Best Enterprise Search Software 2026: A Comparison for Europe

Most rankings of “enterprise search 2026” come from the United States. They rate connectors and AI answers – data protection, running the software in-house and the permissions of the source systems hardly feature. Yet these are exactly the questions IT managers, data protection officers and executives in Europe ask first. This comparison sorts the market by those questions.

A note up front: we make searchit, so we are on the list ourselves. We rated all vendors by the same criteria and only on what the vendors themselves publish. Check every statement against your own data – ideally in a demo with your data, with us as with anyone else.

In short: which enterprise search vendors fit whom

• You work entirely in Microsoft 365 and your files live in SharePoint and OneDrive? Then Microsoft 365 Copilot is the obvious starting point.
• You need search across file servers, mailboxes, line-of-business applications and databases, run in your own data center or on your own cloud machine? Then the specialists belong on your list: searchit, IntraFind, Mindbreeze, intergator and Sinequa.
• You want AI agents – searchit's own or Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot Studio and the like – that work with your organization's entire knowledge, and you also want to include the files on your employees' computers without setting up a server for it? That is what searchit is built for.
• You are a freelancer or solo self-employed, run a one-person business or, as an executive, search your own files and emails? Then compare desktop search tools such as Copernic, X1 and Lookeen with the searchit Personal Edition.

What we rated

Eight criteria, in the order in which they typically appear in tenders in Europe:

1. Data location and GDPR: Does the search run in-house, on your own cloud machine or at the vendor – and where is the index stored in that case?
2. Operating model: on-prem in your own data center, private cloud (your own instance on your own cloud machine), public cloud or SaaS at the vendor – or several of these.
3. Permissions: Does each user see only what they are allowed to see in the source system?
4. File servers and local files: How do network drives get in, and how do the folders on employees' computers? Does that require a separate server?
5. Installation: an IT project, or set up by the users themselves?
6. AI and agents: answers with sources, document enrichment, an agent of its own that gets tasks done, and the connection of third-party agents such as ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot via the Model Context Protocol (MCP) – read-only or also with write access, and with whose permissions.
7. Sources: Which systems are connected?
8. Pricing model: per user, by data volume, published or on request.

The three groups in the market

In 2026 the market is no longer one list but three:

• The big AI platforms – Microsoft, Google, OpenAI and Anthropic. They include search as part of their AI assistant, connected to their own cloud.
• The enterprise search specialists – vendors whose core is search across a company's entire data, many of them from Germany, Austria and France.
• Desktop search tools – programs that make the files and emails on a single computer searchable.

If you are choosing a solution, you usually compare within one group. It gets interesting at the edges: what the platforms do not reach is the specialists' field – and since 2026, with the Personal Edition, searchit also reaches into the field of desktop search.

Group 1: the big AI platforms

Microsoft 365 Copilot

Strengths: Copilot is at home where many companies already work – in Outlook, Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive. The permissions from Microsoft 365 apply, and Copilot connectors let you add further sources, including Windows file shares with the permissions from Active Directory.

Keep in mind: For Copilot to use content from a file server, IT installs a connector agent on a permanently running Windows computer or Windows Server (recommended: 8 cores, 16 GB of memory) and registers it in the Microsoft tenant. The content is indexed into the Microsoft cloud; Copilot processes up to 4 MB of text per file and up to 20 shares per connection. Folders on individual employees' computers only enter company knowledge by syncing them to OneDrive. The Copilot app for Windows can find and read individual files on your own PC – but it does not support signing in with a work account and therefore does not bring these files into shared company knowledge.

Price: €26 per user per month plus value-added tax with an annual commitment, on top of a Microsoft 365 license.

Google Gemini Enterprise

Strengths: Search and agents across cloud sources, either indexed or queried live, plus a people graph that links people, content and collaboration, and a tool for your own workflows.

Keep in mind: For the customer's own data center, Google documents connections to Confluence and Jira Data Center. For Windows file shares, on-premises Exchange and SharePoint Server, Google lists no connection. The region can be chosen; Google recommends the global one.

ChatGPT Enterprise and Business

Strengths: “Company Knowledge” answers questions with sources from connected cloud applications such as SharePoint and OneDrive and adopts their permissions. The new desktop app can open a folder on the computer and work with the files in it.

Keep in mind: OpenAI does not list local data on the company network as a source. The folder in the desktop app is read live while the app is running – a persistent index of a computer's files is not described, and OpenAI has discontinued syncing sources.

Claude Team and Enterprise

Strengths: “Ask Your Org” searches live across Slack, Google and Microsoft 365, with the permissions of the sources. Custom connectors let you add further systems, read and write, and the desktop app can read shared local folders.

Keep in mind: Claude does not build its own index; search quality is that of the connected interfaces. According to Anthropic, Claude cannot reach servers in a private company network or behind a firewall. The desktop app reads local folders only while it is open.

What this means for you

All four are strong assistants – and none of the four is an either-or with enterprise search. What they usually lack is access to your in-house data: file servers, mailboxes in your own data center, specialist databases. This is exactly where an enterprise search can be connected as a source. searchit, for example, provides its index including permissions via MCP to ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot Studio and other assistants – cloud assistants need a searchit address reachable from the internet for this, while agents on the workstation such as Claude Code connect directly – and an existing ChatGPT subscription can serve as the language model of the searchit AI Agent. The license you already have then works for your own data.

Group 2: the enterprise search specialists

searchit (Iphos IT Solutions, Vienna)

Operation:

• on-prem in your own data center,
• private cloud as a dedicated instance on the customer's own cloud machine,
• public cloud as personal access on the searchit system (Personal Edition, see Group 3).

Strengths:

• Sources: more than 100 connectors – file servers, mailboxes, SharePoint, Teams, databases and line-of-business applications.
• Permissions: Each user sees only what they are allowed to see in the source system, checked on every query.
• Search: keyword search and semantic search in a single query, text recognition for scans.
• AI enrichment: During indexing, summaries are created, recognized people and companies go into a knowledge graph, and signals such as urgency or personal data become available as filters.
• Traceable: Every AI-generated field carries a machine-readable provenance label – a basis for the labeling obligation of the EU AI Act.
• Free choice of models: The language models are interchangeable, including with models run in-house.
• Agents: searchit's own searchit AI Agent and third-party agents such as Claude, ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot Studio – with the user's permissions (more on this in the section on agents below).

New since Release 8.0 – local files without a server: Employees add the folders on their workstations to the index of the company instance themselves – on-prem as well as in the private cloud.

• Setup: On Windows, a graphical setup guides you through the installation in a few clicks; on Linux and macOS, one command is enough, which searchit displays for you to copy.
• No server, no crawler per computer: IT switches the function on once; no server or crawler per computer is needed. For companies, the Windows setup can also be rolled out silently via software distribution.
• Permissions: The read permissions of the other sources continue to apply; uploaded files can only be found by their owner.

Keep in mind: We do not publish a list price; billing is by data volume rather than per workstation, with software and language model billed separately. Semantic search is switched on per installation.

amber (formerly amberSearch)

Operation: SaaS in T-Cloud data centers in Germany and the EU.

Strengths: Network drives are connected out of the box, and a desktop app opens results directly. As one of the few vendors, amber publishes prices and offers self-registration with a 30-day trial.

Keep in mind: The desktop app is an interface for results on network drives, not an indexer for local folders. Registration requires a company email address. Price: Starter €12.99 per user per month without AI search, Business with AI search €17.99 from 50 licenses.

IntraFind iFinder

Operation: on-premise, cloud, hybrid, SaaS or as a managed service.

Strengths: A wide choice of operating models, connectors for file servers, a dedicated package for GDPR data subject access requests and a free trial version with your own data. In 2026, IntraFind is rated in the first Gartner Magic Quadrant for “Enterprise AI Search”.

Keep in mind: IntraFind does not publicly describe local folders on workstations or whether a separate connector server is needed. The trial version requires a business email address; prices on request.

Mindbreeze InSpire

Operation: SaaS, appliance in your own data center, or hybrid.

Strengths: Recognized by analysts – according to the vendor, a Leader in the Forrester Wave “Cognitive Search Platforms” (Q4 2025) and in the MarketScape “Knowledge Discovery” by the market research firm IDC (2025). In hybrid operation, the appliance processes the data on site.

Keep in mind: Files come in via the connector for network shares; Mindbreeze does not mention ingesting local folders. Billing is by data volume; the smallest tier starts at €83,000 per year (according to the vendor, for small organizations).

intergator

Operation: on-premise, private cloud or controlled cloud environments.

Strengths: Connectors and crawlers for file servers and line-of-business applications, a demo center with sample data.

Keep in mind: The rollout is a project, depending on edition and operating model. intergator does not mention ingesting local folders; prices on request.

Sinequa (ChapsVision)

Operation: on-premise, your own cloud tenant or fully managed SaaS.

Strengths: A platform for large corporations with connectors for file systems and many line-of-business applications; listed in the Gartner Market Guide 2025 as a representative vendor for “Enterprise AI Search”.

Keep in mind: Entry via a demo, no public price.

For comparison: the international names

• Glean tops many American rankings. It is operated only as SaaS – hosted by Glean or managed by Glean in the customer's cloud. There is no ready-made connector for file servers; file stores are connected through your own development on the application programming interface. Price on request.
• Elastic is, according to the vendor, a Leader in the first Gartner Magic Quadrant for “Enterprise AI Search” (October 2026). It is a toolkit for building your own search applications, in Elastic Cloud or self-managed; network drives are connected by a self-managed connector service. You will hardly manage without developers. Pricing by resources, in the cloud from $99 per month.
• Coveo runs as SaaS. File shares require a Crawling Module on your own Windows Server, as an add-on to the Enterprise license.

Group 3: desktop search – and why searchit now plays a part

Desktop search tools make the files and emails on a computer searchable. For a long time this was a separate field, distinct from enterprise search. With the searchit Personal Edition, there has been personal access since Release 8.0 for everyone who does not need their own company installation: freelancers, solo self-employed and one-person businesses, executives and selected employees.

searchit Personal Edition

How it works: You register with your email address, install the Click-Service – on Windows with a graphical setup, on Linux and macOS with one command, without administrator rights – and choose the folders that should become searchable. An assistant in the Cockpit guides you through the setup step by step.

Strengths:

• Full-text and semantic search with filters and preview across your own folders, on Windows, Linux and macOS.
• Email as well: mailboxes via the standard protocol IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol), for example at GMX, web.de, T-Online or Gmail, which searchit retrieves on the server even when your computer is switched off; in addition, Outlook classic, Thunderbird, Apple Mail and mail archive files from Outlook and other programs on your own computer. Attachments are searched too.
• New, changed and deleted files are detected, and only what has changed is transferred. Password safes, keys and credential files are excluded by default.
• Your own AI assistant – such as Claude or ChatGPT – accesses your documents via MCP.
• Each user finds only their own documents.

Keep in mind: Unlike a classic desktop search, the index is not stored on your PC but on the searchit system, operated in Austria. That is the flip side of an advantage: you can search from any device, and your mailboxes are retrieved even when your computer is off. If you want nothing to leave your own computer, a local desktop search will serve you better. The trial package covers 1,000 objects on up to two devices.

Copernic Desktop Search

Indexes files and emails on the PC, Windows 10 and 11. A separate server edition is available for a shared index. Single license from €25.99 per year, 30-day trial.

X1 Search

Desktop program with the index on the PC, Windows only. A local MCP connector connects Claude (Windows 11). $79 per year, 14-day trial.

Lookeen

Desktop search for Windows, including Outlook. A shared index is possible in the Premium edition, there without permission checks, or via a separate server. €9 to €25 per user per month with annual payment, 14-day trial.

dtSearch

Search program for large volumes of files, Windows. A shared index is stored on a network drive. Single license $249 one-off for up to two PCs, 30-day trial.

The overview in one table

“Not mentioned” means: the vendor does not describe it in its public documentation. That is no proof that it cannot be done – if in doubt, ask.

AI agents need a memory – who provides it

A language model can phrase and reason, but it knows nothing about your company. For an AI agent to deliver useful work, it needs a memory. Comparisons tend to mix up three kinds:

For work in a company, the second and third rows matter most. That is where the vendors differ clearly:

• The AI platforms bring their own agents, which run in the vendor's data center. Which tools an agent may use is configured on the agent at Copilot, Gemini and ChatGPT – and likewise at Glean.
• The specialists open their index to third-party agents via MCP. Sinequa, Coveo and Mindbreeze describe this access as read-only; Glean and Elastic also allow write actions.

At searchit, your data itself is the memory

• Memory of your data: File servers, mailboxes and line-of-business applications are indexed, enriched and broken down into people, companies, places and amounts. An agent queries this knowledge graph directly – it resolves names, finds neighbors and connection paths between two people or companies. The permission check sits in the graph itself.
• Shared knowledge without a second store: What the team should know together is already in the source systems. searchit does not create it anew and needs no second permission model – the permissions of the sources apply.
• An agent of its own that gets things done: The searchit AI Agent runs on the workstation (Windows, Linux, macOS) or centrally on a Windows terminal server, always under its user's login. You decide where it runs, not the vendor. It sorts emails in the mailbox, enters appointments and carries out scheduled tasks; recurring workflows can be stored with it once as a skill. On the workstation, it also operates web applications in the browser with its user's session. Before it sends an email, it asks and shows what is going out.
• Third-party agents with the same permissions: ChatGPT, Claude and Microsoft Copilot Studio access the index via MCP – read and write, for example to tag documents, send emails or create appointments. Cloud assistants need a searchit address reachable from the internet for this. Since Release 8.0, the Cockpit detects the agents on the workstation – Claude Code, OpenCode, Codex CLI, Cursor, VS Code and Gemini CLI – and shows how to connect them to searchit.
• Approval by user, not by agent: Which agents an employee may use and what they may do depends on that employee's roles. If the role for an action is missing, the server rejects it – no matter which agent is asking.

Keep in mind: What the searchit AI Agent remembers about its user amounts to roughly half a page of text and takes effect from the next session – when it comes to memory of the person, Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini are further ahead. Sorting emails and maintaining appointments and contacts works with on-premises Exchange, not with Microsoft 365. Central operation requires a Windows terminal server.

The difference that matters in 2026: local files

A large part of a company's knowledge is not on the file server but on employees' computers: draft quotes, exports, mail archives, the files of field staff and management. With almost all vendors, this part is left out – or it only gets in by a detour: a connector server, syncing to the vendor's cloud, your own development.

searchit takes the direct route: employees install the Click-Service themselves, choose their folders, and the files end up in the index of their searchit instance – in your own data center, on your own cloud machine or in the Personal Edition. An unplugged USB stick or a disconnected network drive deletes nothing from the index, and an interrupted transfer resumes where it stopped. Each result shows which device and which folder it comes from, and one click opens the file on your own computer.

Test it against your own data: in a demo, we show you the setup from download to first result.

Frequently asked questions

What is enterprise search?

Enterprise search is search across a company's entire data – file servers, mailboxes, SharePoint, Teams, databases and line-of-business applications – with a single search field. Unlike a website search, it takes each user's permissions into account. More on this: What is Enterprise AI Search? The next level of enterprise search

How much does enterprise search cost?

The range is wide: from €12.99 per user per month at amber (without AI search) through €26 per user per month for Microsoft 365 Copilot to €83,000 per year as the smallest tier at Mindbreeze. Many vendors only give prices on request. Pay attention to whether billing is per user or by data volume – with many users and a manageable amount of data, that makes a big difference.

Is enterprise search available on-premise?

Yes. searchit, IntraFind, Mindbreeze (as an appliance), intergator, Sinequa and Elastic can be run in your own data center. Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, amber and Coveo run their search in their cloud, Glean as SaaS.

Is enterprise search GDPR-compliant?

That depends less on the product than on operation and contract: Where is the index stored, who processes the data, is there a data processing agreement, and in which region do the language models run? If you run the index in-house, you answer the first question most easily. Functions for data subject access requests under Article 15 GDPR help – searchit and IntraFind include them.

How do local files get into enterprise search?

With most vendors only via a file server connected through a connector; with Microsoft 365 Copilot via a connector agent on your own Windows computer or by syncing to OneDrive. searchit ingests the folders on workstations directly: users install the Click-Service themselves and choose their folders.

What is the difference from Copilot or ChatGPT?

Copilot and ChatGPT are AI assistants that include search – strong in their own cloud. They reach in-house data only via a connector server and the vendor's cloud, or not at all. An enterprise search opens up exactly this data and can be connected to the assistants as a source. With searchit, your AI assistant then works across all your data with the permissions of the signed-in user.

Which enterprise search is suitable as a memory for AI agents?

One that opens up your in-house data, checks the permissions of the source systems on every query and connects third-party agents via MCP – ideally not just read-only. searchit connects ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot Studio and agents on the workstation such as Claude Code or Cursor, read and write, and brings an agent of its own, the searchit AI Agent, which works under its user's login. Which agents are allowed on the workstation and which actions an agent may carry out is defined by the administrator via roles.

How long does the rollout take?

For platforms with an appliance or Kubernetes, it is a project lasting weeks. The searchit Personal Edition is ready to use after registration and installation of the Click-Service; in a company installation, IT sets up the central sources and employees add their folders themselves.

Is there enterprise search for individuals?

Among the specialists, hardly so far: amber, IntraFind and Coveo require a company email address. The searchit Personal Edition is aimed explicitly at freelancers, solo self-employed, one-person businesses and executives; in addition, there are desktop search tools such as Copernic, X1, Lookeen and dtSearch for Windows.

Conclusion

The best enterprise search is the one that fits your data and your operating model. If you work entirely in Microsoft 365, start with Copilot. If you want to open up your in-house data, with the permissions of the source systems and in your own data center, compare the specialists. If you want AI agents – your own or third-party ones – to work with your organization's entire knowledge, with each user's permissions, look at MCP and at what the approvals are tied to. And if you want to include the folders on workstations without setting up a server – in a company or as an individual – you will find that at searchit today.

Run the test on your own data: Book a demo or learn more about searchit Enterprise Search. Individuals can go straight to the searchit Personal Edition.

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• Enterprise Search
• Enterprise Search
• Comparison
• On-premise
• GDPR
• AI