The best Raycast alternatives for AI text actions (2026)
Looking for a Raycast alternative that's AI-first, has a free tier, and works on selected text in any app? Here's an honest rundown of the options on macOS in 2026, and where each one fits.
Raycast is a great launcher, and Raycast AI is a polished add-on. But a lot of people land on it wanting one specific thing: run AI on the text I've selected, from a shortcut, without paying $16/month or living in a chat window. If that's you, here are the real alternatives on macOS in 2026, with the honest trade-offs.
1. Khint: AI-first, free actions, works in any app
Khint is built around the exact job above: select text in any app, press Cmd+Shift+K, and run a saved prompt (rewrite, translate, summarize, turn-into-ticket) that pastes the result straight back. Where Raycast treats AI as one command among thousands, Khint is AI-first.
- Free tier with real AI: 10 actions/day + 5 OCR captures/day, no trial wall.
- Your own prompts, saved as Actions, bundled into Packs, and chained up to 5 steps.
- Built-in OCR: screenshot to text from the same shortcut. Raycast has none.
- An MCP server, so Claude Desktop and Cursor can read your active work session.
- Atlassian + Linear writes: create Jira issues, Confluence pages, Linear issues from selected text.
Trade-off: Khint is not a general launcher. It won't open apps, run window management, or replace Spotlight. It does AI text actions, OCR, and work-session memory, and it's free to start. See the full Khint vs Raycast comparison.
2. Raycast AI itself: if you want the launcher too
Worth saying plainly: if you also want a best-in-class launcher, clipboard history, window management, and a huge extension store, Raycast AI is a fair deal at its price. The reason you're reading a list of alternatives is usually one of: the AI is behind a subscription, there's no free AI tier, or you don't want a launcher, you want AI on a selection. If none of those bother you, stay on Raycast.
3. Apple Intelligence Writing Tools: free, but boxed in
On a supported Mac, Apple's Writing Tools give you free proofreading and rewriting in many apps. The limits: a fixed menu of actions (you can't author your own prompts), patchy app coverage, and nothing for OCR, ticketing, or chained steps. It's the right call for casual rewrites; it's not a workflow tool. We break this down in Khint vs Apple Intelligence.
4. Alfred with workflows: power-user, BYO-AI
Alfred is the veteran launcher, and its Powerpack workflows can call AI APIs if you wire them up. That's maximum flexibility and a one-time license, but you're building and maintaining the AI plumbing yourself with your own API key. Great if you enjoy that; overkill if you just want saved prompts that work out of the box.
5. A desktop ChatGPT / Claude app: the copy-paste baseline
The default everyone already has: keep a chat window open and paste into it. It's free-ish and flexible, but every transformation is two context switches (copy out, paste back) and there's no way to save a repeatable action or trigger it on a selection. It's the baseline these tools exist to beat.
How to choose
- Want a launcher first, AI second → Raycast or Alfred.
- Want AI on selected text, free, in any app → Khint.
- Want zero setup and only casual rewrites → Apple Intelligence.
- Want to build your own AI plumbing → Alfred workflows.
If the job is "run my prompts on whatever I've selected and paste the result back," that's the thing Khint is built to do, and you can try it free without a card. For the mechanics, read how to run your own AI prompts on selected text.
Common questions
What's the best free Raycast alternative for AI?
If you specifically want AI text actions on a selection, Khint has a genuine free tier (10 AI actions and 5 OCR captures per day) with no trial wall, plus built-in OCR and an MCP server. Apple Intelligence Writing Tools is also free but limited to a fixed set of rewrites in supported apps. Raycast's own AI typically requires a paid plan.
Does any Raycast alternative include OCR?
Raycast itself doesn't bundle OCR. Khint does. The same Cmd+Shift+K palette has an 'Extract text' capture that turns a screen region into text and copies it to your clipboard, and a 'Capture & ask' option to chat about a screenshot.
Can I keep Raycast and use Khint alongside it?
Yes, and many people do. Raycast handles launching, window management, and clipboard history; Khint handles AI text actions, OCR, and work-session memory. They sit on different shortcuts and don't conflict.
Is Khint a full launcher replacement?
No. Khint deliberately does three things (AI text Agents, OCR capture, and Memory sessions) rather than trying to be a general launcher. If you need app-launching and window management, pair it with Raycast or Alfred, or keep using Spotlight.