Raycast alternative: Peekaboo vs Raycast
By Vishva Variya · Updated
Raycast is a launcher first: apps, clipboard history, snippets, window management, a big extension store and, on Pro, AI chat. File Search is one part of it, and in Raycast 2 its results appear in the main search box, with filters, on a new index. If you want one keyboard box for everything, Raycast is the better tool and Peekaboo won’t replace it. Peekaboo is for when the file itself is the whole question.
Looking for Raycast itself? It’s at www.raycast.com.
- Raycast price
- Free; Pro $10/month or $96/year
- Raycast requires
- macOS 26 Tahoe, Apple silicon (Raycast 2) or later
- Peekaboo
- $24.99 one-time, 14-day trial, macOS 14+
Raycast figures from raycast.com/pricing, /core-features/file-search and /new, verified 2026-11-02.
Why pick Peekaboo over Raycast?
Search that shows its reading
Type “videos from my iPhone in August” and Peekaboo lays out kind, device and month as chips you can edit, instead of matching the words against file names.
Runs on macOS 14 and Intel
Raycast 2 requires macOS Tahoe on Apple silicon. Peekaboo supports macOS 14 Sonoma or later, on Apple silicon and Intel Macs alike.
What happens after the search
Duplicates, downloads grouped by site, Space Map, an App Uninstaller and cleanup you can undo: the file work a launcher hands back to Finder.
Peekaboo vs Raycast, job by job
| Job | Raycast | Peekaboo |
|---|---|---|
| Launching apps, clipboard, snippets, windows | Core features, plus thousands of extensions | Not offered |
| Finding a file from any app | File Search in the root search, with Quick Look | Quick Search on ⌥Space, plain English included |
| Text in screenshots and PDFs | Not listed for File Search | On-device OCR, searchable and copyable in bulk |
| Duplicates, disk map, cleanup | Not built in | Exact and look-alike duplicates, Space Map, undoable Clean Up |
| Price | Free; Pro $10/month or $96/year for AI and sync | One-time, 14-day free trial |
The honest verdict
Most people who like Raycast should keep it: its free tier already finds files by name and does a dozen other jobs. Add Peekaboo if you need search by description and by the words in images, or a way to see and clear what’s filling the disk. And if you’re on macOS 14 or 15, or an Intel Mac, Raycast 2 isn’t an option, while Peekaboo is.
Raycast vs Peekaboo: questions
Do I need Raycast Pro to search files?
- No. Raycast’s pricing page lists AI, Cloud Sync, custom themes and unlimited clipboard history as the Pro extras ($10/month or $96/year, as of November 2, 2026); File Search is a core feature.
What macOS does Raycast need?
- Raycast 2 requires macOS Tahoe and Apple silicon, per raycast.com, and replaces version 1 when installed.
Will Peekaboo’s Quick Search clash with Raycast?
- Only if both want the same shortcut. Quick Search defaults to ⌥Space and can be changed, so give it any combination Raycast isn’t using.