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Search Light vs Vicinae: catalog facts
Search Light	Vicinae
Best for: GNOME users who want a Spotlight-style search box	Best for: Linux users who want a Raycast-like launcher on their desktop
Free Free and open source.	Free Free to download and build from the public repository.
Linux	Linux
Spotlight-style popup without leaving the current workspace Uses GNOME's built-in search All 3 strengths for Search Light Spotlight-style popup without leaving the current workspace Uses GNOME's built-in search Configurable through a preferences dialog	Brings a Raycast-style workflow to Linux Native application focused on speed All 3 strengths for Vicinae Brings a Raycast-style workflow to Linux Native application focused on speed Extensible, with very active development
Only works on GNOME Shell GNOME extensions can break with new GNOME releases	Linux only Newer project that is still changing quickly
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Not open source
License not stated	License not stated
No account needed	No account needed
Offline features available	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Search Light github.com/icedman/search-light Catalog checked September 24, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Vicinae github.com/vicinaehq/vicinae Catalog checked September 23, 2026

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