Recoll vs UltraSearch

Recoll is free desktop search software that finds documents by their contents and file names. It indexes many common document formats and compressed files, including email attachments nested inside archives. Search supports Boolean queries, phrases, proximity, wildcards, and filters for file type or directory tree. Indexing can run periodically as a batch job or continuously for real-time updates. Users can search through a Qt desktop interface, a web browser, the command line, GNOME Shell, KDE KIO, or KRunner; the browser interface queries a Recoll index. A Python 3 extension can query or update that index. Recoll can index PDF attachments and annotations, extract custom XMP metadata, and apply OCR to image-only PDFs using Tesseract or ABBYY FineReader. It supports multiple languages and UTF-8, and users can choose a stemming language at query time. Linux and source are free under the GPL. A contribution is requested for the Windows binary, but no amount is stated. Some formats on Linux and macOS need external applications or libraries, and the Windows port lacks some features, including multithreaded execution.

UltraSearch is a Windows tool for searching file names and contents across local storage, company networks and SharePoint. Results appear as you type, and direct SharePoint searches do not require indexing. Queries can use text or phrases in file contents, wildcards, regular expressions and AND/OR terms. Search locations include local and network drives, external drives, USB sticks, SD cards and SharePoint. The Free edition costs nothing and is limited to private, non-commercial use; it includes 30 days of Professional features. Professional costs $30 a year, billed annually, and is available for Windows Desktop and Windows Server. It adds filters by file type, dates and size, searches inside ZIP files, and bulk actions to move, archive, delete or rename files from results. Professional also supports Google Drive searches and can connect to DataCentral, a central full-text and metadata index for multiple users. DataCentral runs on premises, keeps its index locally and integrates with NTFS permissions and Active Directory, according to the maker. Downloads do not require registration; an online manual and contact form are provided for support.