DEVONthink alternative
A DEVONthink alternative that files your paperwork as it arrives.
DEVONthink makes you set it up: you build the groups, you write any rules, and reading scans on the Mac starts at the $199 Pro edition. Granite reads each tax form, ID and insurance policy the moment you drop it in, then names it and files it, on every plan, with nothing to set up.
Best DEVONthink alternatives in 2026
Most lists of DEVONthink alternatives hand you another Mac database, a notes app, or a server you run yourself. We compare one in full here: Granite, built for the paperwork a household or a one-person business has to keep. Four others get a line each below the table.
| Feature | Granite | DEVONthink |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Paperwork you have to keep: tax forms, IDs, policies, car and house papers | A document and knowledge database on your Mac: PDFs, notes, web pages, email |
| Where your documents live | On Granite's servers. Each file has its own encryption key. Granite holds the keys and decrypts files to read them | In databases on your Mac, not on DEVONtechnologies' servers. Encrypted databases (AES-256) are optional, with a key only you hold |
| Where you use it | PartialAny web browser on Windows, Mac or Linux, plus the iPhone app; no Android app, desktop app or iPad layout | Mac, plus DEVONthink To Go on iPhone and iPad: included with Pro while the license gets updates, otherwise $19 a year |
| Reads scans and phone photos | Yesevery PDF page is checked, and a page without usable text is read from the image | On the Mac, text recognition is in Pro and Server; To Go has its own. Standard takes files another app already made searchable |
| Names and files each document | Yesgives it a title and files it, into a collection like a tax year or a vehicle when one fits, with no groups or rules to set up first | Classify suggests a group based on what you've already filed. Smart rules you write can rename and move files, and in Pro they can ask a chat model |
| Details pulled out | Yesthe fields each document type declares, like a W-2's wages and federal withholding | Custom metadata fields you define (Pro and Server) |
| Questions in plain English | Ask, on Granite Paid: the answer, with a link to the page it came from | Pro and Server: a chat assistant that by default works on the documents you select, using your own API key (you pay the AI provider) or a model you run locally |
| Search | Words and meaning; a result opens the document at the first page that has your words | Database and in-document search in every edition, plus AI-assisted search from Pro up |
| Due dates and expiry dates | Yesfor document types that carry one: top of Home, plus a Monday email for what's due within 30 days | Reminders you set on an item yourself, once or repeating |
| File types | PDF, JPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, plain text and Markdown | Texts, PDFs, web pages, images, emails and spreadsheets |
| Take everything with you | Yesa ZIP of your original files, any time, even after canceling | Yesexport files and folders, with your groups as Finder folders |
| Free plan | 25 documents and 1 GB, with reading, filing, search and export | A trial with every feature; no free edition on DEVONtechnologies' pricing page |
| Price | Granite Paid $99 a year: no document cap, 100 GB; annual only | Pro $199 once, for two Macs and a year of updates; more updates after that are optional |
If a PDF looks searchable and search still can't find it, the file or the app's index can be at fault. The 30-second test is in our guide to scanned PDFs that won't search.
Other DEVONthink alternatives
If you'd rather keep an archive on your Mac or run one yourself, here are four more. Two of them have their own Granite comparison.
Paperless-ngx
A free, open-source document archive you run yourself with Docker on your own server or NAS (a network drive at home). It learns to sort from the tags you apply.
EagleFiler
A Mac app whose library is ordinary Finder files and folders. It archives mail, web pages and PDFs, and costs $69.99.
Keep It
A notebook and document organizer for Mac, iPhone and iPad that keeps everything as Finder files, folders and tags.
Evernote
A note-taking app with a web clipper and apps for iPhone and Android, for people whose archive is mostly notes and clipped pages.
Why switch
What Granite takes off your hands
Four jobs you do yourself in DEVONthink, and Granite does for you.
Getting every scan read
There's no edition to buy for this. On Granite Free as on Paid, Granite checks the text on every page of every PDF and reads the page from the image when that text is missing or garbled. You'll need this more than you'd guess. Of 1,426 PDFs that 50 people uploaded to Granite between May 28 and September 15, 2026, 864 (61%) needed at least one page read from the image. These are people who chose a document vault, and a file that needed one page read counts the same as a scan with no text at all.
Designing the groups before anything gets filed
DEVONthink's Classify suggests a group by comparing a new document with what's already in your groups, so a fresh database has little to go on until you've built and filled the folders yourself. Granite files from the first upload. A client's 1099-NEC lands in its tax year with the payer and the amount pulled out, and a car title goes under that car. When you want a pile sorted your way, Granite Paid takes a filing rule written in plain English.
Syncing the archive to your phone
In DEVONthink, the phone gets the archive once you've chosen a sync method, set it up on the Mac, and kept To Go licensed. In Granite, the iPhone app opens the same vault you use in the browser, on every plan. Standing at the DMV counter, type “car title” and the title opens, even if the file was called scan_0042.pdf. Photograph a new document with the camera and Granite reads and files it like any other upload.
Making sure your archive outlives your Mac, your subscription and you
A DEVONthink database lives on your Mac, with the backups you set up yourself, and nobody else gets in unless you've arranged it. On Granite Paid you can name an emergency contact and turn on an inactivity check-in: after 90 days with no sign-in, we email you, and if you don't answer within 21 more days, they get access. And if you cancel, nothing is deleted. The vault locks until you come back, and export keeps working.
FAQ
DEVONthink alternative FAQ
- Is DEVONthink available for Windows?
- Not as a Windows app. As of October 2026, DEVONtechnologies lists DEVONthink for Mac (macOS Ventura or later) and DEVONthink To Go for iPhone and iPad. DEVONtechnologies' route for a Windows PC is DEVONthink Server ($499): it serves your databases to a web browser from a Mac that has to stay on, with only some of the app's features. Granite runs in any browser, so it works the same on a Windows PC as on a Mac. There's an iPhone app too, but no Android app.
- How hard is it to switch from DEVONthink to Granite?
- It's an export and a drag, but there's no DEVONthink importer, so you move the files yourself, a group at a time or all at once. In DEVONthink, select the groups and use File > Export > Files and Folders into a new folder: your groups come out as folders and each file keeps its original format. Drag that folder into Granite on the web, and Granite reads, names and files what's inside. It takes PDFs and photos up to 50 MB each, and plain text and Markdown up to 1 MB each, so save any emails, web archives or Word and Excel files you want to keep as PDFs first. Tags, groups and custom metadata don't carry over; Granite rebuilds names, details and collections by reading the documents. Anything past 25 documents needs Granite Paid.
- How much does DEVONthink cost?
- DEVONthink for Mac is a one-time purchase: Standard is $99 and Pro is $199, each for two Macs with a year of updates. After that year the app keeps working, and further updates are optional ($99 a year for Pro). For a drawer of scans, Pro is the edition to look at: text recognition on the Mac and the AI chat start there, and it includes DEVONthink To Go while the license gets updates (otherwise To Go is $19 a year). The trial lasts 30 days or 150 hours of use, whichever is longer. In Granite, reading, filing, search and the iPhone app all work on the free plan; Granite Paid adds Ask, with no API key to bring.
- Where does Granite keep my documents, and who reads them?
- On Granite's servers: each file is stored in Cloudflare R2 under its own encryption key, and the details Granite pulls out are encrypted in its database. Granite holds the keys, because it has to read a document to name and file it, so this isn't end-to-end encryption. That's the trade for having the filing done for you. The AI services that read documents for Granite are named in our privacy policy: Google's Vertex AI, Anthropic, Voyage AI and TypeSafe AI. Google says it won't use your data to train models without your permission, Anthropic's API terms say it doesn't train on API data, and Granite's Voyage AI account is opted out of training.
- Is there a free DEVONthink alternative?
- Yes, two kinds. Granite Free is a plan, not a trial: 25 documents and 1 GB with no time limit, read, filed, searchable and exportable just as on Paid (Ask is Paid only). That's room to test Granite on one DEVONthink group before you move the rest. Paperless-ngx is free, open-source software; what it costs you is a server or NAS to run it on, and the time to keep it running.
Keep exploring
More on Granite
- Granite vs Paperless-ngxThe other archive people name next to DEVONthink, minus the server you'd have to run.
- Granite vs EvernoteIf your scanned documents are still sitting in Evernote notebooks.
- Granite vs OneDriveIf your paperwork ended up in Microsoft's cloud folders instead.
- How Granite reads a documentFrom the moment a file lands to the moment it's named and filed.
- Collections that form themselvesTax years, vehicles and properties, grouped without a folder in sight.
- Document retention timelineA free tool for deciding which old documents are worth moving at all.
- Granite pricingWhat Free covers, what Granite Paid adds, and the one yearly price.
- How Granite protects your vaultPer-file encryption keys, encrypted extracted details, and what Granite does not claim.
Export one group and drop it in.
Pick the DEVONthink group with the most paperwork in it, export it as files and folders, and drag the folder into Granite. Your first 25 documents are free, no card needed, so you'll see what Granite makes of each one before you move anything else.