicinae for this. Not rust. Has some compatibility with Raycast extensions. And it works on Linux!”
Comment from 24 Feb 2026 in “RustCast -open-source Raycast-style launcher written in Rust” “Been using it on Linux for a while now, since I was missing spotlight/raycast from work laptop that runs macOS.”
Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: Vicinae – open-source, Raycast-compatible command palette, now on 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 | — | — |
| VicinaeThis page | 9 | 2 | 82% | 7 | — | — |
What people said
14 of the 15 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Vicinae works great and is compatible with most plugins”
“it's a 3rd party app that can pull the rug anytime without any consequence”
“it can run >50% of the Raycast plugins without a sweat, is designed to be drop in compatible”
“the pretty great open source port”
“Vicinae as the control plane for complex stuff”
“keep surprising me with random bugs”
“Been using it on Linux for a while now, since I was missing spotlight/raycast from work laptop that runs macOS.”
“Vicinae is so much faster and memory-efficient.”
“a lot more memory efficient too, especially if you compare it to V2”
“i feel like vicinae is also a lot faster than raycast”
“There are some pretty cool projects that use react like that, e.g., vicinae”
“I've been enjoying Vicinae for this. Not rust. Has some compatibility with Raycast extensions. And it works on Linux!”
“an app like Vicinae’s clipboard history”
“mostly API compatible with the Raycast API”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.