PowerToys VS winget-pkgs

Compare PowerToys vs winget-pkgs and see what are their differences.

winget-pkgs

The Microsoft community Windows Package Manager manifest repository (by microsoft)
Our great sponsors
  • WorkOS - The modern identity platform for B2B SaaS
  • InfluxDB - Power Real-Time Data Analytics at Scale
  • SaaSHub - Software Alternatives and Reviews
PowerToys winget-pkgs
713 96
103,367 7,930
1.5% 2.4%
9.8 10.0
2 days ago 3 days ago
C# PowerShell
MIT License MIT License
The number of mentions indicates the total number of mentions that we've tracked plus the number of user suggested alternatives.
Stars - the number of stars that a project has on GitHub. Growth - month over month growth in stars.
Activity is a relative number indicating how actively a project is being developed. Recent commits have higher weight than older ones.
For example, an activity of 9.0 indicates that a project is amongst the top 10% of the most actively developed projects that we are tracking.

PowerToys

Posts with mentions or reviews of PowerToys. We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives and similar projects. The last one was on 2024-03-20.

winget-pkgs

Posts with mentions or reviews of winget-pkgs. We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives and similar projects. The last one was on 2023-12-06.
  • MS and Windows gets a lot of (well deserved) hate, but winget is just fantastic!
    3 projects | /r/Windows11 | 6 Dec 2023
    Take dropbox as an example. This is what the yaml manifest looks like for that if you install it through winget. It literally has a hardcoded link to an .exe installer hosted by dropbox and then just set the flags to silent. I am not spreading misinformation, you are.
  • PowerToys Release 0.71
    2 projects | /r/windows | 6 Jul 2023
  • installed from winget, where is it located?
    2 projects | /r/scrcpy | 19 Jun 2023
    I never used winget, but probably: - https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs/issues/107858 - https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/issues/4027
  • The Unreasonable Effectiveness of VLC - A Comprehensive Exploration of a Multimedia Powerhouse
    6 projects | /r/windows | 18 May 2023
    It's probably not on the Store, winget pulls from both the Store and a community collection of manifests on GitHub: https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs
  • Seven.zip
    3 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 18 May 2023
    I think that's part of the problem, if you don't have that package manager to bootstrap your signature key ring, DNS is your next best bootstrap. It is, of course, a terrible bootstrap for trust, but it is one so many users on Windows have been relying on for such a long time.

    For power users on any modern Windows 10/Windows 11 there is at least WinGet now. Its manifests repo is becoming a very interesting (open) source of truth for common Windows applications. Admittedly, it in most cases doesn't seem to be checking specific code signatures in most cases either, but at least includes SHA checksums.

    For instance, 7zip's manifests: https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs/tree/master/manifes...

    It's too bad there's still not a great option for "average user that doesn't know/trust how to use a CLI", given how sadly polluted the Microsoft Store can be for many common, especially Open Source, applications. For direct instance, because winget kindly includes Microsoft Store results when searching, there is a "7zip 22" in the Microsoft Store that costs some amount of money (winget details say "PaidUnknownPrice" for the pricing information; I'm on a corporate machine right now with the actual Store access locked so can't search in the actual Store right now) and the Publisher is listed as RepackagerExpress.com. (That website currently doesn't go anywhere, giving it a spot check.)

    Having seen this, I may boot up my personal machine and try to report this specific Store listing for violating the Store's Open Source policies, though I'm unsure if such whackamole is all that useful. (Seems like it might be a useful winget feature request for it to provide Store Report URLs.)

  • [Sysadmin] Repo local Winget
    2 projects | /r/enfrancais | 27 Apr 2023
  • Winget local repository with links only
    3 projects | /r/sysadmin | 13 Apr 2023
    I would like to create a local winget source where I add manifests that my company accepts. To begin with it should only include jdk 8 from eclipse adoptium temurin. https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs/blob/master/manifests/e/EclipseAdoptium/Temurin/8/JDK/8.0.302.8/EclipseAdoptium.Temurin.8.JDK.installer.yaml
  • Programs that don't work in Windows
    5 projects | /r/linux | 24 Mar 2023
  • i've had Bitwarden for a year and never seen a update message. is this normal?
    3 projects | /r/Bitwarden | 27 Feb 2023
    It's community driven, see https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs
    3 projects | /r/Bitwarden | 27 Feb 2023

What are some alternatives?

When comparing PowerToys and winget-pkgs you can also consider the following projects:

Wox - A cross-platform launcher that simply works

AutoHotkey - AutoHotkey - macro-creation and automation-oriented scripting utility for Windows.

sharpkeys - SharpKeys is a utility that manages a Registry key that allows Windows to remap one key to any other key.

Flow.Launcher - :mag: Quick file search & app launcher for Windows with community-made plugins

Fluent-Search - Official repository for Fluent Search, use to report issues or ask for a new feature

T-Clock - Highly configurable Windows taskbar clock

QuickLook - Bring macOS “Quick Look” feature to Windows

ansible.windows - Windows core collection for Ansible

obs-studio - OBS Studio - Free and open source software for live streaming and screen recording

PowerShell - PowerShell for every system!

Windows10Debloater - Script to remove Windows 10 bloatware.

ShareX - ShareX is a free and open source program that lets you capture or record any area of your screen and share it with a single press of a key. It also allows uploading images, text or other types of files to many supported destinations you can choose from.