# Microsoft PowerToys

> Free Microsoft utilities for customizing Windows 10 and 11

Microsoft PowerToys is a free, open-source collection of more than 30 utilities for Windows 10 and 11, developed by Microsoft on GitHub under the MIT license. It bundles a window layout manager (FancyZones), a keyboard launcher (Command Palette), key and shortcut remapping, bulk file renaming, a color picker, on-screen text extraction and more. Individual utilities can be enabled or disabled from one settings app.

- **Category:** Desktop Utilities
- **Made by:** Microsoft
- **Website:** https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/
- **Runs on:** Windows
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 5, 2026

## Pricing

Microsoft PowerToys is free to use.

- **Pricing model:** Free
- **Free plan:** Every utility is free and open source; there is no paid edition. Optional AI pasting can incur usage charges from the model provider you connect.
- **Free trial:** None listed.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| PowerToys | $0 | All utilities, installed from GitHub, the Microsoft Store or WinGet. Free and open source under the MIT license. |

Read from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/ on Oct 5, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Microsoft PowerToys before buying.

## Key features

- **FancyZones:** A window manager for custom zone layouts. Hold Shift while dragging a window to snap it into a zone, or let Win+arrow keys move windows between zones. Layouts are built in a grid or canvas editor.
- **Command Palette:** A launcher opened with Win+Alt+Space that starts apps, runs commands, searches files and the web, calculates and switches windows. Community extensions install from a built-in Extension Gallery.
- **Keyboard Manager:** Remaps single keys and shortcuts, globally or for one app, and can map a key or shortcut to a text sequence, an app launch or a URI.
- **Advanced Paste:** Pastes clipboard content as plain text, Markdown, JSON or a file, extracts text from images with local OCR, and can transform text through an optional AI provider that you configure.
- **File Explorer tools:** PowerRename renames files in bulk with search and replace or regular expressions, Image Resizer resizes images from the right-click menu, and File Locksmith shows which processes are using a file.
- **Screen and text tools:** Color Picker samples colors anywhere on screen, Text Extractor copies on-screen text with OCR, Screen Ruler measures pixels, and ZoomIt zooms, annotates and records the screen for presentations.

## Good for

- Windows users who want window layouts, a launcher and key remapping from one free install
- Developers and power users who work mostly from the keyboard
- People who prefer open-source tools published by the maker of the operating system

## Worth knowing

- Windows only: it needs Windows 11 or Windows 10 version 2004 or newer on a 64-bit x64 or ARM64 processor.
- Paste with AI is off by default and needs a model provider; online providers require your own API key and may charge for usage.
- Keyboard Manager remaps apply only while PowerToys is running, do not work on the log-in screen and cannot differ between keyboards.
- FancyZones cannot snap some listed apps, and apps running elevated need PowerToys to run as administrator.

## Works with

OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Mistral, Ollama, Foundry Local, WinGet, Windows Terminal

**Tags:** Open source, Window management, Launcher, Keyboard and mouse remapping, File management, Keyboard-first, AI features

## Alternatives

- [Raycast](https://toolgpa.com/tools/raycast): Keyboard launcher with extensions, clipboard history and AI. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/microsoft-powertoys-vs-raycast)
- [Flow Launcher](https://toolgpa.com/tools/flow-launcher): Free, open-source app launcher and file search for Windows. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/flow-launcher-vs-microsoft-powertoys)
- [AutoHotkey](https://toolgpa.com/tools/autohotkey): Free, open-source scripting language for Windows automation. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/autohotkey-vs-microsoft-powertoys)
- [DisplayFusion](https://toolgpa.com/tools/displayfusion): Multi-monitor taskbars, wallpaper and window control for Windows. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/displayfusion-vs-microsoft-powertoys)
- [Komorebi](https://toolgpa.com/tools/komorebi): Tiling window manager for Windows, with a separate Mac version. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/komorebi-vs-microsoft-powertoys)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 5, 2026:

- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/install
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/fancyzones
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/command-palette/overview
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/keyboard-manager
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/advanced-paste
- https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/microsoft-powertoys
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).