Raycast Notes in 2026: How to Use It, What's Free, vs. Apple Notes

Raycast Notes is a floating notepad built into Raycast, the Mac launcher. One hotkey opens a small Markdown note above whatever app you're in, and the same key hides it again. Since Raycast 2.10 on October 28, 2026, the free plan allows unlimited notes. Raycast Pro ($10 monthly, or $96 billed yearly) adds Cloud Sync and AI.

It's the note you reach for mid-task: a phone number someone reads out on a call, three things to raise before the meeting ends, a command you'll need again in an hour. Apple Notes can do all of that, but you have to switch to it. Below you'll find how to set Raycast Notes up on a Mac, the shortcuts worth learning, what the free plan covers, how it compares with Apple Notes, and how to get your notes out if you leave.

What is Raycast Notes?

Raycast Notes is a keyboard-first scratchpad that lives inside Raycast instead of in its own app. Raycast's Notes page describes a window that floats above your other apps, resizes to fit what you type and works entirely from the keyboard. No account is needed, and notes are kept in an encrypted database.

It started life as Floating Notes. Raycast's November 2024 launch post renamed it, added Markdown and allowed more than one note, and searching "floating notes" in Raycast still finds it. The two old commands were folded into one called Raycast Notes, and older hotkeys kept working.

The design choice that matters most: only one note is visible at a time. The manual calls the notes a stack, and you flip through them with search and history shortcuts rather than a sidebar. Raycast's own FAQ also says Notes can't be used as a regular, non-floating window. If you want folders and a long list of notes on screen, that's Apple Notes territory.

How to set up Raycast Notes on a Mac

Setting up Raycast Notes takes two steps: install Raycast, then give the Raycast Notes command its own hotkey. The current Raycast for Mac, version 2, requires macOS Tahoe and Apple silicon, and installing it replaces version 1. Check Apple menu > About This Mac first if your Mac is an older Intel model; if it is, Apple's own Quick Note, covered below, is the closest built-in alternative.

1. Download Raycast from raycast.com and open it. It opens with Option-Space by default, according to Raycast's settings guide.
2. Type Raycast Notes in the Raycast search bar, but don't press Return yet.
3. Press Command-K to open the Action Panel and choose Configure Command.
4. Choose Set Hotkey and type the combination. Option-N is the common pick, and it's the one Raycast's own team mentions.
5. Press your new hotkey anywhere. The note appears over the app you're in; press it again to hide it.
6. Optional: open Raycast's Settings > Raycast Notes and turn on Show Notes Toggle Button in Menu Bar. Click the menu bar button to open your notes, or Option-click it to start a new note.

I set mine on the first day and stopped thinking about it. Typing the command name each time defeats the point, which is that the note costs you nothing to open.

Raycast Notes keyboard shortcuts

Raycast Notes shortcuts follow Mac habits: Command-B for bold, Command-N for a new note, Command-P to browse. Every shortcut below comes from Raycast's Notes manual, and the window must be focused for them to work. The Action Panel (Command-K) lists the rest, along with each one's shortcut.

If Shift-Command-S does nothing, macOS may already be using it. The manual says strikethrough can need a Speech selection shortcut turned off under System Settings > Keyboard. If Command-N fails, click into the note first; it only works while the Notes window is focused.

How to format notes, add checklists and images

Raycast Notes takes formatting five ways: Markdown as you type, the / menu, keyboard shortcuts, Format in the Action Panel, or the format bar along the window's lower edge. You don't need to learn Markdown; the shortcuts and menus get you the same result. Two details from the manual are easy to miss:

• The first line is the title. Whatever you type first is what shows up in search, so start with a word you'll search for later.
• Type a colon for emoji, and begin a line with three dashes for a horizontal rule.

Images arrived in version 2.10. Drag one in, paste it, or choose Image from the / menu. JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP, AVIF and BMP all work, up to 20 MiB a file. Lists can be reordered by dragging the handle beside each item, and holding Command while you click a checkbox also completes the items nested under it.

My daily note is a checklist titled with the day, pinned so the number shortcut opens it. Anything that comes up in a call gets added to the end of the list, and I tick things off as I go. When an item needs more than one line, it moves into a note of its own.

How to organize, find and recover notes

Raycast Notes has no folders or tags, so you organize with pins, search and history. Press Command-P to browse every note, Shift-Command-P to pin the one you're in, and Command-[ to jump back to the note you had open before. Pinned notes sit first in the list.

Deleting a note moves it to Recently Deleted rather than erasing it. To get one back, press Command-K and search for Show Recently Deleted Notes. Raycast's FAQ says deleted notes can be recovered within 60 days, and free users can restore them but not preview them first. Delete All Notes also sits in the Action Panel, so read the menu twice before you click.

Is Raycast Notes free?

Yes. Raycast Notes is free with unlimited notes. Raycast removed the old 5-note cap for free accounts in version 2.10, released October 28, 2026, and its pricing page shows Notes included in Free and each paid tier. Older articles that mention five free notes describe the limit before that release.

What you pay for is everything around the notes. On the pricing page, Cloud Sync and Raycast AI start at Pro ($10 monthly, $96 yearly), with Plus at $20 and Max at $50 a month above it. For Notes alone, Pro buys you three things:

• Cloud Sync, so the same notes appear on a second Mac, a Windows PC and the Raycast iPhone app.
• Send to AI Chat, which attaches a note to a Raycast AI conversation so you can ask for a summary or a rewrite.
• Previews in Recently Deleted, so you can read a note before you restore it.

If you use one Mac and don't want Raycast's AI, the free plan is the whole product. I'd only pay for Pro on account of Notes if you genuinely need the same scratchpad on two machines.

Does Raycast Notes sync with iPhone and Windows?

Raycast Notes syncs between Mac, Windows and iPhone only with a Pro plan and Cloud Sync turned on. The manual says every device has to use one Pro account, then make sure Raycast Notes is checked under Settings > Cloud Sync > Synced Content. Images sync between Mac and Windows only with Pro and Cloud Sync; otherwise they stay on the device where you added them.

Without Pro, each device keeps its own notes. The manual also warns that iPhones and any computer still on version 1 may lag behind version 2 when syncing, so give a new note a moment before you assume it's missing.

Raycast Notes vs. Apple Notes

Raycast Notes is better for quick capture over other apps; Apple Notes is better for keeping things. They also sit happily side by side. Apple Notes is free with every Mac and syncs through iCloud to your iPhone and iPad without a subscription. Raycast Notes syncs only on Pro, but it opens on a single key without leaving the app you're in.

Apple Notes has its own floating option. Apple's Quick Note guide says you can hold Fn (or Globe) and press Q, or move the pointer to the bottom-right hot corner, to start a Quick Note from any app. Quick Notes land in a Quick Notes folder in Notes, and they can't be locked. If Quick Note already covers your scratchpad needs, you may not need Raycast Notes at all.

My split looks like this: Raycast Notes holds what I need today, and anything worth keeping past Friday goes to Apple Notes. Moving it takes a minute, using the export steps further down.

Using Raycast Notes for meeting notes

Meeting notes are one of the three uses Raycast's Notes page suggests, and the floating window suits them: the note stays over the video call instead of hiding behind it. Two details make it work better on a Mac.

• Hide it while you share your screen. Version 2.10 added an option to hide the Notes window during screen sharing, in Zoom for example. Raycast says it needs macOS 27 or later, the release after Tahoe.
• Name the note before the call starts. The first line becomes the title, so a line like the client's name and the date makes the note easy to find with Command-P next week.

The first time I shared my screen in a client review, my notes on that same client were floating in the corner. I closed the window in a hurry, and now I hide Notes before I press Share.

Raycast Notes doesn't record or transcribe anything. It holds what you type, and with Pro you can send the note to Raycast AI Chat afterward for a summary. If you'd rather the call itself became the notes, a meeting recorder is the tool for that; this rundown of meeting note takers compares the main ones.

How to export Raycast Notes or move them to Apple Notes

Raycast Notes exports any note as plain text, Markdown or HTML, per Raycast's launch post, and the Action Panel (Command-K) is where a note's actions live. The Notes page adds that you can share a note to Apple Notes and other apps. There's no two-way sync with another notes app, so think of export as a copy, not a link.

To move a note into Apple Notes with its formatting, export it from Raycast as Markdown, then:

1. Open Notes and click the destination folder in its sidebar.
2. Choose File > Import Markdown.
3. Select the .md file, or a folder of them, and click Import.
4. Find the result in the Imported Notes folder, as Apple's import guide describes.

One catch with images: the manual says Markdown and HTML exports link to the image files on your Mac rather than embedding them. Move or delete those files and the pictures disappear from the exported copy, so check them before you clear anything out. For the reverse trip, from Apple Notes into Markdown, Apple Notes export on a Mac walks through single notes and bulk copies.

Raycast Notes limits worth knowing

• It needs Raycast. Notes isn't a separate app, so you install the whole launcher. Raycast version 2 needs macOS Tahoe and Apple silicon.
• Floating only. There's no regular window mode, and you see one note at a time.
• No folders or tags. The manual describes pins, search and history as the ways to organize, and export or share to another app when a note outgrows it.
• Sync and AI are paid. Both start with Pro.
• Hotkeys can collide. Raycast itself takes Option-Space by default, which other apps sometimes want too, so pick your Notes hotkey with that in mind.

If Raycast is new to you, our Raycast alternatives page compares Raycast with other launchers, including what each costs, and Raycast for Teams covers the company plans.