A New Era for Windows Launchers
It's been over a year since I first experimented with using Windows without the Start menu by trying out Flow Launcher, and that experience quickly turned me into a fan of the app. Later, I discovered that Microsoft had been working on a similar feature through PowerToys with PowerToys Run, and even more recently, the company introduced Command Palette, an upgraded version of the tool with enhanced capabilities.
I had the chance to test Command Palette shortly after its release a few months ago, but recently, Microsoft rolled out a major update with significant performance improvements, prompting me to take another look. Additionally, the app has had time to accumulate more extensions, giving me even more reason to give it another try. I'm starting to see a future where Command Palette could potentially surpass Flow Launcher. However, that future isn't quite here yet.
Improved Performance, with Some Limitations
PowerToys version 0.93 was released earlier this month, and the team promised substantial upgrades to the performance of Command Palette. Specifically, they highlighted a 40% improvement in load times and a 70% increase in loading times for built-in extensions, all while using fewer system resources. This performance boost was enough to draw my attention back to the app, and indeed, Command Palette feels noticeably faster now.
Pressing the assigned keyboard shortcut instantly launches the search bar, and I can start typing right away, just as quickly as Flow Launcher. Even if you use a hotkey to launch a specific plugin, that launches almost just as quickly.
That being said, there are still some issues that need to be addressed. Command Palette still seems to have a noticeable delay between when I type into the search bar and when the results appear. It's not extremely slow, but it is perceptible, and sometimes my keystrokes are very fast when I want to launch an app this way, so I could see this causing problems in some cases. Interestingly, if I write part of a command and erase it, when I type it in again, the results load instantly. But if the query changes, there's a bit of a delay again. It seems to get better as more results get indexed, but Flow Launcher is still more responsive and updates results faster as soon as you start typing, making it ideal for quickly launching apps.
I've also noticed an issue where the Command Palette Extensions command simply doesn't load any results. It's supposed to search Winget for available extensions for the plug-in, but I'm stuck in an infinite loading loop, so I just have to use Winget directly.
A Growing Ecosystem of Extensions
There are already some great extensions available for Command Palette, though the platform is still relatively small compared to other launchers. The biggest hurdle for Command Palette to overcome is gathering a community of plugins that's as rich and vast as the likes of Flow Launcher, or even Raycast once it comes to Windows. However, using Winget as the distribution platform has helped a bit here, as there are already a good number of extensions available, some of which are genuinely useful.
One example is EverythingCmdPal, an extension that integrates the Everything search engine into Command Palette. The built-in file search in Windows is notoriously slow, so using Everything makes the experience much better. It seems like this is an app that's quick to support all these launchers, as both Flow Launcher and PowerToys Run also have matching extensions.
Another useful extension is Video Downloader, which lets me download videos from YouTube. I sometimes use this to download YouTube videos when I want to show clips of them in my own videos, such as game trailers, so it comes in handy quite often.
There are a few others available that many would find useful, including some extensions that work with Visual Studio Code or Obsidian notes. However, it's still a small selection compared to the likes of Flow Launcher.
Clipboard History: A Standout Feature
As much as I can criticize Command Palette, there's one thing it has out of the box that Flow Launcher doesn't, and that's the Clipboard History plugin. For one thing, it's included with Command Palette by default, whereas Flow Launcher requires a third-party plugin for similar functionality.
But it's also easier to use. There are a couple of clipboard history plugins for Flow Launcher, but both have the same problem: selecting a result from the list only copies that item back into the clipboard (by default, at least), making it so you can then paste it with Ctrl+V. This is a behavior I've seen on some Linux clipboard managers too, and I find it frustrating because it goes against the way the standard clipboard history behaves on Windows or macOS, as well as an app like Raycast. It also just takes longer; why would I want to select a result from the list if not to insert it?
Thankfully, the Clipboard History extension in Command Palette provides both options for quick access. Enter copies the selection, and Ctrl+Enter pastes it immediately. It's perfect.
Flow Launcher Still Leads the Pack
Despite the improvements, Flow Launcher is still the king of Windows launchers. It's faster and more capable, and the ecosystem of plugins is much larger. Command Palette has a few essentials, but there are so many that are just useful or fun in Flow Launcher. There's a plugin for Home Assistant that lets me control my lights or change the volume on my smart speaker.
One of my favorites is the Pokédex plugin, which lets me search up a Pokémon and see information about it easily by opening its entry directly in one of various well-known databases such as Bulbapedia or Serebii. Similar plugins even exist for things like Stardew Valley. There's just so much you can do ranging from useful to random, and that kind of ecosystem is necessary for a thriving platform.
The Future Could Be Bright with Raycast
Flow Launcher may remain undefeated for now, but that dominance may finally be threatened in the near future thanks to Raycast for Windows. I've been using Raycast on my Mac Mini for months, and it's one of the best tools I could ever ask for on my machine, and even better than Flow Launcher. Some of the extensions available for it are also even better, such as the clipboard history or the Pokédex, which displays richer information directly in the application window without having to open a website.
It has an even bigger ecosystem of extensions, too, and a full-blown extension store with proper descriptions and even image previews of each extension, making it easier to know what you're getting into. Raycast for Windows has been gradually rolling out in beta form over the past couple of months, and I haven't been chosen to be in the program yet, but as soon as I get access to it, you can bet I'll be writing about my experience.
Command Palette Offers More Than Just a Launcher
While I still consider Flow Launcher to be a better standalone option compared to Command Palette, I do think it's worth considering the value of the package as a whole. Flow Launcher is just the launcher itself, but Command Palette comes as part of something bigger with PowerToys. That includes a lot of other useful tools like FancyZones and Workspaces, which frankly make PowerToys a must-have on any Windows PC, too.
Of course, both of these apps are free, so there's nothing stopping you from installing both and just using Flow Launcher instead of Command Palette, while keeping the other PowerToys tools active. That's generally what I do, but if you want to save space on your drive, PowerToys may have more value overall, and it still gives you a very competent launcher.
That being said, if we're talking about launchers themselves, Flow Launcher is still the winner, and I wouldn't recommend switching to Command Palette just yet. You're better off getting both PowerToys and Flow Launcher and using those together.
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