Best app launchers for Mac in 2026: keyboard search or a Launchpad-style grid

Disclosure: this guide is written by the LaunchHome team, and LaunchHome is one of the apps compared. Details of the other apps come from their own websites as of 2026-10-31.

Mac app launchers come in two kinds. Keyboard launchers (Spotlight, Raycast, Alfred) open a search bar: you type a few letters and press Return. Grid launchers (LaunchHome, Launchie, LaunchOS, AppGrid) show every app as icons on a full-screen grid with folders, like the Launchpad Apple removed in macOS 26.

If you remember apps by name, a keyboard launcher is fastest. If you remember them by where they are, or want folders you arrange yourself, pick a grid launcher. Many people use one of each.

Checked on 2026-10-31.

Sources: Raycast pricing · Alfred Powerpack · Apple, Mac User Guide: View and open apps on Mac

Spotlight is already on your Mac. Press ⌘Space, type part of an app’s name and press Return. On macOS 26 and 27 it also has an Apps view (⌘1) that lists every app, filters by category and switches between grid and list.

Raycast is free for personal use and adds hundreds of extensions, clipboard history and window management; its paid Pro plan is a subscription that includes AI. Alfred is free for search and launching, and its Powerpack (£34 for a single license) adds workflows, snippets and more.

All three are great when you know what you want to open. None of them lets you arrange icons into your own folders and pages.

These bring back a full-screen grid of icons with pages and folders. Most can also import the layout of the old Launchpad, so a Mac that used it before macOS 26 gets its pages and folders back.

LaunchHome keeps the classic paged layout and is about 4 MB. Launchie uses one scrolling grid and is also on the Mac App Store. LaunchOS adds vertical scrolling and a window mode. AppGrid also runs on macOS 14 and 15. For details, see Best Launchpad alternatives.

Small and fast: LaunchHome is a native AppKit app of about 4 MB that opens in under 5 ms after the first launch. Spotlight costs nothing extra because it’s built in.

A keyboard shortcut and instant search: Raycast and Alfred are built for this. In LaunchHome, press F4 and start typing; Return opens the top result. The free version searches by app name, Pro adds initials and calculations.

Hot corners and a custom grid: LaunchHome Pro opens with a hot corner and lets you set 3–8 rows and 4–10 columns. LaunchOS and AppGrid also offer hot corners in their paid versions.

A grid with folders instead of a long list: only the grid launchers do this. The Apps view in Spotlight has a grid, but no folders and no order of your own.

They don’t get in each other’s way. A common setup is ⌘Space for Raycast, Alfred or Spotlight, and F4 for LaunchHome. Just give each one its own shortcut.

To set LaunchHome up, see How to get Launchpad back and Launchpad keyboard shortcuts and gestures.