Update, September 27, 2026: Thunderstorm can now install and run Raycast extensions, which changes one row of this comparison. The details are in Thunderstorm now runs Raycast extensions.
People ask me whether Droppy replaces Raycast almost every week, usually right after Droppy 16 rebuilt Thunderstorm, its built-in launcher. The honest answer is that the two apps start from opposite ends. Raycast is a launcher that grew a platform around the command bar. Droppy is the top of your Mac, the notch, the shelf and everything that happens in them, that grew a launcher. Where they overlap, they are close. Where they do not, they are not competing at all.
What each one is
Raycast opens a command bar and lets you do almost anything from it: launch apps, search files, manage windows, keep clipboard history, expand snippets, open quicklinks, and run thousands of community extensions. Its paid plans add Raycast AI, cloud sync and unlimited clipboard history. It is excellent, and it is what I would point a keyboard purist at.
Droppy turns the notch, or a Dynamic Island on a Mac without one, into a place things happen. Drag a file to the top of the screen and a shelf opens to hold it. Copy something and it lands in a searchable history. Music, calls, timers, AirPods and notifications appear as live activities. Element Capture takes and edits screenshots and recordings. Thunderstorm, the launcher, is one of 38 droplets you switch on as you need them.
Side by side
Both replace Spotlight with apps, files, a calculator with units and currencies, and web search. Raycast's command bar is deeper. Thunderstorm also searches Droppy itself: your droplets, your clipboard, your shelf and System Settings pages.
Raycast has the largest extension store on the Mac. Thunderstorm now installs from that same store and imports your Raycast extensions, minus AI, OAuth sign-in and menu bar commands for now.
Raycast keeps three months of clipboard history free, unlimited on Pro. Droppy keeps up to a thousand entries plus everything you pin, favourite or tag, with OCR text search, colours and a visual strip.
This is where they part ways. Droppy has a file shelf and Basket, Droppy Cloud links, media controls with lyrics, live activities, screenshots and screen recording, and a lock screen. Raycast has AI chat and commands.
Raycast is free, with Pro at $10 a month or $96 a year, and Plus and Max tiers for more AI. Droppy is $9.99 once for two Macs, lifetime updates, every droplet included.
Raycast pricing and plan limits from raycast.com/pricing, checked September 27, 2026.
Where Raycast is better
I would rather say this plainly than have you find it out. Raycast has had years to polish one surface, and it shows. Its extension API is the reference, so every extension works there by definition, including the ones that sign in to a service or run AI. Raycast AI is a real product if you want a model one shortcut away. Cloud sync keeps several Macs identical. Its window management, snippets and quicklinks have been mature for a long time. If your whole working day happens in a command bar, it is hard to beat.
Where Droppy is better
Everything that is not a command bar. A launcher is where you go to do something; most of Droppy is what happens without going anywhere. Files wait on the shelf while you find the destination. The clipboard history remembers the image you copied an hour ago and finds it by the words inside it. The song, the call and the timer sit in the notch where your eyes already are. A screenshot of one button, marked up and shared as a link, is two shortcuts.
And the price is different in kind, not just in size. Droppy is a one-time purchase with lifetime updates, every droplet included, on two Macs. There is no tier to upgrade to. The full price is $9.99 in the United States and lower in many countries, and there is a free trial so you can try it on your own Mac first.
Running both
Raycast and Thunderstorm both default to a shortcut near Space, so pick one for each. If Raycast stays your launcher, leave Thunderstorm off in the Droplet Store and keep everything else Droppy does; nothing in Droppy depends on it. If you move to Thunderstorm, import your Raycast extensions from its settings and try your most-used ones before you uninstall anything.