Search Monkey AlternativesFile Search Utilities and other similar apps like Search Monkey

Search Monkey is described as 'A fast real-time search engine for displaying regular expression matches (both file name and content) across multiple directories' and is a File Search utility in the file management category. There are more than 50 alternatives to Search Monkey for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Flathub and BSD apps. The best Search Monkey alternative is Everything, which is free. Other great apps like Search Monkey are DocFetcher, FSearch, Recoll and Cling Fuzzy Finder.

Search Monkey iconSearch Monkey
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A fast real-time search engine for displaying regular expression matches (both file name and content) across multiple...

More about Search Monkey
More about Search Monkey
Search Monkey alternatives page was last updated Mar 13, 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.

    112 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 Search Monkey

     

    • Everything is the most popular Windows alternative to Search Monkey.

    • Everything is the most popular free alternative to Search Monkey.

    • Everything is Free and ProprietarySearch Monkey is Free and Open Source
    • Everything is LightweightSearch Monkey 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.

    126 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 Search Monkey

     

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

    • DocFetcher is the most popular Open Source alternative to Search Monkey.

    • DocFetcher is Free and Open SourceSearch Monkey is also Free and Open Source
  4. FSearch icon

    FSearch

     69 likes
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    FSearch is a fast file search utility for GNU/Linux operating systems, inspired by Everything Search Engine. It's written in C and based on GTK+3.

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Flathub
    FSearch screenshot 1
    Discontinued

    The latest version (0.2.3) was released in August 2023, though the software is still fully functional.

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  Indexed search
    2.  File Search
    3.  Support for regular expressions
    4.  Ad-free
    5.  Works Offline
    6.  Dark Mode
    7.  No registration required

    FSearch VS Search Monkey

     
  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. Recoll icon

    Recoll

     60 likes
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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 an easy to use and feature-rich interface.

    43 Recoll alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • FR flagFrance
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    Search results

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  File Search
    2.  Indexed search
    3.  File content indexing
    4.  Full-Text Search
    5.  File preview
    6.  Search-in-files
    7.  Dark Mode
    8.  Ad-free
    9.  No registration required
    10.  Command line interface
    11.  Works Offline
    12.  Semantic Search

    Recoll VS Search Monkey

     
  7. 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 Search Monkey

     
  8. Agent Ransack icon

    Agent Ransack

     109 likes
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    Agent Ransack is a tool for finding files and information on your hard drive fast and efficiently. When searching the contents of files Agent Ransack also displays the text found. Users can then quickly browse the results without having to separately open each file!

    75 Agent Ransack alternatives

    License model

    • Freemium • Proprietary

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • GB flagUnited Kingdom

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Search results, showing the contents view docked below the file list view:

    Agent Ransack Features

    1.  File Search
    2.  Search-in-files
    3.  Context Menu extension
    4.  Outlook search
    5.  Ad-free

    Agent Ransack VS Search Monkey

     
  10. UltraSearch icon

    UltraSearch

     35 likes
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    Your Ultimate Tool For Company-Wide File Search.

    53 UltraSearch alternatives

    License model

    • Freemium • Proprietary

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Windows
    UltraSearch screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Full-Text Search
    2.  Portable
    3.  Dark Mode
    4.  Works Offline
    5.  Ad-free
    6.  No Tracking
    7.  No registration required
    8.  Non-Indexing search
    9.  GDPR Compliant

    UltraSearch VS Search Monkey

     
  11. 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 Search Monkey

     
  12. 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.

    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 Search Monkey

     
  13. dnGREP icon

    dnGREP

     41 likes
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    dnGrep allows you to search across files with easy-to-read results. Search through text files, Word documents, PDFs, and archives using text, regular expression, XPath, and phonetic queries. dnGrep includes search-and-replace, whole-file preview, right-click search in File...

    56 dnGREP alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • RU flagRussia

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Main Screen

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Portable
    2.  Dark Mode
    3.  Search and Replace
    4.  Support for regular expressions
    5.  No Tracking
    6.  Full-Text Search
    7.  Ad-free
    8.  Works Offline
    9.  No registration required

    dnGREP VS Search Monkey

     
  14. SearchMyFiles icon

    SearchMyFiles

     35 likes
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    SearchMyFiles is a non-indexing portable alternative to the standard "Search For Files And Folders" module of Windows. It allows you to easily search files in your system by wildcard, by last modified/created/last accessed time, by file attributes, by file content...

    License model

    • Free • Proprietary

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • IL flagIsrael

    Platforms

    • Windows
    SearchMyFiles screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Local Search
    2.  Portable
    3.  Full-Text Search
    4.  Non-Indexing search
    5.  No registration required
    6.  Works Offline
    7.  Ad-free
    8.  Network Scanner

    SearchMyFiles VS Search Monkey

     
  15. AstroGrep icon

    AstroGrep

     33 likes
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    AstroGrep is A Microsoft Windows GUI File Searching (grep) utility. Features include regular expressions, versatile printing options, stores most recent used paths and has a "context" feature which is very nice for looking at source code.

    38 AstroGrep alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Main window

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1. File Explorer icon  Windows Explorer Extension
    2.  Dark Mode
    3.  Portable
    4.  Graphical User Interface
    5.  Support for regular expressions

    AstroGrep VS Search Monkey

     
12 of 79 Search Monkey alternatives