What it does
AntConc is a freeware corpus-analysis toolkit for concordancing and text analysis, with Windows, Mac and Linux releases.
Load a target corpus or open text files as a Quick Corpus, enter a query and choose whole-word, case-sensitive or regex matching before Start. The concordance shows hits with surrounding text; sort the lines or double-click a result to inspect its source context. Full Regex, where available, searches across document text and disables Words and Advanced Search for that run. Prepare the encoding carefully: a file that fails the default UTF-8 import needs resaving as UTF-8 or a matching encoding setting. Current 4.4.2 packages cover Windows, Apple Silicon Mac and Linux Flatpak; older platform packages are separate releases.
Strengths
- Corpus-level concordancing and analysis
- Downloads for three desktop platforms
Best for
- Inspecting how a word appears across documents
Sources
- index – Laurence Anthony's Website (Oct 26, 2026)
- AntConc desktop and corpus encoding prerequisites (Oct 26, 2026)
- AntConc4.4.2 KWIC workflow (Oct 26, 2026)