Raycast AI Review 2026: Pricing, Credits & Limits

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This is an editorial research review based on official documentation, pricing pages and the sources listed below — how we review. Prices and plans change often; confirm on the vendor’s site.

Status update: Raycast 2.0 left beta on Windows and macOS on August 25, 2026; usage-based AI credits replaced rate limits in v2.3 (September 11, 2026).

Raycast began as a keyboard launcher for the Mac: a faster way to open apps, search files, manage clipboard history and run community extensions. In 2026 it changed a lot. Raycast 2.0 left beta on Windows and macOS in August. Then, in September, Raycast rebuilt its AI Chat into an agent that can plan tasks, use your extensions and run code, and moved paid plans from rate limits to usage-based AI credits.

This review is for developers and technical users deciding whether to pay for Raycast’s AI tiers or keep the free launcher and use a separate AI app. It is one of the tools in our guide to AI productivity tools for developers and tech teams.

This is an editorial research review based on Raycast’s pricing page, manual, privacy and security documentation and its macOS and Windows changelogs. We did not run our own benchmarks or measure response times.

Quick verdict

In our assessment, Raycast is a strong option if you already live in a launcher and want AI one hotkey away. Quick AI, AI Chat, AI Commands and extensions share the same keyboard-driven interface, and you can bring your own Claude or ChatGPT subscription or API keys. The trade-offs are a credit system that makes heavy agent use harder to budget, top-tier models gated behind the $20 Pro+ plan, and a Windows version that is generally available but still catching up with the Mac.

Pro: The core launcher, extensions store, snippets and window management stay free, so you pay only for AI and sync features.
Pro: Flexible model sources: Raycast-provided models, your own Claude or ChatGPT subscription, your own API keys (Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, OpenRouter), OpenAI-compatible custom providers and local models.
Pro: AI Chat can use installed extensions and MCP servers as tools, run scheduled Automations and work inside Projects with their own memory.
Pro: Clear privacy statements: Raycast says your data is not used to train models, and most Raycast-provided models run under zero data retention.
Con: Usage-based credits (500 a month on Pro) mean agentic, long-context chats can run out mid-month. Top-ups cost extra.
Con: Top-tier models require Pro+ ($20 a month) or Max ($50 a month).
Con: On Windows, Cloud Sync is still listed as upcoming, and extensions that use native code are not guaranteed to work.
Con: No Linux version is listed, and AI is unavailable on the Free plan.

Visit Raycast

What is Raycast?

Raycast is a launcher and command bar. You press a hotkey and type to open apps, search files, run calculations, paste snippets, move windows or trigger actions from thousands of extensions in the Raycast Store (including GitHub, Jira and Linear). Raycast AI adds chat and AI commands to that same bar.

It now runs on three platforms. The Mac app is the original and most complete. The Windows app supports Windows 10 (21H2 and later) and Windows 11, installs from the Microsoft Store or WinGet, and reached version 2.0 on August 25, 2026, when Raycast announced that it “is out of Beta”. The macOS app reached 2.0 the same day. An iOS app (iOS 18 or later) offers AI chat, notes, snippets, quicklinks, dictation and a custom keyboard. Syncing with the desktop requires Pro, and AI Extensions do not work on iOS yet. With 2.0, features that had been free during the beta, including AI Chat and Dictation, moved into the paid Pro plan.

Key features

Quick AI and AI Chat as an agent

Quick AI answers a question straight from the launcher. AI Chat is a full chat window. In version 2.3 (September 11, 2026) Raycast rebuilt AI Chat so that it can plan a task, use your extensions, write and run code, check the results, and ask you for decisions before continuing. Tool approval prompts explain each action, and later releases added “Send Window to AI” and “Send Element to AI” commands. In our assessment, this extension access is what sets Raycast AI apart from a standalone chatbot.

Bring your own models

Raycast’s manual lists four alternatives to its built-in models. You can connect a Claude or ChatGPT subscription (added in v2.3), use your own Anthropic, Google, OpenAI or OpenRouter API key, add any OpenAI-compatible custom provider, or run local models. Since v2.5, extensions can supply models too, for example for Ollama, Groq or LM Studio. Raycast says its credits apply only to inference it provides, so bring-your-own usage is billed and rate-limited by your own provider. If you already pay for Claude, our Claude Code review covers what else that subscription includes.

Projects, memory and Automations

Projects group related chats with their own memory, and a project can point at a working directory such as a notes vault or a folder of invoices. Automations run prompts on a schedule in the background and post the results to a chat. Raycast’s changelog gives examples such as morning email triage and hourly pull-request checks.

MCP and AI Extensions

You can connect MCP servers to extend Raycast AI, and AI Extensions let the model call actions from installed extensions.

Auto model selection

Since v2.6 (October 5, 2026), an Auto model offers Lightweight, Balanced and Flagship modes. Raycast says Balanced, the default, “uses about 70% fewer credits than Flagship”. That figure comes from Raycast, not an independent test. Flagship requires Pro+ or Max.

The free launcher underneath

Clipboard history (3 months on Free, unlimited on Pro), snippets, quicklinks, window management, file search, Raycast Notes (up to 5 on Free) and the extensions store are part of the free app. Pro adds Cloud Sync, custom themes, the translator, dictation and custom window-management commands.

Who should use Raycast

Raycast AI suits developers on macOS, and increasingly on Windows, who already use a launcher dozens of times a day and want AI in that flow rather than in a browser tab. It is a good match if you want to choose models per task, mix Raycast-provided models with your own Claude or ChatGPT subscription, or let an AI act through extensions you already use. Teams can share snippets, quicklinks and commands through a private store. Enterprise adds an AI Control Center to restrict providers or enforce company API keys.

Who should skip Raycast

Skip Raycast AI if you are on Linux, if you want a flat monthly AI allowance with no credit maths, or if your company requires every AI request to go through its own approved provider and you cannot buy Enterprise. Windows users who depend on Cloud Sync or on extensions with native code should check the current status first. If you only want a chat assistant, a direct subscription to ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini may be simpler. Our comparison of the major AI assistant plans can help you choose one.

Strengths and limitations

Strengths

AI where you already work. The same hotkey, search bar and extensions drive both the launcher and the AI.
Model choice and cost control. You can switch between Raycast-provided models, your own subscription, your own key and local models. The model picker shows a cost meter for credit-billed models.
Privacy terms that are easy to find. Raycast’s manual says “Your data is not used to train AI models” and that providers are prohibited from training on AI interactions. It says all Raycast-provided models are zero data retention except Mistral and xAI (each retain data for 30 days) and Claude Fable 5.1, for which Anthropic does not offer zero retention. AI traffic is encrypted in transit, and synced data is encrypted at rest.
A useful free tier. The launcher, extensions and most productivity features cost nothing.

Limitations

Credits make cost less predictable. Raycast’s manual says “Credits measure AI usage, not a fixed number of messages”. Long chats, attachments, tool calls and regenerations all use more credits. When credits run out, Raycast AI stops until the next grant or a top-up.
Model gating. Pro includes “fast and powerful” models. The top-tier models need Pro+ or Max, and the pricing FAQ says these advanced models are not part of the Pro trial.
Chat history is stored by Raycast. Even with zero-retention model providers, the manual says your chat history is stored by Raycast, and synced if Cloud Sync is on. Dictation history, by contrast, stays on your device.
Windows parity is a work in progress. The Windows page says the team is “hard at work bringing all the features from macOS to Windows”. Cloud Sync is listed as upcoming there.
Teams pay per member for top-ups. On Teams plans, top-up credits are per member and are not pooled.

Pricing (as of October 2026)

Plan	Price	What you get
Free	$0	Launcher, extensions, custom extensions, developer tooling, 3 months of clipboard history, up to 5 notes. No AI.
Pro	$10/month or $96/year	Raycast AI with 500 credits a month, fast models, bring your own key or subscription, unlimited clipboard history and notes, Cloud Sync, dictation, themes, translator.
Pro+ (labelled “Plus” in parts of the pricing table)	$20/month or $192/year	Everything in Pro, top-tier models, 3,000 credits a month.
Max	$50/month or $480/year	Everything in Pro+, 7,500 credits a month.
Teams Free	$0	Unlimited members, private store, up to 5 shared commands and 30 shared quicklinks and snippets. No AI.
Teams Pro / Pro+ / Max	$15 / $25 / $65 per user per month, or $144 / $240 / $624 per user per year	Individual plan features plus unlimited shared commands, quicklinks and snippets; 500 / 3,000 / 7,500 credits per user per month.
Enterprise	Custom	AI Control Center (organisation-wide toggle, own keys, provider allow-list, custom provider), SAML and SCIM, domain capture, 2FA enforcement, extension and IP allow-lists.

Prices are in US dollars. Raycast’s pricing page does not say whether taxes are included. Monthly credits expire 60 days after they are granted, so unused credits roll over for one extra billing cycle. Top-up packs cost $5 for 500 credits, $23.75 for 2,500, $46.50 for 5,000 and $90 for 10,000. They expire after 12 months and require an active paid plan. Raycast’s pricing data values 500 credits at $5 of AI usage. New accounts get a 7-day Pro trial without a credit card, and verified students get 50% off Pro only. See Raycast pricing

Prices verified against the official Raycast pricing page. Plans change often — confirm on the vendor’s page before you buy.

Use cases

Developer chores from the launcher

Ask AI Chat to look up an issue through a Jira or Linear extension, draft a reply and open the relevant repository. Each step goes through tools you have already authorised in Raycast.

Mixing paid and local models

Keep quick rewrites and translations on a cheap Raycast model or a local model. Send long reasoning tasks to your own Claude or ChatGPT subscription so they do not consume Raycast credits.

Calendar and focus workflows

The Raycast Store includes a Reclaim extension, so you can work with that AI calendar from the launcher. This pairs naturally with the schedulers in our Motion vs Reclaim comparison.

Alternatives

Alfred (macOS): a long-standing Mac launcher with a one-off Powerpack licence, priced in British pounds (£34 for a single-user v5 licence on Alfred’s shop). It has no built-in AI subscription, so you would wire up AI through workflows and your own keys.
PowerToys Command Palette (Windows): Microsoft’s free, extensible command palette in PowerToys. It suits Windows users who want a launcher without a subscription.
Warp: if most of your AI help happens in the terminal, an agentic terminal may fit better than a launcher. See our Warp review.
A direct AI assistant subscription: ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini desktop apps give you one vendor’s models with that vendor’s limits, without a launcher.

Final verdict

In our assessment, Raycast is one of the more thoughtful ways to put AI inside a developer’s daily workflow. The launcher remains free, the AI can act through extensions and MCP servers, and you are not locked into Raycast’s own model supply. Whether a paid plan is worth it depends on volume. Light users will find Pro’s 500 monthly credits and the option to bring their own subscription enough. Heavy agent users should look at Pro+ or Max and watch the cost meter. On Windows, the 2.0 release is a real milestone, but check the features you depend on before you move a team over.

Try Raycast

FAQ

Is Raycast available on Windows?

Yes. Raycast for Windows left beta with version 2.0 on August 25, 2026 and supports Windows 10 (21H2 and later) and Windows 11. Raycast says it is still bringing macOS features to Windows. Cloud Sync is listed as upcoming, and extensions that use native code may not work.

Does using my own Claude or ChatGPT subscription use Raycast credits?

No. Raycast’s manual says credits apply only to inference provided by Raycast AI. With a connected subscription, the usage panel shows your Claude or ChatGPT usage windows instead. Bring-your-own models still need a paid Raycast plan for AI features.

Does Raycast train AI models on my chats?

Raycast says your data is not used to train AI models and that it prohibits its model providers from doing so. Most Raycast-provided models run under zero data retention, with exceptions the manual lists. If you use your own key, the provider’s terms apply instead.

Raycast AI Review: Features, Pricing and Limitations