An honest comparison of three Windows keyboard launchers — from the person who built one of them.
I built Ordo, so I'm biased — which is exactly why this page tries hard to be fair. PowerToys Run and Flow Launcher are both genuinely excellent, and for a lot of people they're the right pick. Below is a straight look at how the three compare, including the rows where the other two beat Ordo.
All three are free, keyboard-driven launchers: hit a hotkey, type, launch. The core difference is what they're built on. PowerToys Run and Flow Launcher are .NET / C# apps; Ordo is a single native binary (Rust, talking straight to Win32 / Direct2D) with no runtime. That one choice is the root of most of the differences below.
| Ordo | PowerToys Run | Flow Launcher | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built on | Native Rust (Win32 / Direct2D) | .NET / C# (part of PowerToys) | .NET / C# (WPF) |
| Idle RAM | ~4 MB | Higher (.NET runtime) | Higher (.NET runtime) |
| Open speed (first summon) | ~20 ms | Noticeable cold-start lag | Fast |
| Idle CPU | 0% | Low | Low |
| Install footprint | Standalone · 1.5 MB binary | Whole PowerToys suite | Standalone |
| App launch | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| File search | Yes — built-in index, no admin | Yes — Windows index | Yes — built-in, + Everything integration |
| Calculator / web / Settings | Built-in | Built-in + plugins | Via plugins |
| Plugins | Yes — out-of-process, 0 cost when idle | Yes | Yes — large ecosystem |
| Open source | No — free, closed-source | Yes (MIT) | Yes (MIT) |
| Code-signed | Not yet (SmartScreen warns) | Yes (Microsoft) | Yes |
| Telemetry | None | Optional (Microsoft) | None |
| Maturity | New (2026) | Mature (Microsoft) | Mature (community) |
| Default hotkey | Ctrl + Space | Alt + Space | Alt + Space |
| Price | Free | Free | Free |
Cells in purple mark where each launcher leads. Notice Ordo doesn't win every row — that's the point.
It's the lightest and fastest of the three: a native binary with no .NET runtime, ~4 MB idle, ~20 ms to open, 0% CPU when idle, and a 1.5 MB download. It's standalone — you don't install a whole suite to get it — and it's private by default: no telemetry, no account. If you found other launchers slow to open or heavy in the background, that gap is the whole reason Ordo exists.
It's Microsoft-backed and code-signed (no SmartScreen warning), open source, and mature and battle-tested. If you already run PowerToys for its other tools, Run is right there for free — and Microsoft is building an even more capable successor, Command Palette. For a lot of people that's the pragmatic choice.
It has a huge plugin ecosystem and deep customization, Everything integration for very fast file search, and it's open source with a strong community — while still being fairly light and telemetry-free. If maximum extensibility is what you want, Flow is hard to beat.
You want the lightest, fastest, no-fuss launcher that stays out of the way — and don't need a huge plugin library.
You already use PowerToys, or you want a Microsoft-signed, open-source option with zero trust questions.
You love plugins, customization, and Everything-powered search, and want a mature open-source community behind it.
It depends on what you want. Ordo is lighter and faster and installs standalone; PowerToys Run is more mature, Microsoft-signed, open source, and bundled if you already use PowerToys.
Ordo is among the lightest — a native binary with no .NET runtime, ~4 MB idle, 0% idle CPU, 1.5 MB download. Flow Launcher is fairly light for a .NET app.
No — Ordo is free but closed-source for now; the source is kept private. PowerToys Run and Flow Launcher are both open source (MIT).
No. Ordo is a standalone app — one small installer, no suite and no runtime alongside it.
Ordo