Software Alternatives & Reviews

Spotlight VS SelfControl

Compare Spotlight VS SelfControl and see what are their differences

Spotlight logo Spotlight

With Spotlight, you can find apps, documents, and other files on your Mac. And with Spotlight Suggestions, you can also get news, sports, movies, weather, and more.

SelfControl logo SelfControl

V2 updates! - Custom time interval for distraction free mode - Ability to turn off ' always on' mode - Improved UI -- Self Control -- A simple app to keep you focused online by blocking sites that you spend way too much time on.
  • Spotlight Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-01
  • SelfControl Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-19

Spotlight videos

Spotlight - Movie Review

More videos:

  • Review - Spotlight Official Movie Review
  • Review - How Spotlight Dramatizes Good Journalism

SelfControl videos

How to block websites that distract you ? Selfcontrol [Mac App review and tutorial]

More videos:

  • Review - SelfControl Review - Block distracting websites

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Spotlight and SelfControl)
Productivity
39 39%
61% 61
Time Tracking
0 0%
100% 100
App Launcher
100 100%
0% 0
Music
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Spotlight and SelfControl

Spotlight Reviews

Looking For Spotlight for Windows 10? Here Are Five Alternatives
However, Spotlight comes inbuilt with MacOS and I do really miss it on my Windows laptop. But, the problem is Windows works with NTFS and indexing on Apple File System (APFS) is far better. So it’s not possible to get a perfect replacement for Spotlight. But that doesn’t stop me and in the scout to get Spotlight for Windows 10, I found out some solid alternatives apps.
Source: techwiser.com

SelfControl Reviews

We have no reviews of SelfControl yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, SelfControl seems to be a lot more popular than Spotlight. While we know about 75 links to SelfControl, we've tracked only 5 mentions of Spotlight. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Spotlight mentions (5)

  • Just bought my first Mac/Apple device (Macbook Air M2)
    I want to add another tip: learn to use Spotlight Search to launch apps, search for files or make google queries. To do so, type COMMAND + SPACEBAR. Down the road, once you get comfortable with Spotlight Search, you can replace it with alternative apps like Alfred or Raycast. Using the keyboard to launch apps and open files, from anywhere, takes macOS to another level of mind-meld. Highly recommend. Source: about 1 year ago
  • First time at a Mac/Google shop - teach me your ways
    Spotlight Search - The equivalent of searching in the start menu on a PC, but it actually works. Source: over 1 year ago
  • macOS using 7 cores and 19 gigs of ram to perform subtraction
    It seems they are using it as intended. Apple lists what op does as a supported usecase.. https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/spotlight-mchlp1008/mac. Source: over 2 years ago
  • App disappeared on Mac
    Hi there, sorry to hear that. It's possible that the app has disappeared from the dock after updating to the latest stable version that was released today (v3.8.0) but should still be in the list of apps that you have installed or discoverable via Spotlight. If it's still not there, please let us know. You should be able to install it from the downloads page and it should retain your preferences, but create a... Source: almost 3 years ago
  • The right way to use Finder?
    One other thing I forgot to mention is Spotlight. As long as you know the name of file or folder (or other details) you can find it quickly with Spotlight. Just click the magnifying glass in the menu bar, or press CMD + Space. Source: almost 3 years ago

SelfControl mentions (75)

  • My 30-Year Quitting Addiction
    There is a free and open source app called SelfControl for macOS. It allows one to block access to any site one adds to the list in the app for the amount of time the user chooses. Attempt to use multiple browsers, restarting one's machine, deleting the app, etc. won't get around the block either. It's been super helpful for me, so I thought I'd just throw it out there. https://selfcontrolapp.com. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • App to prevent distractions at work
    It is SelfControl. It is open-source and free. You select the website you want to block and the time. The moment you click the button no matter what you do, you can forget about accessing those websites until the time is over; there is no cancel button. Restarted mac won't work, you can delete the app no luck. Source: 5 months ago
  • App to prevent distractions at work
    The SelfControl app lets you specify web sites that will be blocked. When you run the app, you specify a countdown timer, during which time those apps will be inaccessible. Source: 5 months ago
  • Finals season
    - https://selfcontrolapp.com/ this is free app. block off all social media and time wasters .. Only for mac. if there is nothing to be distracted... IMO I eventually be bored and I was able to get into the zone... Not right away... But I told my self... Today I study... And I stay in the study room. Source: 5 months ago
  • Looking for the right app
    Apps I have tried and are not enough: - https://heyfocus.com/ - https://freedom.to/ - https://selfcontrolapp.com/ - https://www.forestapp.cc/ - https://www.rescuetime.com/. Source: 6 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Spotlight and SelfControl, you can also consider the following products

Raycast - Fastest way to control Jira, GitHub and other web apps

Cold Turkey - Cold Turkey is a free productivity program that you can use to temporarily block distractions so that you can get your work done!

Alfred - Alfred is an award-winning app for macOS which boosts your efficiency with hotkeys, keywords, text expansion and more. Search your Mac and the web, and be more productive with custom actions to control your Mac.

Focus - New Tab page that gives you a moment of calm and inspires you to be more productive.

eesel - The new tab for work

Freedom.to - Freedom is a productivity hack that lets you block apps, websites or the entire Internet on iPhones, iPads, Windows and Mac computers.