Instant Search

Instant is a free macOS app from Perilla Labs that searches your files by what's in them, so you can type what you remember and find matching PDFs, scans, documents, notes and photos, using a local search model with nothing sent to the cloud.

Why it matters

For business owners with years of contracts, invoices and scanned receipts on a Mac, it finds documents by meaning rather than file name, without uploading them to an AI chatbot.

Highlights

• Search in plain words, such as "what I paid for the standing desk", and get matching files with the relevant passage highlighted.
• Reads PDF, scanned PDF, DOCX, RTF, ODT, Markdown, text and source code, plus HEIC, JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF and TIFF images.
• Opens from any app with Option-Space or a shortcut you choose, and results update with every key.
• Runs offline with no account; the local search model is about 1 GB, and the first index takes minutes for typical documents or hours for a big photo library.
• Free, with an Enterprise option for company-wide private search.

Taken from the project's own README, docs or launch page. Claims about speed or accuracy are the maker's unless stated otherwise.

Worth knowing: The app sends update checks and anonymous usage counts by default; usage counts can be turned off in Settings.

Quick facts

Links

• Official site: https://useinstantsearch.com/

Related ranking

See how established tools compare in Best Research & Cited Answers. New releases aren't scored until we review them against the rubric.

Checked 2026-10-23 from the tool's own pages. Prices and star counts change, so confirm on the official site. Listing here is not a ranking or an endorsement.