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PowerToys Command Palette vs Fluent Search: catalog facts
PowerToys Command Palette	Fluent Search
Best for: Windows users who want a keyboard launcher from Microsoft	Best for: Windows users who want one keyboard search for everything on the PC
Free Free as part of Microsoft PowerToys.	Free Free download; the site does not list a price.
Windows	Windows
Opens with one shortcut and searches apps, files, commands and the web Extensible and customisable All 4 strengths for PowerToys Command Palette Opens with one shortcut and searches apps, files, commands and the web Extensible and customisable Optional compact search box mode Comes with the rest of the PowerToys utilities	Searches files, apps, tabs, history and windows in one place Keyboard-only Screen Search for on-screen elements All 4 strengths for Fluent Search Searches files, apps, tabs, history and windows in one place Keyboard-only Screen Search for on-screen elements Installer, portable and Store builds for x64 and ARM64 Extensible with community plugins
Windows only Requires PowerToys to be installed and running in the background	Windows only Source code is not published
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Not open source
License: MIT	License not stated
No account needed	No account needed
Not stated if it works offline	Offline features available
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for PowerToys Command Palette learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/command-palette… Catalog checked October 1, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Fluent Search fluentsearch.net Catalog checked September 23, 2026

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