AstroGrep vs DocFetcher
AstroGrep
astrogrep.comDocFetcher
docfetcher.sourceforge.ioSide by side
| Figure | AstroGrep | DocFetcher |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Desktop Search Software | 7.9 (#13) | 8.1 (#7) |
| File support | It searches text based files and is not intended for binary or encrypted file formats. | Supported formats include Microsoft Office, Outlook PST, OpenOffice, PDF, EPUB, HTML, plain text, RTF, AbiWord, CHM, media metadata, Visio, and SVG. |
| Platforms | The download page lists Windows and requires Windows 7 or later with .NET Framework 4.5 or later. | The current download page lists Windows 7 SP1 or later (64-bit), Linux with GTK3 (64-bit), and macOS 11 or later as minimum requirements. |
| Privacy | The privacy policy says the application operates locally and does not collect, transmit, or store user data. | The maker states that DocFetcher does not collect private data and indexes nothing by default. |
| Search results | It displays text around each match to provide context for reviewing code or documents. | It displays results with a text-only preview of the selected file and highlights matches. |
Plans
In their own words
DocFetcher
DocFetcher is a free, open-source desktop application for searching the contents of files stored on a computer. It presents selected results with a text preview and highlighted matches, and search results can be narrowed by file size, type and location. Its query syntax supports AND, OR and NOT, wildcards, phrase and fuzzy searches, proximity search and boosting. Supported content includes Microsoft Office files, Outlook PST, OpenOffice, PDF, EPUB, HTML, plain text, RTF, media metadata, Visio and SVG. It can search ZIP, 7z, RAR and tar archives, including archives nested inside other archives. Users create indexes for folders; the application detects changes while running, and a background daemon records changes while it is closed for processing at the next launch. Portable editions keep indexes and settings in the application folder and can be moved between computers. The maker says the application collects no private data and indexes nothing by default. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. The project is legacy software: no new features are planned, though bug fixes and support continue.