Everything vs Microsoft PowerToys
We give Everything and Microsoft PowerToys the same GPA: 3.2 out of 4.0. They get the same grade on all five counts.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Microsoft PowerToys
Free Microsoft utilities for customizing Windows 10 and 11
Free
How we grade them
| 3.2GPAEverythingVery good | 3.2GPAMicrosoft PowerToysVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFreeware, with no paid edition. The developer asks you to think about donating, and that's the whole sales pitch. | AIt costs nothing. Every utility is free and open source under the MIT license, and there's no paid edition to be nudged towards. |
| Free plan and trial | AAll of it is free: the installer, the portable ZIP and the Lite build, in 32-bit, 64-bit and ARM. Nothing is held back for a paid version. | AAll of it is free, from GitHub, the Microsoft Store or WinGet. The one thing that can cost money is pasting with AI, and only if you connect an online model provider that charges for usage. |
| Features | AIt does one job, finding files by name, and does it fully. About 250,000 files index in about 5 seconds, results update as files change, and the search syntax runs to wildcards, filters and regular expressions. There's a command-line tool and an SDK too. File contents aren't indexed. | AMore than 30 utilities in one install. FancyZones for window layouts, Command Palette as a launcher, key and shortcut remapping, bulk renaming, a color picker and text lifted off the screen with OCR. That's a lot of jobs people install separate apps for. |
| Ease of use | BNo store rating on record, so a B is as high as we go. Install it and start typing. A couple of fiddly bits: NTFS indexing needs the Everything service or administrator rights, and network shares have to be added by hand. | BNo store rating on record, so a B is as high as we go. One settings app turns each utility on or off, which keeps things tidy. There are fiddly corners though: apps running elevated need PowerToys run as administrator before FancyZones can snap them. |
| Platforms and integrations | DWindows only, from XP through Windows 11. Its HTTP server does let you search your files from a browser on a phone or another computer on the same network. No Mac or Linux version. | DWindows only: Windows 11, or Windows 10 version 2004 or newer, on x64 or ARM64. Advanced Paste can connect to OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Mistral or Ollama, and it installs through WinGet. Nothing for Mac or Linux. |
| Best for | finding any file by name on Windows | a free box of Windows extras from Microsoft |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Everything and Microsoft PowerToys. How we grade
Where they differ
- Everything is free. Microsoft PowerToys is free.
- Microsoft PowerToys is open source, according to its own site.
- Microsoft PowerToys also covers launcher, window management and keyboard and mouse remapping.
In commonFree planWindowsFile management
At a glance
| Everything | Microsoft PowerToys | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Everything is freeware with no paid edition. The developer asks users to consider donating. | Every utility is free and open source; there is no paid edition. Optional AI pasting can incur usage charges from the model provider you connect. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Windows | ||
| Made by | voidtools PTY LTD | Microsoft |
| Price read from | voidtools.com | learn.microsoft.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Everything
- Windows users who want to find files and folders by name as they type
- Drives holding hundreds of thousands or millions of files
- Scripts and other programs that need a file index through the command line or SDK
Microsoft PowerToys
- Windows users who want window layouts, a launcher and key remapping from one free install
- Developers and power users who work mostly from the keyboard
- People who prefer open-source tools published by the maker of the operating system
Worth knowing
Everything
- Windows only; the FAQ lists Windows XP through Windows 11.
- It indexes file and folder names, not contents. Searching inside files is possible but slow.
- NTFS indexing needs the Everything service or administrator rights, and FAT volumes and network shares must be added as folder indexes by hand.
- The Lite build removes the HTTP and ETP/FTP servers and IPC, so the command-line tool and SDK do not work with it.
Microsoft PowerToys
- Windows only: it needs Windows 11 or Windows 10 version 2004 or newer on a 64-bit x64 or ARM64 processor.
- Paste with AI is off by default and needs a model provider; online providers require your own API key and may charge for usage.
- Keyboard Manager remaps apply only while PowerToys is running, do not work on the log-in screen and cannot differ between keyboards.
- FancyZones cannot snap some listed apps, and apps running elevated need PowerToys to run as administrator.
Key features
Everything
- Instant filename search
- Starts by listing every file and folder on the PC and narrows the list as you type. Only names are indexed: about 250,000 files on a fresh Windows 11 install take about 5 seconds.
- Real-time index updates
- Results update as files change. NTFS indexes are kept current through the USN Journal, so changes made while Everything was closed are picked up when it restarts.
- Search syntax
- Supports boolean operators, wildcards, file-type and location filters and optional regular expressions. A content: function searches inside files, but contents are not indexed, so it is slow.
- Low resource use
- The vendor quotes about 35 MB of RAM and under 14 MB of disk space for roughly 250,000 files, and about 100 MB of RAM for 1,000,000 files.
- HTTP and ETP/FTP servers
- Search and open your files from a web browser on another computer, phone or tablet on the local network. Version 1.4 includes the servers; for version 1.5 they are separate plugins.
- Command line and SDK
- The ES command-line tool queries a running copy of Everything, and the SDK gives other programs a DLL and Lib interface to it over IPC.
Microsoft PowerToys
- FancyZones
- A window manager for custom zone layouts. Hold Shift while dragging a window to snap it into a zone, or let Win+arrow keys move windows between zones. Layouts are built in a grid or canvas editor.
- Command Palette
- A launcher opened with Win+Alt+Space that starts apps, runs commands, searches files and the web, calculates and switches windows. Community extensions install from a built-in Extension Gallery.
- Keyboard Manager
- Remaps single keys and shortcuts, globally or for one app, and can map a key or shortcut to a text sequence, an app launch or a URI.
- Advanced Paste
- Pastes clipboard content as plain text, Markdown, JSON or a file, extracts text from images with local OCR, and can transform text through an optional AI provider that you configure.
- File Explorer tools
- PowerRename renames files in bulk with search and replace or regular expressions, Image Resizer resizes images from the right-click menu, and File Locksmith shows which processes are using a file.
- Screen and text tools
- Color Picker samples colors anywhere on screen, Text Extractor copies on-screen text with OCR, Screen Ruler measures pixels, and ZoomIt zooms, annotates and records the screen for presentations.
Plans
Everything
Everything$0
Freeware in installer, portable ZIP and Lite builds, with 32-bit, 64-bit and ARM downloads. Donations are optional.
Microsoft PowerToys
PowerToys$0
All utilities, installed from GitHub, the Microsoft Store or WinGet. Free and open source under the MIT license.
