aiCat vs Raycast AI
Raycast AI: the launcher is free; AI starts from about $8/month on an annual term. aiCat: free to start, Premium starts from $6/month. Neither is a superset of the other, and this page says which is which.
Raycast is not really a competitor to aiCat so much as a much larger product with an overlapping corner. It is the best launcher on macOS and it does a hundred things aiCat does not. The corner where they meet is 'do something with the text I have selected', and there the difference is whether you choose the command or the tool works it out.
What follows is written to be usable by somebody who ends up choosing Raycast AI. Prices are floors — the cheapest tier each product is honestly available at — checked in August 2026 and worth re-checking on the vendor's own page before you decide on price alone.
A launcher and a hotkey, compared
| aiCat | Raycast AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | macOS, Windows and Linux, behaving the same on each | macOS first; Windows is newer, Linux is not planned |
| The gesture | Select text, press one key; the tool decides what the text needs | Summon the launcher, pick or type a command, run it |
| Breadth beyond text | None — text and voice only | Enormous: windows, clipboard, snippets, scripts, hundreds of extensions |
| Deciding what to do | Read from context — is the field editable, is the language one you read | You choose the command, or write one |
| Fact-checking and AI detection | Both | Not in scope |
| Dictation | Typed at your caret in any application, phrase by phrase | Present, but launcher-centred |
| Model choice | Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, Gonka, local | Several vendors, included in the subscription |
| Price floor | Free; Premium starts from $6/month | Free launcher; AI starts from about $8/month |
What a task key does that a command list does not
- The same behaviour on macOS, Windows and Linux
- Task keys that decide what to do from the context, instead of a command you choose from a list
- Fact-checking and AI detection, which are not in Raycast's scope
- Coin pricing with a real free tier, rather than a flat monthly fee
What Raycast is that aiCat will never be
- Deep macOS integration that goes far beyond text
- An extension store that covers hundreds of tools you already use
- Window management, clipboard history, snippets — a whole productivity layer aiCat does not attempt
- Command chaining for people who enjoy building their own workflows
Which one belongs on your machine
You are on macOS and love launchers
Raycast. It is the better home for that habit and the AI is right there.
Your team is on Windows and Linux too
aiCat. Same behaviour on all three is the point.
You want window management and clipboard history
Raycast. aiCat does not do any of that.
You do not want to choose a command every time
aiCat. The task is decided from where the text is and what it is.
You need fact-checking or AI detection
aiCat. Neither is in Raycast's scope.
Hands-on: two weeks of both bound to a key
One person's account of using both. It is an opinion, it is not a benchmark, and it is here because the rest of this page is a table.
Two weeks with both bound to keys a thumb apart. Raycast stayed on the machine and will — the launcher, the clipboard history and the window snapping are worth the space on their own, and its AI commands are genuinely nice once you have written the three you actually use. The friction was the choosing. 'Improve Writing' and 'Translate' and 'Explain' are three commands, and picking between them is a decision you make before you get help, which is exactly the decision I did not want to make forty times a day. The other half of it was the second laptop, which runs Linux, where the question answered itself.
Stay on Raycast if the launcher is your habit
If you are on macOS and the launcher is already how you work, Raycast's AI is right there and costs you one more subscription rather than one more application. Its extension ecosystem is a genuine advantage and aiCat has nothing like it.
aiCat makes more sense if your machines are not all Macs, if you want the tool to decide what a selection needs rather than offering you a menu, or if translation and dictation in several languages are a daily part of the job.
Try aiCat on the text Raycast AI cannot reach
Free to start, 10 aiCatCoins included, no card. macOS, Windows and Linux.
aiCat pricing at a glance
| Plan | Price | aiCatCoins / month | Max selection | What it unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 10 | 500 chars | Everything aiCat does, plus free dictation and your own memory |
| Premium | from $6/mo (list $10) | 3 000 | 5 000 chars | Think More, read-aloud, encrypted memory, premium models |
| Team + Offline | from $18/member | 12 000 | 50 000 chars | Edit your memory, MCP access, local models, team sync |
| Enterprise | from $90/member | 150 000 | Unlimited | SSO, audit, best coin rate |
Read the whole page? Then you were deciding. Try both — Raycast AI keeps its key
aiCat is free to start with 10 aiCatCoins a month and does not conflict with anything else on your machine.
Frequently asked
Is aiCat a good Raycast AI alternative?
It depends on why you are looking. aiCat replaces Raycast AI for people who want one key that acts on text anywhere on the machine, in any language. It does not replace Raycast AI for being the best macos launcher there is, with or without the ai, which is what Raycast AI is built around.
Is aiCat cheaper than Raycast AI?
Slightly, and not by enough to decide anything: Raycast's AI starts from about $8 a month against aiCat's $6, and Raycast's launcher is free forever while aiCat has a free tier of 10 coins a month. If you would use Raycast's non-AI features anyway, its effective price for AI is the marginal $8 and the comparison gets closer still.
Can I use aiCat and Raycast AI together?
Yes, and they coexist quietly — different keys, no shared state, no conflict. A common setup is Raycast for launching, windows and clipboard, aiCat for anything that happens to selected text or comes out of a microphone.
What does Raycast AI do that aiCat does not?
Deep macOS integration that goes far beyond text; An extension store that covers hundreds of tools you already use; Window management, clipboard history, snippets — a whole productivity layer aiCat does not attempt; Command chaining for people who enjoy building their own workflows.
What is aiCat?
aiCat is a desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux. You select text anywhere on your computer, press one hotkey, and an AI does what you need with it — proof-read, translate, explain, check the facts, read it aloud, or answer a question about it.
Does aiCat work in every application?
Yes. It works at the operating-system level rather than through per-app plugins, so it covers native apps, browsers, IDEs, terminals and PDF viewers alike.