Yes, the beta is free. No sign-up, no account.

Yes, on Intel and Apple Silicon. The app is not signed by Apple yet, so on first launch macOS asks you to allow it: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway.

How is it different from Windows search?

Windows search looks through an index of selected folders and is often slow. FileHunter keeps a catalog of entire drives, S3 storage and your other computers, and finds files by name in milliseconds. It also shows the size of every folder.

Can it find duplicate files?

Yes. Type dup: in the search bar to check the open folder, or dup:all for all drives and S3. It finds exact copies; similar photos are not detected. You choose what to delete.

Why does Windows warn me when I start it?

The beta is not code-signed yet, so SmartScreen does not recognise the publisher. Click "More info" → "Run anyway". You can download it only from our GitHub releases page.

Are my files sent anywhere?

No. The catalog lives on your computer. Files travel only when you copy them yourself — to your S3 storage or to your own paired computer, encrypted. The only thing FileHunter does online on its own is a daily update check on GitHub.

Free beta · Windows · macOS

FileHunter — find any file in milliseconds

FileHunter builds one catalog of all your files: local drives, USB sticks, S3 storage and your other computers. Search by name in a folder and all its subfolders takes milliseconds, even with millions of files, and every folder shows its full size right away. The catalog is stored on your computer.

Download for Windows and Mac Source code on GitHub

What it can do

Instant search by name in a folder and all its subfolders, with filters: ext:, size:>, type:file|dir, masks * and ?, and -word to exclude.
Folder sizes at a glance. Every folder shows its full size and file count, straight from the catalog — no waiting for a scan. Sort by size to see what takes up space.
One window for all storage: local drives and folders, any S3-compatible storage (AWS S3, MinIO, Cloudflare R2 and others) and other computers with FileHunter.
Copy and move between any of them — drive to S3, S3 to another PC — with a task log, pause, cancel and retry.
Downloads by link with resume after a broken connection. Copy a link and press Ctrl+V to save it into the open folder.
Duplicate finder. Type dup: to find exact copies in a folder, or dup:all across all drives and S3 storage. Copies in S3 are matched by checksum, without downloading.
Explorer-style browsing: tabs that survive a restart, one bar for path and search, history with suggestions, preview of images and text.

Your other computers

Pair two computers with a one-time code and choose, per device, which drives, folders and storage to open and whether access is view-only or full. On a local network computers connect directly. Over the internet it also tries to connect directly, getting through NAT, and if that fails, it goes through a relay. The connection is encrypted end to end.

S3, MinIO and R2

Add any S3-compatible storage and browse it like a local drive. FileHunter indexes only the list of objects and does not download their contents. Keys are kept in your system's password store, not in files, and requests go straight to your storage.

Light on your computer

The first scan runs in the background in a gentle mode, with low disk and CPU priority. After that the catalog updates itself when files are created, changed or deleted. For reference: a 7-million-file drive takes about 6 minutes in fast mode. The catalog uses about 100 MB of RAM and 12 MB of disk per million files. No graphics card needed.

Private by design

The catalog, history and settings stay on your computer. There is no telemetry. FileHunter goes online for what you do yourself — a download, your S3 storage, your paired computers — and once a day to check GitHub for updates, without sending any data about you.

Beta: what to know

Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit) and macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon). Linux is not available yet.
The beta is free.
The app is not code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen will warn you on first launch. Click "More info" → "Run anyway".
The source code is open under the FSL-1.1-MIT license: you can use, study and modify it for yourself and your company. Each version becomes MIT after two years.

Coming next

Search inside documents and search by meaning, faster first scan on NTFS, duplicates on your other computers, Linux.

Questions

Is FileHunter free?: Yes, the beta is free. No sign-up, no account.
Does it work on Mac?: Yes, on Intel and Apple Silicon. The app is not signed by Apple yet, so on first launch macOS asks you to allow it: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway.
How is it different from Windows search?: Windows search looks through an index of selected folders and is often slow. FileHunter keeps a catalog of entire drives, S3 storage and your other computers, and finds files by name in milliseconds. It also shows the size of every folder.
Can it find duplicate files?: Yes. Type dup: in the search bar to check the open folder, or dup:all for all drives and S3. It finds exact copies; similar photos are not detected. You choose what to delete.
Why does Windows warn me when I start it?: The beta is not code-signed yet, so SmartScreen does not recognise the publisher. Click "More info" → "Run anyway". You can download it only from our GitHub releases page.
Are my files sent anywhere?: No. The catalog lives on your computer. Files travel only when you copy them yourself — to your S3 storage or to your own paired computer, encrypted. The only thing FileHunter does online on its own is a daily update check on GitHub.