Windows Search reads inside documents when indexed. Useful when you remember a phrase, not the title. Most days I remember invoice_march or backup_config — content scanning is slower and noisier.
Filename indexers do one job. Type a fragment, see matches live, open path. No web results, no news tiles.
Speed scales with scope
Full-text parses PDFs and Office files. Indexes grow. Filename tools read metadata already on disk via MFT — skip content parsers. Half a million files, difference is immediate.
When full-text still wins
Legal discovery. Archives where titles are meaningless. I keep Windows content search for Documents, filename tool for everything else. Two systems, zero guilt.
See also: The Windows search bar isn't enough — and that's fine, Windows 11 search settings actually worth changing.