# Jan vs Raycast

Jan records 291,894 monthly visits with -9.6% month-over-month growth and Free pricing. Raycast records 710,581 monthly visits with -24.5% growth and Freemium, Free Trial pricing.

| Metric | [Jan](https://openaitools.app/tool/jan) | [Raycast](https://openaitools.app/tool/raycast) |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Website URL | https://jan.ai | https://www.raycast.com |
| Categories | AI Chatbot, AI Assistant, Open Source AI Models, Large Language Models (LLMs) | AI Productivity Tools, AI Assistant, AI Chatbot, AI Copilot |
| Pricing Model | Free | Freemium, Free Trial |
| Monthly Visits | 291,894 | 710,581 |
| MoM Growth Rate | -9.6% | -24.5% |
| Primary Market | United States | United States |
| Direct Visits | 105,615 | 350,217 |
| Review Score | 4.6 | 4.8 |
| Saved Count | 6 | 1 |
| Supported Platforms | Website | Website |

## Jan

Jan is a desktop application that positions itself as an open replacement for ChatGPT, with the key difference that inference happens on hardware you control. After installing the app you pick a model, and Jan downloads and runs it locally, so prompts, chat history, and files stay on your machine rather than on someone else's server. For heavier workloads you can connect an OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, or Mistral key and route requests to the cloud while keeping the same chat interface and local history.

The project is developed in the open by Menlo Research and has accumulated tens of thousands of GitHub stars along with millions of downloads. It exposes OpenAI-compatible local endpoints, which means existing tooling and SDKs can point at Jan instead of a hosted service, and it supports custom assistants with their own instructions and model choices. Recent releases have added an agent surface alongside the classic desktop chat, and a memory feature is announced as coming to carry context and preferences between sessions.

Because it is open source, Jan can be audited, self-built, and extended, and there is no paid tier gating the desktop client. The practical tradeoff is that local model quality and speed depend entirely on your own GPU or CPU, so lighter machines will favor smaller quantized models while cloud keys remain the escape hatch for harder tasks.

**Pricing & Plans:** Jan is free and open source, with no paid tier for the desktop app. Costs only appear if you optionally connect your own paid cloud API keys for providers such as OpenAI or Anthropic.

- **Local-first inference:** Download and run open models such as Llama, Mistral, Qwen, Gemma, and DeepSeek directly on your own machine, with chat data kept on device.
- **Bring your own cloud models:** Optionally connect API keys for OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Mistral, and other providers to route requests to frontier models from the same interface.
- **OpenAI-compatible local API:** Jan exposes a local server endpoint that follows the OpenAI API shape, so existing SDKs and tools can talk to your local models without code changes.
- **Custom assistants:** Create assistants with their own system instructions, model selection, and parameters, then reuse them across conversations.
- **Open source and extensible:** The full desktop client and agent code are public on GitHub, so you can audit behavior, build your own version, and contribute improvements.

**Strengths:** Completely free and open source, with no account required to run local models; Conversation data stays on your device by default; Works across macOS, Windows, and Linux with an OpenAI-compatible local endpoint; Optional cloud key support lets you mix local and frontier models in one app

**Limitations:** Local model quality and speed are capped by your own hardware; Very large models may need substantial RAM or VRAM to be practical; Some cloud-connected and memory features are newer or still rolling out

[Profile (Markdown)](https://openaitools.app/tool/jan.md)

## Raycast

Raycast rethinks the operating system launcher as a hub for everything you do. Hit a hotkey and a search bar appears where you can open apps, run commands, search files, check the calendar, convert units, manage windows, translate text, and control music without leaving the keyboard. Core utilities like clipboard history, snippets, quicklinks, and a floating notes panel are built in, so repetitive tasks turn into single keystrokes.

The extension Store is a defining feature: thousands of community-built integrations connect Linear, Jira, Notion, Slack, Zoom, GitHub, Spotify, 1Password, Obsidian, and many more, letting you act on those tools from the launcher. Developers can build and publish their own extensions with a strongly typed API, React-based UI components, and hot reloading, shipping once to both macOS and Windows.

Raycast AI turns the launcher into an assistant. It offers chat with leading models, Quick AI commands accessible from any app, and AI Extensions that let the assistant use your connected tools to complete multi-step tasks. The company reports a 99.8% crash-free rate and shows up in the daily workflows of developers, designers, and founders. Raycast is available for macOS and Windows, with an iOS app and a dedicated keyboard, and offers Pro, Teams, and Enterprise plans alongside the free tier.

**Pricing & Plans:** Freemium with a free tier plus Pro, Teams, and Enterprise plans. The free version includes core launcher features and extensions, while Pro adds AI features and advanced capabilities. Team and Enterprise plans add centralized billing, permissions, and management for organizations. Check the pricing page for current rates.

- **Extendable launcher:** Open apps, run commands, and search files from a single hotkey, with thousands of community extensions connecting the services you already use.
- **Raycast AI assistant:** Chat with leading AI models, call Quick AI from any app, and let AI Extensions act on your connected tools to finish multi-step tasks.
- **Clipboard history and snippets:** Browse everything you have copied and insert frequently used text or addresses by simply typing a keyword.
- **Quicklinks and hotkeys:** Create shortcuts that launch URLs, run scripts, or trigger commands, and assign hotkeys or aliases to the actions you repeat most.
- **Notes, windows, and utilities:** Take quick notes, manage windows, find text in screenshots, check the calendar, and convert units without leaving the launcher.

**Strengths:** Keyboard-first design keeps you in flow and out of menus; Thousands of extensions connect the tools you already use; Combines launcher, AI assistant, clipboard, snippets, and notes in one app; Now available on both macOS and Windows, with a companion iOS app

**Limitations:** Mac version has historically been more mature than the Windows build; AI features require a paid Pro subscription or credits; The sheer number of extensions and settings can overwhelm new users

[Profile (Markdown)](https://openaitools.app/tool/raycast.md)

## Frequently Asked Questions

### How do Jan and Raycast compare in monthly traffic?

Jan has 291,894 monthly visits, while Raycast has 710,581. Traffic estimates describe audience size, not product quality.

### How do their growth rates compare?

Jan has a month-over-month growth rate of -9.6%; Raycast has -24.5%.

### How does pricing compare?

Jan: Free. Jan is free and open source, with no paid tier for the desktop app. Costs only appear if you optionally connect your own paid cloud API keys for providers such as OpenAI or Anthropic. Raycast: Freemium, Free Trial. Freemium with a free tier plus Pro, Teams, and Enterprise plans. The free version includes core launcher features and extensions, while Pro adds AI features and advanced capabilities. Team and Enterprise plans add centralized billing, permissions, and management for organizations. Check the pricing page for current rates.

## Alternatives

| # | Tool Name | Monthly Visits | MoM Growth Rate | Pricing Model | Summary | Profile (Markdown) |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 1 | [Notion AI](https://openaitools.app/tool/notion-ai) | 13,460,455 | +13.4% | Freemium, Paid, Contact for Pricing | Integrates AI drafting and summarization directly into documents, but is confined to a workspace document app rather than OS-wide. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/notion-ai.md) |
| 2 | [Ollama](https://openaitools.app/tool/ollama) | 9,421,973 | +4.3% | Free, Freemium, Paid | Provides a lightweight command-line runtime for local LLMs, though it lacks Jan's built-in graphical user interface. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/ollama.md) |
| 3 | [Superhuman](https://openaitools.app/tool/superhuman) | 6,514,241 | +7.9% | Paid | Accelerates email and calendar workflows with advanced shortcuts and AI, but is narrowly focused on communication rather than system control. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/superhuman.md) |
| 4 | [Open WebUI](https://openaitools.app/tool/open-webui) | 804,534 | -2.8% | Freemium | Offers a powerful self-hosted chat interface for local models, but lacks desktop command-palette integration and system window management. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/open-webui.md) |
| 5 | [Craft](https://openaitools.app/tool/craft-do) | 703,417 | +8.9% | Freemium | Delivers a polished productivity workspace with built-in AI writing tools, but operates as a note-taker rather than a launcher. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/craft-do.md) |
| 6 | [Warp](https://openaitools.app/tool/warp-ai) | 657,372 | -9.3% | Freemium, Contact for Pricing | Integrates AI assistance directly into a modern terminal environment, but is restricted to command-line workflows rather than general OS launching. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/warp-ai.md) |
| 7 | [AnythingLLM](https://openaitools.app/tool/anythingllm) | 512,269 | +12.9% | Freemium | Specializes in document chat and local RAG workflows, though less focused on general-purpose model tinkering than Jan. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/anythingllm.md) |
| 8 | [LibreChat](https://openaitools.app/tool/librechat) | 346,879 | -3.5% | Free | Unites multiple AI providers in a customizable open-source platform, but is typically deployed as a web server. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/librechat.md) |
| 9 | [Dyad](https://openaitools.app/tool/dyad) | 207,981 | +3.5% | Freemium | Free, open-source AI app builder that runs on your own machine | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/dyad.md) |
| 10 | [Pieces](https://openaitools.app/tool/pieces-for-developers) | 103,015 | -19.4% | Freemium | Captures background workflow history across apps for AI context, but is strictly tailored for developer code snippet management. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/pieces-for-developers.md) |

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Source: https://openaitools.app/compare/jan-vs-raycast

More Markdown: [Categories](https://openaitools.app/categories.md) · [Traffic rankings](https://openaitools.app/rankings.md) · [llms.txt](https://openaitools.app/llms.txt)