Directory Viewer vs Samurai Search
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Directory Viewer
Easily view file and directory lists generated on your computer. This utility app supports files created on Windows, Mac, or Linux, offering a clean, redesigned interface with bookmarking and saved file features.
- View directory and file lists
- Supports Windows, Mac, Linux files
- New design interface
- Bookmarks
- Saved files
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With this viewer you can view a file list of directories and files. You can generate this list on your Windows, Mac or Linux, and view this text file from this app. The app has been updated with new design. Previous design used a web based viewer, and now it has been redesigned to a new design code with Bookmarks and Saved Files.
Samurai Search
Efficiently search text and PDF files across your device, iCloud, and external storage. Preview matched files or open them in other applications. Supports advanced search options like regular expressions.
- Search text and PDF files
- iCloud and external storage support
- File preview
- Regular expression support
- Customizable file types
- Saved search locations
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Search your iOS device or iCloud for text, source code, plain text files, and PDFs. Find matches inside files and preview results instantly, or open any matched file in your favourite editing or viewing app. Flexible search options: whole word, case sensitive (all file types), and regular expressions (for text files). Choose which files to include by selecting standard or custom text file types, or by searching filenames that match a pattern. Select where to search from On My iPad, iCloud Drive, or external file providers such as SMB and USB folders. When possible, the app retains saved search selections so you can quickly repeat the same searches later. If you search selected folders in iCloud Drive, matching iCloud files are synced to your device before searching, ensuring fast local results. Searching plain text files is extremely fast and memory efficient. PDF search speed depends on the document content and can be slow. Note also that PDF search may consume large amounts of memory which can cause Samurai Search to crash.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Samurai Search at every 5 days against Directory Viewer's monthly. Samurai Search also leads on ratings volume (25 vs 2) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Directory Viewer against 5.0 for Samurai Search. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Samurai Search has 25 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Directory Viewer ships an update monthly, Samurai Search every 5 days. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Directory Viewer | Samurai Search |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) | 5.0 (25 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 25 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 29 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Mohit Khanna | Michael Rourke |
Customer experience
Directory Viewer
Samurai Search
In-app purchases
Directory Viewer
No in-app purchases
Samurai Search
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Directory Viewer free?
Is Samurai Search free?
Which has better reviews, Directory Viewer or Samurai Search?
Do Directory Viewer or Samurai Search have ads?
Which is updated more often, Directory Viewer or Samurai Search?
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