Comparisons
Short answer: start with Spotlight, because it's free and already on your Mac. If it keeps missing files you know exist, the right app depends on what you remember about the file. Updated October 2026, with every price checked on the maker's own site.
We make Everywhere, one of the apps below, so read our section with that in mind. Every app gets the same treatment: what it's good at, where it falls short, and what it costs. Facts about the other apps come from their makers' own websites in October 2026. There are no star ratings or speed tests here, because we didn't run any we could stand behind.
Press Command-Space and start typing. Spotlight looks through your apps, files, emails, messages and more, and on current macOS you can select a result and press Tab to act on it without opening anything. When you need more control, Finder's search lets you add criteria such as Kind, Name, dates and Contents, and Apple documents keywords like kind:document and modified: along with AND, OR and NOT.
In Terminal, mdfind asks Spotlight's index the same questions from the command line, and find walks the folders itself. find is slow on a whole disk, but it doesn't depend on any index.
Good at: reading inside your documents with no setup and no cost. It also covers mail and messages, not just files.
Falls short: Spotlight only returns what it has indexed. Files in folders it usually leaves out, such as the System and Library folders, files inside app bundles and packages, and anything on a drive that isn't connected won't show up. Results also mix name matches with content matches, so a file you know by name can sit below documents that merely mention it.
Price: free, built into macOS.
HoudahSpot is a search window built on top of Spotlight. You start with a simple search and refine it by combining criteria, search several folders at once while excluding others, add and sort by hundreds of columns, and save searches as templates. Its preview can fold a document down to the text around each match, which makes content searches much easier to judge.
Good at: detailed searches over documents and metadata, when Spotlight finds the right files but its interface gets in the way.
Falls short: because it builds on Spotlight's index, it can't see what Spotlight hasn't indexed, and its maker lists Spotlight indexing as a requirement. Its site says Apple Mail search is no longer available on macOS Sonoma or Sequoia. A license covers the current major version (6.x), and the next major version is a paid upgrade.
Price: $39 for a single user or $59 for a family, before tax, with a 15-day money-back guarantee. The free trial shows a message and adds a delay when you open a file from the results. It's also on Setapp. Needs macOS 10.14 or later and runs on Apple silicon and Intel.
Find Any File doesn't depend on Spotlight's index. Its site says it can find files Spotlight doesn't: on network and external volumes, hidden files inside bundles and packages, and files in the System and Library folders. A root mode goes further and searches other users' home folders on local disks. You search precisely by name, extension, date range, size and kind.
Good at: being sure a name, size or date search found everything, for a few dollars. It can also find text in plain text files, in zip-based files such as Word and Excel documents, and in most binary files, and with its Spotlight option turned on it finds text in PDFs that Spotlight has indexed.
Falls short: with no index of its own, it reads the disk each time you search, so a big search takes noticeably longer than an indexed app. Its own site points elsewhere for image metadata such as EXIF data and GPS coordinates.
Price: 6 USD, as shareware: download it from its site, try it, and pay if you keep using it. It's also sold in the Mac App Store. Version 2.6.1 runs on macOS 10.11 through 27, with native Apple silicon code since version 2.3.
Everywhere keeps its own index of every file on your Mac and searches it as you type, in a panel you open with Option-Space over any app. It indexes the places Spotlight leaves out, including Library folders and the inside of packages like your Photos library, and it can keep a catalog of drives you choose, so their files stay searchable, dimmed and labeled with the drive's name, after you unplug them.
Plain typing searches names. A few short words narrow things down: ext:pdf, size:>100mb, path:Downloads, dm:today, and regular expressions between slashes. contains: looks inside PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Pages, Numbers and Keynote files, plus plain text, CSV and Markdown. It reads those ahead of time in the folders you pick during setup (Documents, Desktop and Downloads are suggested), and anywhere else it reads only the files the rest of your search has already narrowed down. From the keyboard you can Quick Look a result, reveal it in Finder, copy its path, open Terminal at its folder, or find every other copy of it.
Good at: finding a file by name the moment you start typing, anywhere on the disk, including drives that aren't plugged in.
Falls short, so pick something else if:
Price: $19 once, after a free day with everything unlocked. Updates are free, and there's a 30-day refund. It isn't on the Mac App Store, because an app walled off from your files can't search them; it's a signed, notarized download from everywherefast.com for macOS 13 or later, native on Apple silicon and Intel.
Cling, from the low-tech guys, is the app on this list closest to Everywhere in approach. It keeps its own binary index of your file system for fuzzy search as you type, and it borrows operators from Everything, the Windows search tool, such as ext:, size: and dm:. Its keyboard actions are a highlight: open, copy, move, Quick Look or batch rename the selected files, and Pro adds hotkeys that run your own scripts on them.
Good at: fuzzy matching when you only half remember a name, fast keyboard actions on results, and a free mode that keeps working after the trial.
Falls short: it needs macOS 14 Sonoma or later. After the 14-day Pro trial, the free mode covers your home folder, Library, cloud storage folders and Applications, and caps results at 500. System and root search, content search and indexes of external drives (which stay searchable after you unplug them) all need Pro. Its content search uses Spotlight's index, and reads files Spotlight skips on demand.
Price: free mode, or a €15 lifetime Pro license, with refunds within 14 days.
EasyFind is a free utility from DEVONtechnologies. It doesn't build an index at all: it searches when you ask, and finds files and folders by name, content, tags or comments.
Good at: costing nothing and needing no index, with content search included.
Falls short: every search starts from scratch, so searching a whole disk means waiting while it reads. The maker's page doesn't say whether it runs natively on Apple silicon.
Price: free. Version 5.0.2 needs OS X El Capitan or later.
Both are launchers: a Command-Space replacement for opening apps, running commands and searching files, with a lot more on top. If you already use one, its file search may be all you need for everyday files.
Alfred is free at its core, file search included, and its in keyword searches inside files. The Powerpack adds workflows, themes and more for £34 (a version 5 license that includes a free upgrade to the coming Alfred 6) or £59 with free lifetime upgrades. Alfred is built on the metadata Spotlight maintains, and its maker asks you not to turn Spotlight indexing off. Alfred 5 needs macOS 10.14 or later.
Raycast is free for personal use, and the free plan covers all the built-in extensions, File Search among them. Pro, which adds AI and cloud sync, is $10 a month or $96 a year. The current version keeps its own file index, of your home folder and Applications by default, with settings to add folders, include hidden files, index external and network drives, and keep files from drives you've disconnected. Its optional content search uses Spotlight's index. Raycast 2 needs macOS Tahoe and an Apple silicon Mac, and it replaces version 1 when you install it. There's a Windows version too.
Good at: one shortcut for apps, files, commands and much more.
Falls short: file search isn't the main event. Alfred inherits Spotlight's blind spots. Raycast leaves out hidden files unless you turn them on, skips developer caches and anything in ignore files, and Raycast 2 won't run on an Intel Mac or on macOS before Tahoe.
Price: Alfred is free, with the Powerpack at £34 or £59. Raycast is free, with Pro at $10 a month or $96 a year.
| App | How it finds files | Inside files | Unplugged drives | Price | Runs on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spotlight and Finder | Spotlight's index | Yes | No | Free, built in | Every Mac |
| HoudahSpot | Spotlight's index | Yes, from Spotlight | No | $39, family $59 | macOS 10.14+ |
| Find Any File | Searches the disk each time | Text, Word, Excel; PDFs via Spotlight | No | $6 shareware | macOS 10.11 to 27 |
| Everywhere | Own index of the whole disk | Chosen folders, or after a name filter | Yes, cataloged drives | $19 once, 1-day trial | macOS 13+ |
| Cling | Own index | Pro, via Spotlight plus on demand | Pro | Free mode, Pro €15 | macOS 14+ |
| EasyFind | Searches the disk each time | Yes | No | Free | OS X 10.11+ |
| Alfred | Spotlight's metadata | Yes, in keyword | No | Free, Powerpack £34 or £59 | macOS 10.14+ |
| Raycast | Own index, home and Applications by default | Optional, via Spotlight | Optional setting | Free, Pro $10 a month | Raycast 2: macOS 26, Apple silicon |
| If you... | Pick |
|---|---|
| Search by words inside documents | Spotlight, or HoudahSpot for finer control |
| Know the name and want the file as you type | Everywhere or Cling |
| Hunt for a lost file once in a while | Find Any File or EasyFind |
| Need files from drives that live in a drawer | Everywhere, Cling Pro or Raycast |
| Already use a launcher | Alfred or Raycast |
| Won't pay anything | Spotlight, EasyFind, or the free tiers of Cling, Alfred and Raycast |
| Are still on macOS 13 Ventura | Anything here except Cling and Raycast 2 |
Most people end up with two tools: Spotlight for words inside documents, and one dedicated app for names. Every paid app here has a trial or a free mode, so test each one against the file Spotlight couldn't find, and keep the one that finds it.
It depends on what you remember. For words inside documents, Spotlight is free and good, and HoudahSpot adds finer control. For file names, an app with its own index, like Everywhere or Cling, answers as you type and covers folders Spotlight leaves out. For an occasional thorough search, Find Any File costs $6 and EasyFind is free.
Spotlight only returns what's in its index. Files in folders it usually leaves out, such as the System and Library folders, files inside app bundles and packages, and files on a drive that isn't connected won't appear. An app that searches the disk directly, or keeps its own index of every file, will find them.
Everything itself is a file search engine for Windows. On a Mac, Everywhere and Cling are built on the same idea: keep an index of every file and filter it as you type, with operators like ext: and size:.
Yes. Spotlight and Finder are built in, EasyFind is free, Alfred's core and Raycast's personal plan are free, and Cling has a free mode that covers your home folder, Library, cloud folders and Applications with up to 500 results.
An app that reads the disk itself needs it to see protected folders such as Desktop, Documents, Downloads and Mail. Everywhere asks for it, and without it tells you which folders it can't see rather than quietly leaving them out.
Everywhere keeps track of every file on your Mac, including the folders Spotlight hides and drives you have unplugged. Free for a day, then $19 once.
Version 2.20.3 · macOS 13+ · 4.7 MB · notarised