I wasn't even aware Launchpad was removed in the newest version of Mac OS. It's very rare I'm upset to learn about a change, but I use Launchpad a lot so I'm glad people are working on alternatives.
The thing called Launchpad was removed, but its shortcuts still exist and take you into Spotlight's (new) applications panel. This gives you the searchable-list-of-apps that Launchpad offered, though it doesn't let you rearrange them... so depending on how you personally liked to use Launchpad it'll either be a perfect substitute or incredibly frustrating for you.
Incredibly frustrating seems to be the answer unfortunately. I loved Launchpad, but I'm also one of those weirdos who loved the Windows 8 full screen start menu.
If you search, there’s a defaults command to bring it back. Haven’t installed 26, but I saw this somewhere if you’re like me and rely on LP to group apps whose names you won’t remember.