Synapse vs. Albert: in search of the best launcher for Linux

Albert vs. Synapse

Several years ago I liked to modify everything so that it was to my liking, no matter what operating system I was using. Now I am a little more conservative and use only what I really need so as not to burden the system with unnecessary extras. One of these extras that he used on Mac was Alfred, a tool that served us as app launcher, to search the Internet and launch a lot of workflows. Now in macOS I am satisfied with Spotlight.

In Linux we have many options and among them there are many application launchers such as Alfred or Spotlight. The application that I usually use in Ubuntu or any distribution based on the operating system developed by Canonical is Synapse, but recently I read an article in OMG! Free! in which they also tell us about Albert, a small application that is based on the Alfred that is available for Mac. In this post we will try to compare both programs a little above to see which is the best.

What is the best launcher for Linux?

Personally, I who have tried both would say that the best of them is… Alfred. The problem is, that is a third party not available for Linux. We have agreed that the options are Synapse and Albert, so we will start by saying how to install each one from them:

  • To install Synapse we just have to open a terminal and type the command sudo apt install synapse or look for it from the Software application.
  • To install Albert we will have to do a little more, we will do it by opening a terminal and typing these commands:
    • sudo add-apt-repository ppa: flexiondotorg / albert
    • sudo apt update
    • sudo apt install albert

What Synapse offers

With Synapse we can:

  • Find applications, files or folders.
  • Browse within folders.
  • Interact with installed applications, such as pausing Rhythmbox.

What Albert offers

With Albert we can «Run applications, open files or their paths, open browser bookmarks, search the web, calculate things, and much more«, As we read on your website. More specifically, it comes with the following plugins:

  • Port
  • Applications
  • Web searches
  • Archives
  • Calculator
  • System / session actions
  • Chrome Favorites

The best is what makes us feel better

Okay. On paper, Albert is a better pitcher. For one thing, it can do a lot more than Synapse, so the thing should be clear. Also, the performance is better too, so there should be no possible debate. But things already change when the most important thing for us is to open applications quickly.

At least on my Xubuntu PC, Synapse finds applications better than Albert, something I'm checking right now with VLC and Terminal. Synapse find me the VLC even though he installed it from his snap package, while Albert tries to open his .desktop file and fails.

In any case, it is best that you try them and decide which one you think is the best. Me I think Albert will be much better than SynapseBut it will be when it does everything it promises to perfection. What do you think?


8 comments, leave yours

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  1.   klaus schultz said

    Krunner maybe?

  2.   Alvaro said

    krunner certainly for those of us who use kde. One question: what happened to gnome-do? Nobody talks about him anymore and in his day he was not bad. Has died?

    1.    Paul Aparicio said

      Hello Alvaro. I think it is. I used it some time ago and I think I put it aside precisely because I looked for some information and they no longer updated it.

      A greeting.

  3.   Christian benitez said

    Synapse is better by far than Albert.

    I don't know if it's just for advertising, but this is too short and not so fair.

    With Synapse we can:

    Find applications, files or folders.
    Browse within folders.
    Interact with installed applications, such as pausing Rhythmbox.

    You can also perform calculations, open links, perform actions, open / run almost any type of application, open recent files, search for contacts.

  4.   sgagg said

    And does gnome-do, albert, synapse or any other make sense with the unity dash in ubuntu?

  5.   Juan Quiroga said

    Earthly greeting. I was finding out a little about Albert, I'm going to try it. Good article!

    I think that if you start looking, you will see that there are many launchers not only those two (although many were dying, others were abandoned but are still usable), such as "launchy" very customizable and it is light I would say that it enters the comparison with those two.

  6.   Laurentius said

    If it weren't for the comments (they are 4 years old, that is, 2016), how do we know the date of publication of the article?

    1.    Marcio said

      It is an excellent question. I've been doing it for a long time