Here’s the Deal
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When comparing Raycast vs Spotlight, the Slant community recommends Spotlight for most people. In the question“What are the best app launchers for Mac OS X?” Spotlight is ranked 5th while Raycast is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose Spotlight is:
Spotlight comes packaged with OS X and iOS.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Common Questions
Other Questions
No other questions
Pros
Pro Active development
Pro Free
Pro Best user interface, similar to MacOS Big Sur
Pro Lightweight
Pro Apple silicon support
Pro Raycast AI
Pro Native to OS X
Spotlight comes packaged with OS X and iOS.
Pro Intuitive
Cons
Con Window management does not include gutters
Rectangle Pro might be a better choice.
Con Only available on Mac
Con Lacks some features as compared to Alfred
Con Limited customization
Allows for very little customization, not theming, and no custom scripting.
Con No longer launches applications at all in Sierra
After updating to Sierra, typing an application name in Spotlight results in "No Results" or random wikipedia matches. True even after reloading com.apple.metadata.mds.plist and adding/removing "Macintosh HD" on the "Privacy" tab. Launchpad still works.