Elephas vs Fenn on Mac, which private AI fits your work

Choosing a private AI tool on macOS comes down to one question, do you want a writing and knowledge assistant for everywhere you type, or do you want an on-device agent that can answer complex questions about your files and open the exact place inside them. This comparison explains what Elephas and Fenn do, how they handle privacy, and when to pick each one.

Quick verdict for busy buyers

• Pick Fenn if you want an on-device AI agent that can handle complex, criteria based queries, search and analyze your local files, then open the exact page, slide, frame, or timestamp that matches.

• Pick Elephas if you want a system wide writing assistant and Q&A over your notes and documents with quick rewrite and summarize actions in the apps you already use.

What Elephas is

Elephas is a Mac writing and knowledge assistant. It lets you build a personal knowledge base from your notes and documents, then chat and search across that content. It overlays tools across the system to rewrite, summarize, and reply, which makes it useful inside Mail, Notes, and other apps. On iPhone and iPad, Elephas provides a companion app and keyboard.

Day to day effect: ask questions about your own materials and get answers with references, then use writing tools to polish text where you work.

What Fenn is

Fenn is an AI powered file search engine and private agent for macOS. It searches inside PDFs, slides, images, audio, and video, then opens the exact moment you need, a specific page, slide number, text inside an image, audio timestamp, or video frame. You choose the folders to index, then search with a keyboard shortcut in Semantic, Keyword, or Hybrid mode. Fenn is on-device by default for privacy.

Agentic search, what this changes: you can use complex natural language with constraints and thresholds, for example

• “Matters that claim damages over €150,000 for burglary victims”

• “Decks that mention competitor pricing and a 2025 date”

• “Transcripts where ‘latency regression’ appears near P95 above 200 ms”

Fenn finds matching files, analyzes them locally, shows context rich results, then opens each file at the precise page or timestamp so you can act.

Coming soon: Chat mode in Fenn will let you chat with your indexed data on your Mac, private by default. This keeps retrieval and answers in one place without sending your files away.

Head to head

Fenn’s agentic search in practice

Ask naturally, include constraints
Use amounts, entities, dates, jurisdictions, or sections in one sentence. Fenn interprets the criteria and searches the right sources.

Review results with context
See snippets that include the number, name, statute, figure caption, or quote. You can confirm relevance without opening every file.

Open at the exact place
Press Return to open your default PDF viewer on the right page, your deck on the exact slide, or your media at the timestamp. No manual scrolling.

Refine and narrow
If the set is broad, add a qualifier, for example a year, a party name, or an offense subtype. Run again and go straight to the moments that matter.

Privacy and data control

Elephas stores your knowledge locally and lets you choose how prompts are processed. It is designed for writing and Q&A across notes and documents.

Fenn indexes and analyzes on device by default. Your files stay on your Mac during search and retrieval. This is a strong fit for confidential work where you cannot upload client material.

Performance on Apple Silicon

Both tools are optimized for modern Macs.

• Elephas feels fastest when you want quick rewrite or summarize actions while you type.

• Fenn feels fastest when you want instant jumps to exact pages or timestamps in large PDFs and long recordings, and when you run criteria based searches over many files.

Jobs to be done, by role

Lawyers and legal ops

• Ask for matters that meet thresholds, parties, statutes, and dates. Fenn returns matches and opens the page that proves the point. Use criteria based prompts and land on the right clause.

Researchers and analysts

• Jump to figures, tables, methods, and quotes across papers and reports. Ask for combinations, for example method names plus result ranges.

Finance and audits

• Search vendor names or amounts across scanned exports and monthly PDFs. Fenn opens at the line that matters so you can verify and move on.

Product and design

• Find a slide by number or topic, or the spec paragraph you remember. Open, copy, ship.

Pricing and licensing

Elephas is sold as a tiered subscription, check their current plans.
Fenn offers a Local plan at 9 USD per month billed annually and a Lifetime license at 199 USD one time.

Which one should you choose

• Choose Fenn if your bottleneck is finding answers in your files with complex criteria and opening the exact place quickly.

• Choose Elephas if your bottleneck is writing and quick Q&A that follows you across apps.

Most professional teams start by removing the search bottleneck. If your work depends on what is inside PDFs, slides, screenshots, and recordings, Fenn’s agentic search will save the most time today. With Chat mode coming soon, you will be able to ask follow up questions right inside Fenn, private and on device.