Comparisons
You do not have to pay to search better than Spotlight for certain tasks. Here is what free actually gets you.
mdfind — Spotlight without the ranking or the interface hiding results:
mdfind -name report
mdfind -onlyin ~/Library "invoice" # reaches what Spotlight's UI hidesfind — reads the disk directly, so it finds the excluded places Spotlight cannot:
find ~ -iname "*invoice*" 2>/dev/nulllocate — a fast filename database, if you enable it and accept weekly updates.
Together these cover most of what a paid filename tool does, minus the interface and the live index.
fd — a friendlier, faster find. ripgrep — fast content search. fzf — interactive fuzzy filtering. All free, all excellent, all covered in their own articles here. For a terminal-comfortable person, this trio is a genuinely complete free search setup.
EasyFind — a long-standing free app that searches live (no index), reaching everything Spotlight excludes. Slower on large volumes for that reason, but free and complete.
Alfred / Raycast free tiers — Spotlight-backed file search with better ergonomics, and much more besides.
A resident, complete, live-updating filename index with a polished interface. The free GUI options are either live-search (slow) or Spotlight-backed (inherits exclusions). The free command-line tools are complete and fast but have no interface. That specific combination — instant, complete, and pleasant — is where the paid tools sit, and whether it is worth $19 depends entirely on how often the free options' rough edges cost you time.
mdfind -onlyin for reaching hidden folders, fd for daily finding, ripgrep for content, EasyFind for the rare exhaustive GUI search. Zero cost, covers most needs, and tells you clearly whether you would ever actually benefit from paying.
Yes for parts of it: mdfind and find are built in, fd/ripgrep/fzf are free via Homebrew, and EasyFind is a free GUI live-search. None combines instant, complete and polished.
A free Mac app that searches live rather than from an index, reaching files Spotlight excludes — at the cost of speed on large volumes.
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.
Download for Mac