u/Stunning-Macaron1591

I use Raycast for much more than launching apps, but finding extensions that replace standalone macOS tools is surprisingly difficult.

So I built Raycast Alternatives: an open, community-maintained directory showing which Raycast extensions can replace standalone and paid apps.

The catalog currently includes:

• 59 products
• 54 unique Raycast extensions
• 63 product-to-extension matches

Website: https://khlebobul.github.io/raycast_alternatives/

Source and contributions: https://github.com/khlebobul/raycast_alternatives

The project accepts pull requests for new products and extensions

Problem: Most macOS speed-reading apps are browser extensions. They only work on web pages, can't handle PDFs or local documents, and don't work with non-selectable text. I wanted one native app that could read articles, PDFs, EPUBs, DOCX files, and even OCR text from anywhere on my screen.

Comparison: Compared with Spreed and Reedy, Speed Reader works across your entire Mac—not just browser pages. It supports PDFs, EPUB, DOCX, FB2, URL article extraction, and OCR for non-selectable text.

It also uses ORP (Optimal Recognition Point), aligning a consistent letter instead of centering each word, which significantly reduces eye movement at higher RSVP speeds. That's what made speed reading actually usable for me.

There's also a notch widget that keeps the reader accessible without taking over your workspace.

Pricing: $8.99 one-time, 3-day free trial, no card required.

https://speed-reader.pro

Honest caveat: RSVP isn't great for dense technical material where you need to re-read. I use it for about 60% of my reading — news, blogs, newsletters, fiction — not everything.

Happy to answer questions — the OCR and notch implementation were surprisingly painful to get right across MacBook models.

Developer: I'm the solo developer behind Speed Reader. More about me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khlebobul or https://khlebobul.github.io

Privacy Policy: https://speed-reader.pro/legal/privacy.html
Terms of Service: https://speed-reader.pro/legal/terms.html

Long-time lurker here, learned a lot from this sub about RSVP, ORP, and pacing techniques.

I'd been using various browser-based RSVP tools for years but kept hitting the same walls: nothing worked well with PDFs, nothing was native (so it felt sluggish), and I couldn't use it outside the browser.

So I built Speed Reader for Mac:

• RSVP with ORP (Optimal Recognition Point) — aligns a specific letter in each word to a fixed point, which made a noticeable difference for me vs. simple word-centering
• Adjustable speed 100–1000 WPM, with the usual chunking/pause-on-punctuation options
• Reads PDFs, EPUBs, DOCX, FB2, plain text, and URLs (strips article content automatically)
• OCR mode for scanned documents or text in apps without selectable text
• A floating widget and a "notch widget" mode for MacBooks, so it's always accessible without taking screen space

The Mac app is $8.99 one-time (3-day trial).

Genuinely curious what this community's experience has been — does ORP alignment make a measurable difference for you, or is it more about chunking/pacing? And for people who've stuck with RSVP long-term, what reading material does it work best for vs. where you go back to normal reading?

speed-reader.pro

I used to spend hours reading articles, docs, and pdfs every day. It felt like a slog, especially for stuff that didn’t need deep focus. So I built something to make it faster.

It’s a speed reader app for macOS (native Swift, no Electron). It flashes one word at a time (ORP-aligned to reduce eye strain) at 100-1000 WPM. Works with pdfs, epubs, docx, fb2, markdown, and even URLs, it auto-extracts the text. There’s also an OCR mode for text you can’t select, like in images or some apps.

One thing I’m curious about: the notch widget. It’s a tiny RSVP reader that sits in your MacBook’s notch. Useful or just a gimmick? I’d love to hear what people think.

The mac app is $8.99 (one-time) with a 3-day free trial. speed-reader.pro

I got tired of getting lost in long, unstructured articles, so I built a small Chrome extension called Table of Contents Generator.

It automatically detects headings on any page and creates a clean, clickable table of contents, so you can jump between sections instead of endlessly scrolling.

It’s free and works on most sites.

https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/table-of-contents-generat/epdcdkmalfmenpieemggjjijcnnohfoo

Would love to hear your feedback.

I got tired of getting lost in long, unstructured articles, so I built a small Chrome extension called Table of Contents Generator.

It automatically detects headings on any page and creates a clean, clickable table of contents, so you can jump between sections instead of endlessly scrolling.

It’s free and works on most sites.

https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/table-of-contents-generat/epdcdkmalfmenpieemggjjijcnnohfoo

Would love to hear your feedback.