Affordable Alternatives to Hazel

Hazel is an automation utility that uses rules to automatically perform file operations on user-defined folder contents. It uses a variety of metadata to move, copy, compress, decompress, open, delete, rename, and sort files and folders automatically.

My Use Cases

• Sorting my documents folder by file type
• Renaming my photos by the date taken
• Opening DMG files and moving the contents to my Applications folder
• Decompressing ZIP and RAR files, and if they contain an app, moving it to the Applications folder
• Converting text files to markdown and moving them to the correct folder in Obsidian
• Converting downloaded HEIC images to JPG
• Reading PDF invoices and filing them by vendor
• Adding downloaded ebooks to Calibre
• Adding downloaded audiobooks to Audio Bookshelf
• Moving NZB and torrent files to the appropriate downloader

The primary drawback of using Hazel for some people is the price. A license is $42, and upgrades are typically about half of that. For what it does, I find that well worth it, but it's understandably steep for some folks.

Alternatives

• FolderTidy - Currently on sale for $5, FolderTidy is a tool anyone can use to perform quick sorts on any giant directories of files that seem overwhelming to tackle manually. It has built-in sorting rules for 19 different types of files, including folders. These rules can be toggled on or off, but you cannot edit them. In addition, you can make your own very granular rules. The example they give is representative of the power of the app: "Move all files with the extension 'DOCX' that contain the word 'invoice' and were last modified in the past year to a folder labeled 'Invoices.'"
• Spotless - Currently on sale at BundleHunt for $2.99, Spotless is pretty powerful in its own right. It features automated smart folders, scheduled tasks, drag-and-drop (on-demand) operations, unlimited tasks, a rules wizard for help in creating new tasks, a backup feature, conflict management, a detailed history, and a choice between silent and confirmed operations.
• Sortio - Currently on sale for $12.99 at the dev's website and the Mac App Store, Sortio uses AI to let you describe the task you want to accomplish, whereupon it creates the rules itself. There is a slight learning curve. For example, when sorting a folder, I said I wanted them organized by file type, and it grouped all the images together. What I actually wanted was the files organized by extension, so I had to rephrase the request. Thankfully, Sortio gives you a preview of every action, so you always have a safety net.
• Folder Actions - Folder Actions is a built-in macOS feature that allows you to attach scripts to a folder, triggering actions automatically when the folder's contents change. When files are added, removed, or modified, macOS runs an assigned AppleScript or Automator action without any clicks. It's effective for tasks like renaming files, sorting downloads, or initiating workflows, but it only supports AppleScript/Automator and hasn't changed much over the years.