1. Gemini
This is the most popular duplicate finder in the mac. But, it’s effectiveness is not as great as other finders; at least in some areas.
Pro: it has a duplicate monitoring feature. That means, you can make it to monitors a certain folder. It will catch duplicates as they appear, instantly.
Con: The auto-select feature is very limited. You can make it auto-select only based on folder.
Pro: it has a “similar” feature to search files that are similar; but not exact duplicates.
Compares by checksum only.
2. Duplicate Manager Pro (DMP)
- It can search by file name, by checksum, etc. So, it is more versatile because it uses file name as search algorithm, alongside the checksum (which is the standard approach for most finders)
- It has Auto-select feature. You can make it auto-select based on modification date, size of the files, folder position etc.
- Compares by file name, checkum. or combinations
3. Duplicate File Cleaner (DFC)
- Slower than the above two
- Consumes more resources than the above
- But, it seems to find more duplicates than the other two I listed above
- This has no auto-select feature
4. Duplicate File Remover PRO (DFRP)
- This is very fast
- Finds almost equal number of duplicates as DMP
- It has the most advanced auto-select prioritization
- This is very powerful to scan large drives because of its speed
5. Duplicate File Finder and Remover (DFFR)
- This is very trivial application; with little options and capabilities. Don’t bother to try this. I immediately removed it.
6. Duplicate File Finder Pro(DFFP)
- I believe this is a new version of DFRP. So, no need to explain it.
7. Cisdem Duplicate Finder (CDF)
- This is very similar to DMP
- I didn’t investigate it that much because of the similarity
8. Duplicate File Detective (DFD)
- This is very slow and consumes a lot of resource. So, don’t bother about this one as well.
9. DupZap:
This is as good as Gemini. It found equal number of duplicates.
10. Advanced Duplicate Cleaner (ADC)
- It has a feature to monitor folders.
- The auto-select feature is very weak: only based on age (old vs new)
11. Tidy UP
- It has a lot of options
- Very fast search using file names
- It has a lot of ways to prioritize folders. These can used for the auto-select.
- It has advanced features for finding duplicate photographs. It might not replace the revered Photo Sweeper. But, this application can find similar photographs.
12. Dupguru:
- Search based on the file name, this is the best because it allows you to fine tune your search by percentages.
- But, the content comparison is not effective.
- Allows searching by file name, content (checksum)
- It has auto-select prioritization.
13. Devonthink
- This is not a duplicate finder. But, it has the feature to compare it with the dedicated duplicate finder. There is no duplicate finder that can compare the actual content of the files. DT is the only one that can compare actually written in them. Others rely on metadata such as chuchksum, file name, modification date, etc.
Conclusion:
- If you want compare the actual content of pdf files, you have no option but Devonthink.
- If you want compare the files by their names, there is no better tool than DupGuru.
- If you are looking for a general, all round duplicate finder that can clean up your photographs, pdf files, text file and others Tidy Up, Gemini, Duplicate Finder Pro or Duplicate Manager Pro. all work fine.
My overall satisfaction (excluding DT): DupGuru >> Duplicate Finder Pro >> Tidy Up >> Gemini >> Duplicate Manager Pro
Dellu 