Recoll AlternativesTop File Search Utilities and other similar apps like Recoll

Recoll is described as 'This package is a personal full text search package which is based on a very strong backend (Xapian), for which it provides an easy to use and feature-rich interface' and is a popular File Search utility in the file management category. There are more than 25 alternatives to Recoll for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, Mac, Xfce and BSD apps. The best Recoll alternative is Everything, which is free. Other great apps like Recoll are DocFetcher, Cling Fuzzy Finder, Clapgrep and Catfish.

Recoll iconRecoll
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This package is a personal full text search package which is based on a very strong backend (Xapian), for which it provides...

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More about Recoll
Recoll alternatives page was last updated Mar 17, 2025
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  1. Everything icon

    Everything

     1195 likes
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    An administrative tool that finds files and folders by filename instantly, displaying all files on local or network drives. Supports filters, 19 languages, portable usage, lightweight resource consumption, no tracking, and dark mode.

    111 Everything alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Proprietary

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • AU flagAustralia

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Locate files and folders by name instantly.

    Properties

    1.  Clean design
    2.  Lightweight
    3.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  File Search
    2.  Instant results
    3.  Fast file and folder search
    4.  Support for regular expressions
    5.  Quick search
    6.  Monitor File Changes
    7.  Portable
    8.  Ad-free
    9.  Exclude files and folders
    10.  Works Offline
    11.  Search-in-files
    12.  No registration required

    Everything VS Recoll

     
    Comments about Everything as an Alternative to Recoll
    renArD
    Negative Jan 28, 2019
    7

    Everything Search doesn't look the file contents

    Recoll Icon
    Everything icon

    • Everything is the most popular Windows alternative to Recoll.

    • Everything is the most popular free alternative to Recoll.

    • Everything is Free and ProprietaryRecoll is Free and Open Source
    • Everything is LightweightRecoll is not according to our users
  2. DocFetcher icon

    DocFetcher

     125 likes
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    DocFetcher is an Open Source desktop search application: It allows you to search the contents of files on your computer. — You can think of it as Google for your local files. The application runs on Windows, Linux and OS X, and is made available under the Eclipse Public License.

    125 DocFetcher alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Filter panel and preview panel enabled

    Top DocFetcher Features

    1.  Search-in-files
    2.  File content indexing
    3.  Indexed search
    4.  Full-Text Search
    5.  Content Searching
    6.  Portable
    7.  Built-in viewer
    8.  Shared Folders
    9.  Reads odt files
    10.  Network Scanner
    11.  Search in Archives

    DocFetcher VS Recoll

     
    Comments about DocFetcher as an Alternative to Recoll
    Most Recent Comment
    ph soft
    Positive Aug 29, 2020
    2

    Similar program as recoll. Plus: Includes a realtime indexer and free executable on windows. Minus: much slower for large datasets, less configurable.

    Guest
    Positive Oct 7, 2020
    0

    Comparatively trivial to install.

    Guest
    Negative Jul 31, 2020
    -11

    Doesn't search WITHIN documents.

    Recoll Icon
    DocFetcher icon

    • Most users think DocFetcher is a great Recoll alternative.

    • DocFetcher is the most popular Mac & Linux alternative to Recoll.

    • DocFetcher is the most popular Open Source alternative to Recoll.

    • DocFetcher is Free and Open SourceRecoll is also Free and Open Source
  4. Cling Fuzzy Finder icon

    Cling Fuzzy Finder

     8 likes
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    Instant fuzzy find any file, act on it in the same instant.

    53 Cling Fuzzy Finder alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • International

    Platforms

    • Mac
    Cling Fuzzy Finder screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Distraction-free
    2.  Privacy focused
    3.  Lightweight
    4.  Minimalistic

    Features

    1.  Ad-free
    2.  Works Offline
    3.  No Tracking
    4.  No registration required
    5.  Dark Mode
    6.  Support for scripting
    7.  Support for Hotkeys
    8.  Support for Keyboard Shortcuts
    9.  Hidden files
    10.  Content Filtering
    11.  Fuzzy Finder
    12.  QuickLook File Preview

    Cling Fuzzy Finder VS Recoll

     
  5. Ad
    Screenshot
    Copernic Desktop Search icon
    Copernic Desktop Search

    Instantly find documents, e-mails(full text), attachments, videos, pictures, music(metadata), and other types of files(file names). The size limit of the index of the free version is 75,000.

    https://copernic.com
    Learn More
  6. Clapgrep icon

    Clapgrep

     7 likes
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    Ever had a folder full of PDF files, where you knew, somewhere in there, is what you're looking for. But you did not know in which file. So you had to search each of them at a time…

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    Clapgrep screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  Full-Text Search
    2.  Content Searching
    3.  No Tracking
    4.  Built-in viewer
    5.  Ad-free
    6.  Dark Mode
    7.  No registration required
    8.  Works Offline
    9.  File content indexing
    10.  Advanced searching

    Clapgrep VS Recoll

     
  7. Catfish icon

    Catfish

     40 likes
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    Catfish is a handy file searching tool for Linux and Unix. The interface is intentionally lightweight and simple, using only GTK+3. You can configure it to your needs by using several command line options.

    30 Catfish alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    • GTK
    • Xfce
    Catfish screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Works Offline
    2.  Full-Text Search
    3.  Ad-free
    4.  Command line interface
    5.  Built-in viewer
    6.  Filtering

    Catfish VS Recoll

     
  8. FileMinutes icon

    FileMinutes

     3 likes
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    Work smarter with files on macOS with fast search, easy navigation, and integrated file actions all in one apps.

    License model

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    FileMinutes screenshot 1

    Top FileMinutes Features

    1.  No registration required
    2.  No Tracking
    3.  Live Preview
    4.  Works Offline
    5.  Dark Mode
    6.  Built-in viewer
    7.  Ad-free
    8.  Keyboard Browsing
    9.  Support for Keyboard Shortcuts
    10. Finder icon  Apple Finder Integration
    11.  QuickLook File Preview

    FileMinutes VS Recoll

     

    • FileMinutes is the most popular commercial alternative to Recoll.

    • FileMinutes is Paid and ProprietaryRecoll is Free and Open Source
  10. Copernic Desktop Search icon

    Copernic Desktop Search

     36 likes
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    Instantly find documents, e-mails(full text), attachments, videos, pictures, music(metadata), and other types of files(file names). The size limit of the index of the free version is 75,000.

    80 Copernic Desktop Search alternatives

    License model

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • CA flagCanada

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Copernic Desktop Search screenshot 1

    Copernic Desktop Search Features

    1.  OCR
    2.  Outlook search
    3.  PDF OCR
    4.  Indexed search

    Copernic Desktop Search VS Recoll

     
  11. TextSeek icon

    TextSeek

     8 likes
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    TextSeek is a professional full-text desktop search tool for Windows and MacOS. It supports PDF, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, RTF and other formats.

    101 TextSeek alternatives

    License model

    • Freemium • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    TextSeek screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Privacy focused
    2.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Full-Text Search
    2.  Portable
    3.  No Tracking
    4.  Works Offline
    5.  Ad-free
    6.  No registration required
    7.  In-document search

    TextSeek VS Recoll

     
  12. RecentX icon

    RecentX

     106 likes
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    RecentX is an innovative launcher that gives you instant access to your files, folders, programs, websites & clipboard history. It automatically remembers your favorite & recent items so that you can launch them even faster.

    292 RecentX alternatives

    License model

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • IN flagIndia

    Platforms

    • Windows
    RecentX screenshot 1

    Top RecentX Features

    1.  File Tagging
    2. File Explorer icon  Windows Explorer Extension
    3.  Portable
    4.  Tagging
    5.  Indexed search
    6.  Folder-Search
    7.  Tabbed interface
    8.  Clipboard monitoring
    9.  Image Preview
    10.  Tag based
    11.  Folder Tagging
    12.  Bookmark History

    RecentX VS Recoll

     
  13. Search Monkey icon

    Search Monkey

     35 likes
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    A fast real-time search engine for displaying regular expression matches (both file name and content) across multiple directories.

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    Search Monkey screenshot 1

    Search Monkey Features

    1.  Portable
    2.  Content Searching
    3.  Content preview
    4.  Real-Time Search

    Search Monkey VS Recoll

     
  14. X1 Search icon

    X1 Search

     10 likes
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    X1 offers next generation enterprise search, eDiscovery and desktop search for traditional and virtual environments

    74 X1 Search alternatives

    License model

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    X1 Search Diagram

    X1 Search Features

    1.  File content indexing
    2.  Indexed search
    3.  Email tracking
    4.  File preview
    5.  Ediscovery

    X1 Search VS Recoll

     
  15. SwiftSearch icon

    SwiftSearch

     21 likes
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    SwiftSearch is a lightweight program whose purpose is to help you quickly find the files you need on your Windows machine without ever requiring you to index your drives. Most search utilities that achieve similar speeds do so by indexing drives while the computer is idle, but...

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    SwiftSearch screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Portable
    2.  Persistent Linux
    3.  Support for regular expressions

    SwiftSearch VS Recoll

     
12 of 43 Recoll alternatives