Copernic Desktop Search vs FileLocator Pro (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Copernic Desktop Search if

• Fits if you keep years of files and email on a Windows PC and want one search box
• Works for people who need results offline

Look elsewhere if

• Not for you if you use a Mac, since it runs only on Windows 10 and 11
• Skip it if you need Outlook search on the cheapest tier, which sits on Advanced
• Pricey if you want Teams, SharePoint, Gmail and OCR: Elite is $95.99 a year
• Watch out: the pricing page showed a note that live prices were unavailable and figures were illustrative

Pick FileLocator Pro if

• Fits if you search inside lots of files by their contents
• Works for people who need search reports or shared indexes

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want free search, as there is no free plan after the 30-day trial
• Pricey if you need more than Standard: Technician is $142 and Floating is $206 per concurrent user
• Watch out: major upgrades are free for one year only, and renewals are optional
• Not for you if you use a Mac or Linux, as only Windows is listed

Copernic Desktop Search

• Windows only; the vendor names Windows 10 and 11.
• The pricing page showed a note that the live checkout price was unavailable and that the displayed figures were illustrative, so confirm at checkout.
• Which extensions come with each edition determines what is searchable; Outlook and Teams support sit above Basic.
• Prices are per user per year; the plan selector offers 1, 2 and 3 year terms.

FileLocator Pro

• Windows only; no macOS or Linux version is listed.
• Major upgrades are free for one year after purchase; support and upgrade renewals are optional and discounted.
• The vendor says it merged with Agent Ransack in 2019, so the two have the same features.

Copernic Desktop Search

Index-based search

Builds a keyword index of the PC so results appear quickly after the first indexing pass.

Many file types

The vendor says it covers hundreds of file extensions and 11 languages, including PDF, Office files, PST and e-books.

Cloud drives

Indexes Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive content.

AI search

Semantic search, summaries and translation powered by Google Gemini or OpenAI are listed as an AI feature.

Offline use

Searches desktop files and emails without an internet connection.

Business server edition

A server and client pair for company-wide search with permissions.

FileLocator Pro

Content search

Dig into PDFs, Office documents and ZIP archives, and search several Outlook PST files at once.

Indexed or live search

Searches can be indexed for near-instant results or run without an index; there is no background indexing.

Results preview

Highlighted keywords with surrounding text, and views of hits or the whole file with syntax highlighting.

Reports and export

Results can be summarized and exported.

Shared indexes

Several user-defined indexes can be created and shared across a network.

Copernic Desktop Search

• Basic$2.42

  per month, billed annually ($28.99 per year, 1 user)

  Desktop and cloud search; extensions listed for this plan include Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive and Microsoft Office.

• Advanced$3.75

  per month, billed annually ($44.99 per year, 1 user)

  Adds extensions such as Outlook, Thunderbird and an AI Connector.

• Elite$8.00

  per month, billed annually ($95.99 per year, 1 user)

  Adds Teams, SharePoint, Gmail and OCR extensions.

• Business Server Search$999

  per year for 1 to 3 users

  Server product with multi-tier permissions; 4 to 9 users is $1,699 a year, and 1,000 or more users is quoted on request.

FileLocator Pro

• Standard License$79

  one-time, per named user

  Up to 3 Windows installations per named user; volume discounts from 25 licenses.

• Technician License$142

  one-time, per named user

  Unlimited Windows installations per named user.

• Floating License$206

  one-time, per concurrent user

  Licensed for a number of concurrent users rather than named people.

Copernic Desktop Search

No public discounts listed.

FileLocator Pro

• Other savings

  Discounted support and upgrade renewals

  Renewals made before the support period ends get 40% off, and renewals after expiry get 30% off.