The FAQ of productivity application RunFlow
Tags: productivity
Published: 2024-05-13 02:40:49

We will answer your frequently asked questions there.

### Why not free?

First of all, we are very advocating open source, but the design and development of RunFlow cost us a lot of time and energy, and we also have some operational costs, such as servers, developer accounts, etc.

So we need funds to allow us to continuously update and improve our products, and we hope you can understand. Moreover, charging for our services also helps us avoid putting ads in our products, providing you with a clean and undisturbed user experience.

### Why is payment based on subscription?

Because we aim to continuously update and improve our products to make it better and better, providing you with stable supports, whether it is new requirements or bug fixes (we welcome you to [submit requirements and bugs](https://myrest.top/feedback)).

> What if we don't update? We will check on every New Year's Day (January 1st) to see if RunFlow has been updated in the past year, if there is no update (the possibility is extremely low), we will renew all licenses that are unexpired and in good standing for one year for free. For example, your license will expire on `2025-02-18`, but our service detects on `2025-01-01` that RunFlow has not been updated in the past year from `2024-01-01 ~ 2024-12-31`, then we will extend the expiration date of your license to `2026-02-18` for free.

### Do I need to pay for the plugin?

**All plugins developed by our official team will always be free, aimed to enhance the functionality of our product, and providing you with a better user experience.** However, whether other unofficial plugins charge fees is determined by their developers, who may have their own pricing policies, we recommend you to read their terms carefully before installation.

### Can plugin developers use it for free?

Plugin developers can be free to use RunFlow: we will evaluate your plugin submission status in the past year on New Year's Day (January 1st) every year, if your plugins have updated, we will renew your license which has the longest validity period under your developer account for one year for free (**please ensure your license is bound to your developer account**).

For instance, your license will expire on `2025-01-31`, but our service detects on `2025-01-01` that your plugins has been updated in the past year from `2024-01-01 ~ 2024-12-31`, then we will extend the expiration date of your license to `2026-01-31` for free.

### Why is the CPU and memory usage so high during the first running?

When you run RunFlow for the first time, we will traverse all your disk files and then create file indexes to provide you with a more efficient file retrieval experience. During this time, CPU and memory usage will indeed be relatively high, but it will return to normal once the index creation is completed.

### What are the pros and cons compared to other similar apps?

|                            | RunFlow                                                                                 | uTools                                        | Wox                                                                     | PowerToys                           | Alfred                                                                  | Raycast                                              |
|----------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------|
| Tech Stack                 | Compose Multiplatform (Java & Kotlin)                                                   | Electron                                      | Native                                                                  | Native                              | Native                                                                  | Native                                               |
| Platforms                  | Windows/macOS                                                                           | Windows/macOS/Linux                           | Windows                                                                 | Windows                             | macOS                                                                   | macOS                                                |
| Plugins                    | Support                                                                                 | Support                                       | Support                                                                 | Not                                 | Support                                                                 | Support                                              |
| Plugin Tech Stack          | Any Programming Language                                                                | Web Front End (HTML/JS/CSS)                   | C#/Python                                                               | None                                | ?                                                                       | JavaScript/TypeScript                                |
| User Customization         | Very High                                                                               | Medium                                        | Medium                                                                  | Low                                 | Medium                                                                  | Medium                                               |
| Languages                  | Simplified Chinese, English, Other languages are supported by plugins or language packs | Simplified Chinese                            | Its app supports multiple languages, and the plugins are not extensible | Its app supports multiple languages | Its app supports multiple languages, and the plugins are not extensible | English, other languages can be supported by plugins |
| Themes                     | Light/Dark, global theme, plugin extensible                                             | Light/Dark, not global, plugin not extensible | Its app supports multiple themes, and the plugins are not extensible    | Light/Dark                          | Light/Dark, not global, plugin not extensible                           | Light/Dark, not global, plugin not extensible        |
| Data Storage               | Local                                                                                   | Local/Cloud                                   | None                                                                    | None                                | ?                                                                       | Local                                                |
| Data Sync                  | Support (encrypted sync to your cloud drive)                                            | Only Supported by VIP (sync to uTools cloud)  | None                                                                    | None                                | ?                                                                       | ?                                                    |
| Memory Usage               | High                                                                                    | High                                          | Low                                                                     | Low                                 | Low                                                                     | Low                                                  |
| Aggregation                | Yes                                                                                     | No                                            | Yes                                                                     | None                                | Yes                                                                     | Yes                                                  |
| Keyword Postfixed Matching | Support                                                                                 | Not                                           | Not                                                                     | Not                                 | Not                                                                     | Not                                                  |
| Context Menu               | Support (plugin extensible)                                                             | Not                                           | Support (plugin not extensible)                                         | Not                                 | Not                                                                     | Yes (plugin not extensible)                          |
| Preview Result of Menu     | Support                                                                                 | None                                          | Not                                                                     | None                                | None                                                                    | None                                                 |
| Dynamic Results/UI         | Support                                                                                 | Not                                           | Not                                                                     | Not                                 | Not                                                                     | Not                                                  |
| Pin Action Window          | Support                                                                                 | Not                                           | Not                                                                     | Not                                 | Not                                                                     | Not                                                  |
| Tab                        | Support                                                                                 | Not                                           | Not                                                                     | Not                                 | Not                                                                     | Not                                                  |
| Toolbar                    | Support                                                                                 | Not                                           | Not                                                                     | Not                                 | Not                                                                     | Not                                                  |
| Interoperable UI           | Support (plugin available)                                                              | Support (plugin available)                    | Not                                                                     | Support (no plugin)                 | Support (plugin unavailable)                                            | Not                                                  |
| Separate Window            | Support                                                                                 | Support                                       | None                                                                    | Not                                 | Not                                                                     | None                                                 |
| Focused Mode               | Support                                                                                 | Support                                       | Not                                                                     | Not                                 | Not                                                                     | Not                                                  |
| Hotkey                     | Support                                                                                 | Not                                           | Support                                                                 | Not                                 | Not                                                                     | Not                                                  |
| Hot Corner                 | Support                                                                                 | Not                                           | Not                                                                     | Not                                 | Not                                                                     | Not                                                  |
| Cron Task                  | Support                                                                                 | Not                                           | Not                                                                     | Not                                 | Not                                                                     | Not                                                  |
| Multiple Lines             | Support                                                                                 | Not                                           | Not                                                                     | Not                                 | Not                                                                     | Not                                                  |
| Input by Dragging          | Support                                                                                 | Not                                           | Not                                                                     | Not                                 | Not                                                                     | Not                                                  |
| Pin Result                 | Support                                                                                 | Not                                           | Not                                                                     | Not                                 | Not                                                                     | Not                                                  |

> That's all for now, I will add more when I think of anything else. If there are any oversights or errors, please point theme out, thanks for your understanding. `?` means that we have not used the relevant features, we are not know the details about their, so we can't make comparisons, if you know it, please give us feedback.

read the full article: [https://myrest.top/blog/runflow_faq.md](https://myrest.top/blog/runflow_faq.md)