Raycast
Verified Oct 16, 2026 ActiveMac and Windows launcher with extensions, snippets and window management, plus an AI assistant on paid plans.
Listed on EffectHub ·
Pricing
- Pricing model
- Freemium
- Paid options from
- $10/mo
- Billing
- Monthly
Free covers the launcher, extensions, 3-month clipboard history and 5 notes with no AI. Pro is $10/month or $96/year with 500 AI credits a month, fast models, cloud sync, dictation and bring-your-own-key; Plus $20/month ($192/year) and Max $50/month ($480/year) add top-tier models with 3,000 and 7,500 credits. Teams run $15, $25 and $65 per user per month; Enterprise is custom; students get 50% off Pro; monthly credits expire after 60 days.
Use tool ↗About Raycast
Raycast replaces the system launcher with a command bar that runs thousands of community extensions, clipboard history, quicklinks, snippets, a calculator and window management, all free, with an extensions SDK for building your own. Paid plans switch on Raycast AI — chat, dictation and translation drawing on a monthly credit pool, with top-tier models reserved for Plus and Max — along with cloud sync, custom themes, unlimited notes and bring-your-own-key. It ships for macOS and Windows with an iOS companion, team plans add a private extension store and admin controls, and the operator is Raycast Technologies Ltd., registered in England.
- API
- Not confirmed
- Last verified
- Oct 16, 2026
Verified sources
- Free $0 with core features, extensions, 3-month clipboard history, 5 notes, no AI; Pro $10/month or $96/year with 500 AI credits, cloud sync, dictation, custom themes, translator, bring-your-own-key; Plus $20/month or $192/year with 3,000 credits and top-tier models; Max $50/month or $480/year with 7,500 credits; Teams Pro/Plus/Max $15/$25/$65 per user per month; Enterprise custom; students 50% off Pro; monthly credits expire after 60 days, top-ups after 12 months; macOS download with iOS and Windows pages (15 October 2026)raycast.com ↗
- Terms of service last updated 19 June 2026 name Raycast Technologies Ltd., registered in England and Wales, company number 12394678, VAT GB450606416, address 1 Ashley Road, Altrincham, Cheshire, under English law (15 October 2026)raycast.com ↗
Is Raycast legit?
We don’t label tools safe or unsafe. Below are the records we checked ourselves, each with the date we read it.
- Domain registered
- Jan 4, 2000 (26 years ago)Registry record (RDAP), registrar NameCheap, Inc., looked up Sep 6, 2026
- TLS certificate
- Issued by Let's Encrypt, valid until Dec 16, 2026Seen in our own connection to the site on Oct 16, 2026
- Last checked
- Oct 16, 2026The site answered
- Operated by
- Raycast Technologies Ltd., United KingdomOur research, card verified Oct 15, 2026
Pros & cons of Raycast
The free Raycast is already the best launcher on a Mac and now a credible one on Windows, which is why the AI upsell works: you are already in the bar twenty times a day, so a chat or a dictation hotkey there costs no habit change. Pay for Pro if you want AI in that spot and cloud sync across machines; skip it if you already pay for a frontier model elsewhere, because the credit pool is small and the best models sit on the $20 and $50 tiers.
Pros
- The launcher, thousands of extensions, clipboard history and window management are free with no expiry
- AI, dictation and translation live in the bar you already use, no separate app
- Bring-your-own-key on Pro lets you route to your own provider account
- Cloud sync keeps settings, snippets and notes identical across machines
- Named UK company with a registered address, VAT number and dated terms
Cons
- Pro's 500 monthly credits run out fast on chat, and the advanced models are not on the trial or the Pro tier
- Monthly credits expire after 60 days and top-ups after 12 months
- Cloud sync and custom themes, which have nothing to do with AI, are gated behind the paid plan
- The Windows and iOS builds trail the Mac version in extensions and features
Best for
- Mac and Windows power users who want extensions, snippets and window management without paying
- People who want one AI entry point on a hotkey and are happy with mid-tier models at $10
- Teams sharing commands, quicklinks and a private extension store
Not for
- Linux users — there is no build
- Anyone expecting unlimited AI for $10; frontier models and large credit pools start at $20 and $50
Watch out: AI credits are use-it-or-lose-it — monthly grants expire 60 days after they land and purchased top-ups after a year — so a quiet month on Plus or Max is money gone.
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Raycast head-to-head
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