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Add to SafariWhen comparing Synapse vs Krunner, the Slant community recommends Krunner for most people. In the question“What are the best app launchers for UNIX-like systems?” Krunner is ranked 8th while Synapse is ranked 9th. The most important reason people chose Krunner is:
Just by typing name of file or folder, it will give recommendations
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
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.
Pro Opens folders/files also
Just by typing name of file or folder, it will give recommendations
Pro Extensible with plugins
Krunner can be extended with the use of "runners" which are essentially plugins for the app launcher to allow for extra functions.
Pro Fast
As it is written in Qt QtQuick using QML.
Pro Lots of handy features
Such as a fully featured calculator, file opening, browser functions, currency conversion, date/time functions, etc.
Pro Great integration with Plasma, developed by KDE
Pro Can be used to open websites
By just typing an URL into the text box users can have the site open in their default launcher.
Pro I'm able to find open tabs from browsers with KRunner which is very nice
Even supports edge browser.
Cons
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.
Con There are few plugins/"runners", and some do not work as they are old
