Launchy icon
Launchy icon

Launchy

 645 likes

Launchy is a free Windows and Linux utility designed to help you forget about your start menu, the icons on your desktop, and even your file manager. Launchy indexes the programs in your start menu and can launch your documents, project files, folders, and bookmarks with just a...

Launchy screenshot 1

License model

  • FreeOpen Source

Platforms

  • Mac
  • Windows
  • Linux
Discontinued

The project seems to be no longer maintained: last stable version, 2.5, and beta version, 2.6 beta2, were released in 2010. The program works anyway and can be still downloaded from the official website.

3.4 / 5 Avg rating (9)
645 likes
17comments
0 news articles

Features

Suggest and vote on features

Properties

  1.  Customizable

Features

  1.  Portable
  2.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
  3.  Application Launchers
  4.  Indexed search
  5.  File Search
  6.  Skinnable
  7.  Relative Paths

Launchy News & Activities

Highlights All activities

Recent activities

  • alexcoere, andrzila, tlinkas and thejfex liked Launchy
    20 days ago
  • forcemajore, solego2021, lukvesin and fegomaye liked Launchy
    9 months ago
  • K0RR added Launchy as alternative to bemenu
    12 months ago
Show all activities

Launchy information

  • Developed by

    Josh Karlin
  • Licensing

    Open Source and Free product.
  • Rating

    Average rating of 3.4
  • Alternatives

    112 alternatives listed
  • Supported Languages

    • English

AlternativeTo Categories

OS & UtilitiesFile Management

Our users have written 17 comments and reviews about Launchy, and it has gotten 645 likes

Launchy was added to AlternativeTo by tvknarkaren on Mar 5, 2009 and this page was last updated Sep 27, 2021.

Comments and Reviews

   
 Post comment/review
Comment summary: Launchy is appreciated for its efficiency and ability to replace Start Menu functionalities, with users highlighting its quick search features and lightweight resource usage. Some users have experienced issues with performance and stability, particularly on newer operating systems like Windows 10, citing crashes and outdated support. Despite these concerns, many continue to value its cross-platform capabilities and integration into workflows, although alternatives are mentioned, such as PowerToys Run.
Harvey Williams
  
Top positive commentNov 17, 2021

I've used this for years and generally recommend it.

Unfortunately it's getting a little bit buggy on Windows (10) as it's fallen out of support. It mostly still works but it doesn't scale well on larger screens and maybe every 3 months it forgets the preferences I have for it.

Still a good program and it's nice that it runs cross platform, but I've just switched to PowerToys Run which seems to have similar functionality: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/run

2
lau22
  
Top negative commentSep 7, 2020

Discontinued and doesn't properly support latest Windows 10 feature, such as apps installed via App Store. Also UI looks out-dated.

2
TBayAreaPat
  
Review
Pending approval • Edited Sep 13, 2022

I'm late to the party. Started with Everything Search, Listary, Keypirinha first in 2022, and then Launchy. Noticed Launchy crashing on Win 10, and it seems others have, too. Running all these things together may have to do with it, and maybe changing program priorities may help. Not sure if there's a good reason to keep Launchy anymores considering it's abandoned and newer programs probably have more capability, but it might be good for keeping separate settings. 9/22 On the other hand it installed easily when Listary and Wox blocked on a .Net 4.8 issue.

0
AlennGK
CommentMay 10, 2016

Can someone tell me how can I exlude dir? Because I have backup on the drive and I dont wan't to move it or select more directories to bypass that selection.

0
thniels
  
Positive commentMar 19, 2016

I haven't seen an alternative even close in feature set and precision. A genuine time saver. Still works on Windows 10. And no, even though you can type your way to a program in Windows, it doesn't compare to Launchy where you use very fuzzy shorthand and still get what you want. The only program so far, that Launchy consistently fails to start is Microsoft Hyper-V Manager.

0
Soul Rain
  
Positive commentJan 16, 2016

I used it all the time on Windows XP. I didn't think it would work on Windows 10, but it does. It's way, way more gentle on resources and incredibly accurate.

0
RefWe
CommentJan 10, 2016

There is no need for the app anymore. Webpage was updated last in 2008.

-6
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7 of 17 comments

What is Launchy?

Launchy is a free Windows and Linux utility designed to help you forget about your start menu, the icons on your desktop, and even your file manager. Launchy indexes the programs in your start menu and can launch your documents, project files, folders, and bookmarks with just a few keystrokes.