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Launchy vs Flow Launcher: catalog facts
Launchy	Flow Launcher
Best for: Windows users who want a simple, free keystroke launcher	Best for: Never touching the Start menu again on Windows
Free Free and open source.	Free Free and open source under the MIT licence.
Windows	Windows
Guesses the target from a few typed characters Opens programs, files, folders and websites All 3 strengths for Launchy Guesses the target from a few typed characters Opens programs, files, folders and websites Runs quietly in the background until called	Uses the Everything index, so file search is instant on a big drive One box for apps, files, bookmarks, web searches and calculations All 4 strengths for Flow Launcher Uses the Everything index, so file search is instant on a big drive One box for apps, files, bookmarks, web searches and calculations Large community plugin library with an in-app plugin store Installer and portable build, plus winget, Scoop and Chocolatey
A community fork of an older project with a small following Windows focused	Windows only Binaries are unsigned, so Windows raises a security prompt on first run All 4 limitations for Flow Launcher Windows only Binaries are unsigned, so Windows raises a security prompt on first run Plugin quality varies and a bad one can slow the whole launcher The project warns about lookalike domains, so download from the official site
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License not stated	License: MIT
No account needed	No account needed
Offline features available	Offline features available
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Launchy github.com/OpenNingia/Launchy Catalog checked October 1, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Flow Launcher flowlauncher.com github.com/Flow-Launcher/Flow.Launcher Catalog checked September 21, 2026

“Not stated” means we have not confirmed it. Features can vary by device and plan.