When comparing Launchy 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 Launchy is ranked 11th. The most important reason people chose Krunner is:
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Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro .deb files available for Debian based distros
For those using Debian based distros Launchy is very easy to install as their website has 32 and 64bit .deb files available. For all other diistros Launchy will have to be compiled from source.
Pro Easily themed with many available on the web
Launchy can be easily themedby placing themes into the Launchy theme folder and then selecting that theme from within the apps settings. There are also many user created themes available which is great for those that want their launcher to match the rest of their OS's theme.
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 Small selection of plugins
The official plugin page on Launchy's homepage hosts just 11 plugins.
Con Abandoned
Launchy was last updated in 2010.