Raycast Free vs Pro 2026: Every Difference Explained

Here's the thing about Raycast's free plan: it's genuinely, unusually generous. Most freemium tools gut the free tier to force upgrades. Raycast doesn't. The launcher, 1,000+ extensions, window management, snippets, clipboard history, script commands — all free. If you opened this article wondering whether you even need Pro, there's a real chance you don't.

But there is a line. And once you know exactly where it is, the upgrade decision becomes obvious in one direction or the other. This guide draws that line precisely — every feature, every restriction, no marketing language. See the homepage for the current discount if you've already made up your mind.

What Raycast Free Includes

The free tier is a full-featured productivity launcher. Here's everything you get without paying anything:

• App launcher and file search — Launch any app, find files, search your system, all from a single keyboard shortcut. Faster than Spotlight, more configurable.
• 1,000+ community extensions — The Raycast Store has extensions for GitHub, Jira, Linear, Notion, Figma, VS Code, Homebrew, and hundreds of other tools. All free to install and use.
• Clipboard History (30 days) — Every item you copy is stored and searchable for up to 30 days. Copy something, close the app, come back a week later — it's still there.
• Snippets — Create text expansion snippets that trigger anywhere on your Mac. Type a keyword, get a full block of text. Perfect for email templates, code blocks, or boilerplate.
• Quicklinks — Save frequently visited URLs with custom shortcuts. Open your staging environment, your project's Jira board, or your team's Notion workspace with a single command.
• Window Management — Keyboard-driven window tiling and resizing. Replaces Magnet, Mosaic, or Rectangle entirely.
• Calculator — A powerful inline calculator with unit conversion, currency conversion, and natural language input (e.g., "100 USD in EUR").
• System commands — Sleep, restart, empty trash, toggle Do Not Disturb, control system volume — all via the command palette.
• Script Commands — Write shell scripts, Python scripts, or any other executable and run them from Raycast. Powerful workflow automation with no Pro subscription required.
• Keyboard shortcuts and aliases — Assign global shortcuts to any command or extension. Customize the experience completely.

That's a lot. If your workflow lives entirely in this list, stop reading and stay on the free plan. Seriously.

What Raycast Pro Adds

Pro builds on the free tier without removing anything. Every feature above stays — Pro just unlocks additional capabilities:

Raycast AI

The most talked-about Pro feature. Raycast AI gives you an always-accessible AI assistant that works at the system level — not just in a chat window, but anywhere you're working. Select text in any app, invoke Raycast, and use AI Commands to rewrite it, summarize it, translate it, or explain it. You can also create custom AI Commands that chain prompts together for repeatable workflows.

The available models include GPT-4 and Claude. You can switch between models mid-conversation. For developers, this means inline code explanation and review. For writers, it means a rewriting and editing layer that doesn't require opening a separate browser tab. Our Raycast AI Commands guide covers the full capability set.

Cloud Sync

Every configuration you make in Raycast — snippets, quicklinks, aliases, extension settings, keyboard shortcuts — syncs automatically across all your Macs via iCloud. Change a snippet on your MacBook at a coffee shop, and it appears on your desktop Mac when you sit down at your desk. No manual export, no file transfer.

This feature is invisible when everything works. It becomes acutely felt the moment you set up a new Mac and realize your entire Raycast environment is already there, waiting for you.

Unlimited Clipboard History

The free plan stores clipboard items for 30 days. Pro stores them forever. For most people, 30 days feels like enough — until you need something you copied six weeks ago and it's gone. Developers in particular accumulate clipboard history fast: API responses, error messages, authentication tokens, code snippets. Unlimited history means never losing any of it.

Custom Themes

The Raycast Store has dozens of community-built themes you can install with one click. You can also create your own — customizing accent colors, background opacity, text weight, and border radius. Free users see a light theme and a dark theme. Pro users see everything else.

Floating Notes

A persistent, always-on-top notepad you summon with a keyboard shortcut. It stays visible over any app — useful for jotting things mid-meeting, keeping a quick task list in view while you code, or drafting a message before pasting it somewhere. It's a small feature that becomes habitual quickly.

AI Presets

Build reusable AI configurations with pre-set system prompts, model choices, and temperature settings. A "Code Review" preset might always use GPT-4 with a technical prompt. A "Casual Rewrite" preset might use Claude with a friendlier tone. Once built, switching between presets is a single keystroke. See our Raycast AI Presets guide for a full walkthrough.

Feature-by-Feature Comparison Table

Raycast Sync Without Pro — Can You?

This comes up constantly: "Can I sync Raycast across my Macs without paying for Pro?" The direct answer is no — not automatically. Cloud Sync is a Pro-only feature. There's no workaround that gives you the same experience without a subscription.

What you can do on the free plan is manually export your Raycast configuration. Go to Raycast Settings → Advanced → Export Settings, and Raycast creates a zip file containing all your snippets, quicklinks, extensions, and preferences. You can then import that file on another Mac. It works, but it's a snapshot — not live sync. Any change you make on one machine won't appear on the other until you repeat the export/import process.

For single-Mac users, this limitation is completely irrelevant. For anyone with a MacBook and a desktop, or a personal and work machine, Cloud Sync is what makes Pro feel essential. The manual workflow is tedious enough that most people either pay for Pro or simply stop trying to keep their machines in sync.

Raycast Themes Without Pro

Another common question: "Can I use custom themes without Pro?" Again — no. Custom themes are locked to the Pro tier. The Raycast Store's theme collection and any user-created themes require an active Pro subscription to install or use.

What free users get: a built-in light theme and a built-in dark theme. That's it. You can toggle between them in settings, but you can't import a custom palette, change accent colors, or use anything from the Raycast Store's theme section.

For most users this isn't a deal-breaker — the default dark theme is clean and gets out of the way. But if you've seen screenshots of Raycast looking particularly striking and wondered how to replicate it, the answer is Pro.

Raycast Pro Without AI — Is It Still Worth It?

Here's an underrated angle: what if you don't want the AI features at all? Is Raycast Pro still worth upgrading to for the other features alone?

For multi-Mac users: absolutely yes. Cloud Sync is genuinely the most frictionless way to keep your Mac environments in sync. If you spend an hour configuring snippets and quicklinks on one machine, having all of that appear automatically on your other machine is not a small quality-of-life improvement — it's a significant one.

For single-Mac users who don't want AI: it's a closer call. Unlimited clipboard history is nice but not essential if 30 days covers your real-world needs. Custom themes are a nice-to-have. Floating Notes is useful but replaceable. The honest answer: if you're on a single Mac and have no interest in AI, the free plan is genuinely complete for your use case.

That said, most people who upgrade "just for sync" quickly find themselves using the AI features daily. The activation energy to try a new AI tool drops to near zero when it's already built into your launcher. If you want a full breakdown of the value case, read our piece on whether Raycast Pro is worth it.

The Upgrade Decision

Stay on free if:

• You use a single Mac.
• You only need Raycast to launch apps, search files, or run basic commands.
• You have no interest in AI tools and don't use snippets frequently enough to need sync.
• 30 days of clipboard history covers your real workflow.

Upgrade to Pro if:

• You use more than one Mac — Cloud Sync alone pays for itself.
• You would benefit from an AI layer on top of your existing workflow (writing, coding, research).
• You're already paying for a separate AI subscription, clipboard manager, or snippet tool — Raycast Pro replaces all of them.
• You use snippets heavily and want them to stay in sync automatically.
• You find yourself wanting clipboard history older than 30 days.

How to Get Pro at 80% Off

Right now the best available deal on Raycast Pro is 80% off with a free 14-day trial — no coupon code required. The discount applies automatically at checkout when you sign up through our discount page. The reduced rate locks in for the life of your subscription, so you keep paying at the discounted price as long as you stay subscribed.

The trial period is genuinely no-risk: 14 days of full Pro access with no charge if you cancel before it ends. Given that Cloud Sync, AI Commands, and Floating Notes all become apparent within the first few days of daily use, 14 days is more than enough to form a real opinion. See the Raycast Pro free trial guide for how to get started, or jump directly to the Raycast Pro signup page.

For a full breakdown of Raycast's pricing structure across all plans — including the Teams tier — see our Raycast Pro pricing guide and the Raycast Pro review.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you sync Raycast without Pro?

No. Raycast Cloud Sync is a Pro-only feature. Free users can manually export a settings backup and import it on another Mac, but there is no automatic or live sync between devices without a Pro subscription.

Can you use custom themes without Raycast Pro?

No. Custom themes from the Raycast Store and user-created themes require a Pro subscription. Free users can switch between the built-in light and dark themes, but cannot install or use third-party themes.

Is Raycast AI only available in Pro?

Yes. All Raycast AI features — including AI chat, AI Commands, and custom AI Presets — are exclusive to the Pro plan. The free tier has no AI integration.

What happens to my data if I cancel Raycast Pro?

Your data is not deleted. If you cancel Pro, your account reverts to the free tier. Snippets, quicklinks, and settings remain intact locally — they just stop syncing across devices. Clipboard history beyond 30 days becomes inaccessible (but is not permanently deleted). You can re-subscribe at any time to regain full access.