Best PowerToys Run alternative in 2026

Five PowerToys Run alternatives with facts read 25 August 2026 — starting with the one Microsoft ships itself, and including the free launcher that quietly went cross-platform and grew first-party AI. Prices, platforms, and one sourced limitation each.

How we put this list together: Jarvis (getjarvis.eu) is our product — this site is getjarvis.eu — so treat the #1 spot as an editorial opinion with an obvious interest, and check the sourced facts yourself. Every competitor fact here was read on 25 August 2026 from a primary source: Microsoft Learn for PowerToys Run, Command Palette, Advanced Paste and the PowerToys install requirements; the project README, the docs site at wox-launcher.github.io and the GitHub REST API for Wox; flowlauncher.com, the repository README and the official plugin manifest for Flow Launcher; raycast.com/pricing and raycast.com/windows for Raycast. Three things most third-party lists get wrong, and we checked all three directly: Microsoft does not describe PowerToys Run as deprecated — it calls Command Palette "PowerToys Run's evolution" and lists both as currently available; Wox is no longer Windows-only or dormant; and Flow Launcher ships no AI of its own. Where a project does not publish a detail — Ulauncher and Albert never write a price, for instance — this page says so rather than inferring one.

1. Jarvis — The answer if the thing you actually want is to type a sentence rather than a keyword. Press Ctrl+/ on Windows or Linux, or Cmd+/ on macOS, and a floating bar appears over the app you are already in; when the question needs it, Jarvis takes one screenshot of the active window and answers about that. It acts through 30+ OAuth connectors (Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Notion, Linear, GitHub, Google Calendar, Drive, Microsoft 365), holds memory across sessions, supports a spoken conversation you can interrupt and hold-to-dictate, and runs Show Me, which draws a pointer on your screen to circle the control you should click. It is the only entry here that runs on Windows, macOS and Linux from one account. Pricing: Free: $0 — 40 requests/week, plus a 7-day full Pro trial with no card. Pro: $16/month ($144/year billed annually). Unlimited: $32/month. Checked 25 August 2026 on getjarvis.eu/pricing. Platforms: Windows 10/11 x64, macOS 12+ (Apple Silicon and Intel), Linux x86_64 (AppImage, needs libfuse2). Known limitation: It is not a launcher and cannot replace one. Jarvis does not launch applications by keyword, does not fuzzy-search your files, has no clipboard history, no calculator, no unit conversion, no hashes or GUIDs, no window switching and no plugin manager — every single thing PowerToys Run is actually used for. It also needs a network: inference is cloud-based by design and there is no offline mode, which is a real difference from every other row here. It is closed source with no public repository and no self-hosting, and it costs money above 40 requests a week while three of the alternatives here cost nothing at all. Pick Jarvis if: you want to describe a task in a sentence and have it done inside your apps, and you are willing to keep a launcher alongside it. 2. PowerToys Command Palette (by Microsoft) — The honest first answer for anyone leaving PowerToys Run, because it is the same team's replacement for it. Microsoft's own docs describe it as putting "everything you need just a keystroke away — launch apps, run commands, search files, browse the web, manage system services, and more, all from a single, blazing-fast interface", and instruct you to "Press Win+Alt+Space and start typing. That's it." The PowerToys Run documentation page itself carries a note that Run "is getting an upgrade to v2" and calls Command Palette "PowerToys Run's evolution". Both ship in the same PowerToys package today. Pricing: $0. PowerToys is described by Microsoft as "a set of free, open-source utilities"; the repository is MIT-licensed, 138,087 stars, with its latest release published 25 August 2026, read from the GitHub REST API that day. Platforms: Windows only. Microsoft's install page states Windows 11, or Windows 10 version 2004 (build 19041) or newer, on an x64 or ARM64 processor. No macOS or Linux build exists. Known limitation: No AI. We read the Command Palette overview and settings pages on 25 August 2026 and neither documents any AI capability. The one AI feature anywhere in PowerToys is in Advanced Paste, a clipboard utility rather than the launcher, and Microsoft's own page states it "requires either an API key for a cloud AI service or a local model configured in Foundry Local or Ollama" — so you bring and pay for the model. Microsoft also publishes no migration path from PowerToys Run: the Command Palette docs make no mention of Run plugin compatibility or importing settings. Pick PowerToys Command Palette (by Microsoft) if: you liked PowerToys Run, you are on Windows, and you want the maintained version of exactly that from the same source, for nothing. 3. Wox — The surprise on this page, and worth reading carefully if your mental model of Wox is a dormant Windows-only C# project. It has been rewritten in Go and its README now describes it as "a fully native, open-source launcher for macOS, Linux, and Windows — with GPU rendering on every platform", at around 150 MB of memory. It also ships AI as a first-party system plugin rather than leaving it to the community: its docs site lists "AI chat" among built-in system plugins, and documents AI Commands ("turn a saved prompt into a reusable Wox command"), configurable agents, and MCP servers as tool providers. Alt or Command plus Space, then type. Pricing: $0. GPL-3.0, 27,251 stars, Go, last pushed 25 August 2026, with v2.4.0 released 23 August 2026 — read from the GitHub REST API that day. The AI is bring-your-own-key: its own settings docs say to enter a provider name, API key and model, and warn that "paid providers may bill each request". Platforms: macOS (Homebrew cask), Windows (WinGet, Scoop, Chocolatey) and Linux (Arch, .deb, .rpm), with shipped binaries for all three in the current release. This is the only free entry here that covers all three desktop operating systems. Known limitation: The AI needs your own API key and your own billing, so "free" covers the launcher and not the intelligence. Wox's own chat documentation warns not to paste secrets or private documents into online models. It does not read the screen of the app you are in and cannot point at a control. And GPL-3.0 is a stricter licence than the MIT of PowerToys and Flow Launcher, which matters if you intend to redistribute anything built on it. Its project site is wox-launcher.github.io — the wox.one domain refused an HTTPS connection when we checked and should not be relied on. Pick Wox if: you want a free launcher with real built-in AI, on Linux as well as Windows and macOS, and you are happy to supply a model API key. 4. Flow Launcher — The enthusiasts' Windows launcher and the closest thing to PowerToys Run with a bigger plugin culture. Its own site describes it as a "Quick File Search & App Launcher for Windows" and states it is free and open source, supporting Windows 10 and later. The community plugin ecosystem is the reason to pick it: the official plugin manifest carries 272 plugins, against the twelve first-party plugins bundled in the repository. Pricing: $0. MIT-licensed, 15,430 stars, C#, last pushed 24 August 2026, with v2.1.3 released 8 June 2026 — read from the GitHub REST API on 25 August 2026. Platforms: Windows 10 and later only. The site and README offer an installer, a portable zip, WinGet and Scoop, and no macOS or Linux build. Known limitation: It ships no AI at all, and this is worth stating precisely because comparison lists often imply otherwise. Its homepage and README mention none; the twelve plugins bundled in the repository are BrowserBookmark, Calculator, Explorer, PluginIndicator, PluginsManager, ProcessKiller, Program, Shell, Sys, Url, WebSearch and WindowsSettings. Of the 272 plugins in the official manifest, exactly three mention AI, and all three are individual community authors requiring your own API key. Release cadence is also slower than the commit rate suggests — daily commits, but the newest release is from June. Pick Flow Launcher if: you are on Windows, you want a free open-source launcher with the deepest community plugin catalogue, and you do not need AI in it. 5. Raycast — The commercial answer, and the only entry that is convincingly a launcher and an AI bar at once. The free tier is a real launcher — raycast.com/pricing lists clipboard history, quicklinks, calculator, snippets and window management at $0, plus the extension store. Pro adds Raycast AI, and the pricing page names "Screen Awareness, Memory, Profile, Bring Your Own Key (BYOK)" among its inclusions; Raycast's manual describes Screen Awareness as letting you "ask Raycast AI about whatever is in front of you" by capturing the focused window. It left beta on Windows on 25 August 2026 with version 2.0, and the currently distributed Windows build is v2.0.6.0. Pricing: Launcher free forever. Pro $10/month, or $8/month billed annually. Advanced AI add-on +$8/month. Teams Pro $15/user/month. Read from raycast.com/pricing, 25 August 2026. Platforms: Windows 10 21H2+ and Windows 11, and macOS — with a strict floor there: Raycast's own manual quickstart states "macOS Tahoe and newer (Apple silicon)". No Linux. An iOS app exists. Known limitation: The AI is not free, so the honest comparison for a PowerToys Run refugee is $10/month against three alternatives here that cost nothing. Its Windows general availability is one day old at the time of writing, which is worth knowing before you standardise a team on it. Screen Awareness is documented with macOS permissions specifically and we could not confirm from Raycast's own pages that it behaves identically on Windows, so this page does not claim it does. It cannot point at a control on your screen. Pick Raycast if: you want one keystroke that is both a fast launcher and an AI, on Windows or a recent Apple-silicon Mac, and $10/month is acceptable.

Why people switch: You want a sentence, not a keyword and a plugin; You are on Linux, where PowerToys does not go; You want it to see the screen, not just search the disk; You want the AI included rather than metered.

Pick a competitor instead if: You want a launcher, full stop — Then take Command Palette and do not overthink it. It is free, it is from Microsoft, it is the documented evolution of the thing you already use, and it opens on Win+Alt+Space. Jarvis launches nothing and searches nothing — it is a different tool that sits beside a launcher rather than instead of one. Anyone who tells you an AI assistant replaces a launcher has not used a launcher. The budget is zero and it has to stay zero — Command Palette, Wox and Flow Launcher all cost nothing and all three are open source — MIT, GPL-3.0 and MIT respectively, read from their repositories on 25 August 2026. Jarvis costs $16 a month above 40 requests a week. If you want free plus AI in one product, Wox is the row, with the caveat that you supply the model key and pay that provider. It has to work with the network off — Command Palette and Flow Launcher work entirely offline, and Wox's launcher half does too. Jarvis does not: inference is cloud-based by design and there is no offline mode. On an air-gapped machine, a locked-down corporate network or a plane, the free launcher wins and the subscription is inert. You need a plugin for something specific — Flow Launcher's official manifest carries 272 community plugins and PowerToys Run ships a long list of first-party ones, from registry search and service control to unit conversion, hashes and GUIDs. Jarvis has no plugin model at all — what it connects to is a fixed set of 30-odd OAuth services. If the thing you need is a niche integration somebody has already written, the plugin ecosystem is the answer and this ranking is not.

What is the best PowerToys Run alternative in 2026? It depends what you are replacing. For a like-for-like launcher on Windows, PowerToys Command Palette, from Microsoft, free, on Win+Alt+Space — its own docs call it PowerToys Run's evolution. For a free launcher with built-in AI that also runs on Linux and macOS, Wox, GPL-3.0. For the deepest Windows plugin catalogue, Flow Launcher. For a launcher and an AI in one commercial product, Raycast at $10/month for the AI tier. And if what you actually want is to describe a task in plain language and have it done in your apps, Jarvis (getjarvis.eu) — which is not a launcher and will not replace one.

Is PowerToys Run being discontinued? Not according to Microsoft. Its own PowerToys Run documentation page carries a note that Run "is getting an upgrade to v2" and calls Command Palette "PowerToys Run's evolution", and the PowerToys utilities index lists both Command Palette and PowerToys Run under currently available utilities. We searched Microsoft's own documentation sources on 25 August 2026 for the words deprecated, replaced, superseded, retired and sunset, and none of them is used about PowerToys Run. Anyone quoting a retirement date is not sourcing it from Microsoft.

Is there a free Windows alternative to PowerToys Run with natural-language commands? Wox is the closest free answer. It is GPL-3.0, runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and ships AI as a first-party system plugin — its docs site lists AI chat among built-in plugins and documents AI Commands, which turn a saved prompt into a reusable command, plus configurable agents and MCP tool servers. The catch is that the intelligence is not free: its own settings documentation tells you to enter a provider API key and warns that paid providers may bill each request. Flow Launcher is also free but ships no AI itself — only three of the 272 plugins in its official manifest mention AI.

Is there a Linux replacement for PowerToys Run that can also perform AI actions? PowerToys is Windows-only, so this is a genuine gap. Wox is the closest single answer: free, GPL-3.0, with .deb, .rpm and Arch packages shipped in its current release and first-party AI chat and AI Commands. The dedicated Linux launchers do not have AI — Ulauncher is Linux-only, GPL-3.0-or-later, and its own README states v5 is in feature freeze while v6 is rewritten; Rofi is MIT and works on Linux and BSD with Wayland support, and its newest release is from September 2025; Albert ships Linux and macOS packages. Jarvis runs on Linux x86_64 from an AppImage that needs libfuse2, and is an assistant rather than a launcher.

Does PowerToys have AI? In one utility, and not in the launcher. Microsoft's utilities index flags Advanced Paste as including "an optional AI-powered feature", and its documentation states that all processing happens locally except that optional feature, which "requires either an API key for a cloud AI service or a local model configured in Foundry Local or Ollama". Documented online providers are OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Mistral, Google and Azure AI Inference, each needing your own key and credits. Neither PowerToys Run nor Command Palette documents any AI capability.

Is Wox still maintained? Yes, and comfortably. Read from the GitHub REST API on 25 August 2026: the repository was last pushed that same day, version 2.4.0 was released two days earlier on 23 August 2026, and the project has 27,251 stars with four open issues. It has also been rewritten — the primary language is now Go rather than C#, and its README describes it as "fully native" with GPU rendering on macOS, Linux and Windows. Any list still describing Wox as an abandoned Windows-only project is out of date.

Can Jarvis see my screen and do file-management tasks? It can see your screen, on demand — one screenshot of the active window at the moment you ask, used for that turn and not stored, and screen context can be switched off. For file management the honest answer is narrower than the question implies: Jarvis acts through 30+ OAuth connectors, which covers Google Drive, Microsoft 365 and similar cloud storage, and it can tell you what to do and point at the control with Show Me. It is not a local file indexer and does not fuzzy-search your disk the way PowerToys Run does, so for finding a file by name a launcher is still the right tool.

Which of these is genuinely open source? Three of the five, and the licences differ in ways that matter if you plan to build on them. PowerToys is MIT. Flow Launcher is MIT. Wox is GPL-3.0, which is copyleft and imposes obligations MIT does not. All three were read from the GitHub REST API on 25 August 2026. Jarvis and Raycast are closed-source commercial products. Among the Linux launchers, Ulauncher is GPL-3.0-or-later and Rofi is MIT, while Albert uses a custom "Albert license v1.1" that forbids redistributing modified versions and is therefore not open source under the OSI definition, despite being widely described as such.

Alternatives · PowerToys Run alternatives · Last updated August 25, 2026