Do I have to import my collection?

No. Point a store at the folders you already have; nothing is moved, renamed or rewritten, and removing Grain later leaves your folders exactly as they were.

Is there a subscription?

No. The download is free for three stores, and a licence for unlimited stores is a single payment.

Does the search upload my files anywhere?

No. The optional models download once, run on your own machine, and nothing leaves it: not your files, not thumbnails, not fingerprints.

Grain as an Eagle alternative

Eagle is a strong local library with serious search. What it does not have is a canvas: somewhere to lay references out side by side, compare, arrange and think. Grain is both halves in one window.

The half Eagle has never had: a freeform canvas to lay reference out on, compare and think.

	Grain	Eagle
Arranging	Freeform infinite canvas per store, grid when you want it	Grid browsing; no freeform canvas
Where files live	In your own folders, untouched; Grain only indexes them	Imported into Eagle’s own library bundle
Search	Tags, colours, text, and on-device search by meaning for images and audio	Tags, colours, shapes, and on-device search by description
Audio	Waveforms on the canvas, and spoken recordings transcribed into search	Kept and previewed
Formats	Images, audio, video embeds, webpage links, 3D models and markdown notes	Very broad; ninety-plus file formats
Price	Free for three stores; one payment for everything, forever	One-time purchase with free updates

What Eagle still does better

The breadth of formats. Eagle reads ninety-plus file formats, far more than Grain, and its library has had years to mature. If your work is mostly collecting and browsing, Eagle is excellent; Grain’s case begins when you want to arrange and think on a canvas without handing your files to a library bundle.

Questions

Do I have to import my collection?: No. Point a store at the folders you already have; nothing is moved, renamed or rewritten, and removing Grain later leaves your folders exactly as they were.
Is there a subscription?: No. The download is free for three stores, and a licence for unlimited stores is a single payment.
Does the search upload my files anywhere?: No. The optional models download once, run on your own machine, and nothing leaves it: not your files, not thumbnails, not fingerprints.

Try it on your own folders

The download is free for three stores with every feature included, and nothing is imported anywhere: point it at a folder and it is a store.

Download for macOS Download for Windows Buy a licence

Free download · macOS 12+ (Apple Silicon) · Windows 10/11 (x64) · Licence: €20 one-time

Still deciding? Grain compared with PureRef.