When comparing GNOME Do vs Synapse, the Slant community recommends Synapse for most people. In the question“What are the best app launchers for UNIX-like systems?” Synapse is ranked 9th while GNOME Do is ranked 19th. The most important reason people chose Synapse is:
Synapse is pretty rock solid. Works as expected and launches applications fast.
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Pros
Pro Plenty of plugins
By using the many available plugins Gnome Do can become a powerhouse of combined tools in one easily launchable and usable application.
Pro Themeable
Users can easily customize the looks of Gnome DO with the available themes in the settings of the app..
Pro Rock solid
Synapse is pretty rock solid. Works as expected and launches applications fast.
Pro Can run commands just as a terminal would
Users can run commands such as sudo apt-get update
from within Synapse, making for a convenient way to open or run items/commands.
Pro Zeitgeist powered
Synapse searches the Zeitgeist log, which tends to be a pretty quick way to do searches over other app launchers.
Pro Includes a Zeal plugin
Includes a Zeal plugin to make searching faster.
Cons
Con Has not been updated in a while
With the last update being dated Jan. 2014 development seems to be at a standstill.
Con Synapse is an abandoned project
The latest release was 7 years ago and the Launchpad page is a ghost town
Con Unable to search whole system
Due to Zeitgeist being used the search is not as robust as if it were using Tracker. Of course using Tracker has its own downside like battery drain, so currently there is no "best" solution.
Con Bound to control+space
Due to this it interferes with common IDE layouts for recommendations. Modifying hotkeys file doesn't adjust this.