ThriftX vs Gem: which secondhand search app fits your hunt?

Gem casts the widest net. ThriftX goes deep on six peer-to-peer and consignment apps and, with AI Search, checks the photos for you. An honest comparison, written by one side.

The short version: Gem is the wider net. It searches what it describes as thousands of vintage and secondhand stores and marketplaces, runs on iPhone, iPad, Android and the web, gives you up to 120 free saved searches, and has been at it since 2019. As of its last public source list (a 2022 founder interview), that net reached eBay, Etsy, Grailed, Poshmark, The RealReal, Vestiaire Collective and a long tail of independent vintage shops; we could not confirm the current list. If your grail might be on Grailed or in a one-person vintage store, Gem was built to find it.

ThriftX is the deeper, narrower net: six apps where ordinary people and consignment warehouses list clothes — Depop, Poshmark, Vinted, eBay, Mercari and ThredUp. Gem's 2022 list said Depop was not included and did not mention Vinted, Mercari or ThredUp. You type what you want in plain language, an AI search reads the listing photos to confirm the match before you tap, cross-posted items show once at the cheapest price, and on paid plans a watch checks ThredUp and eBay every hour. iPhone only, for now. Which wins depends on where your item is hiding, and whether you want help judging listings or simply more of them.

What Gem does

Gem - Search Vintage, from Gem Search, LLC, is a free download with no price shown on its App Store listing as of October 2026. It is independent, around since 2019, and quoted on its listing by The New York Times, Vogue and New York Magazine. Apple's App Store feature on Gem cites over 150 million listings. It runs on iPhone, iPad, Apple Vision, Android and the web (gem.app).

The search is keyword search over listing titles, sharpened with filters: price, size, location, decade, gender and marketplace, plus Hide Sold and size conversion across 40+ international sizing systems. Photo search is a strength: snap or upload an image, add text and filters, save that image search with notifications, or tap Find Similar on a listing image; it also works with Apple Visual Intelligence and, on iOS 27, Siri. Saved searches are the quiet killer feature: up to 120, with push and email notifications. The App Store rating is 4.9 from roughly 980 ratings (October 2026).

Two honest gaps. Gem's own pages do not name the marketplaces it searches; the 2022 interview is the last public list we found, and it said Depop was not included then. And its listing does not describe any AI check of listing photos against your query, so we cannot say whether it does one.

What ThriftX does

ThriftX is ours; read accordingly. It is an iPhone app, launched in July 2026, that searches Depop, Poshmark, Vinted, eBay, Mercari and ThredUp at once. All six are peer-to-peer or consignment apps: ordinary closets rather than curated vintage dealers. It does not cover Grailed, Etsy, The RealReal or Vestiaire Collective, and there is no Android app, web search or browser extension yet.

You search in plain language: "90s carhartt detroit jacket under 60" is a complete query. Standard search is free and unlimited (50 a day fair use), no card. Photo search costs 2 credits. AI Search, at 4 credits, reads the listing photos to confirm a real match before you tap and says why; Thinking mode, at 15 credits, digs deeper. A jacket cross-posted to three apps shows once, at the cheapest listing, with "also on" prices.

Watches are included on every plan and never cost credits. Free gets one, checked daily; it pauses after 30 days and renews with a tap. Pro ($6.99 a month, 140 credits, about 35 AI searches) gets six and Power Thrifter ($19.99 a month, 400 credits) gets twelve, and paid-plan watches also check ThredUp and eBay every hour with an instant push. ThriftX is new, so we will not quote a rating count. Results are source-neutral: some marketplaces pay a small commission when you buy through our link, and it never changes results or ranking.

Side by side

Pick Gem if…

• Your hunt runs through Grailed, Etsy, The RealReal, Vestiaire Collective or independent vintage shops. Per its last public list (2022), those are in Gem's net, not ours.
• You are on Android or want to search from a laptop. ThriftX has neither yet.
• You want many free saved searches: Gem offers up to 120, our Free plan has one watch.
• You like filters as controls rather than words in a query.
• You value a track record: Gem since 2019, ThriftX since July 2026.

Pick ThriftX if…

• Your item is more likely in someone's closet on Depop, Vinted, Mercari or ThredUp, which Gem's 2022 list either excluded (Depop) or did not mention.
• You are tired of results that match the title but not the photos; AI Search reads the photos and says why it matched.
• You want the cheapest copy of a cross-posted item first, other prices beside it.
• You want hourly checks on ThredUp and eBay with an instant push (paid plans).
• You would rather type one plain sentence than build a filter stack.

Use both?

Yes, and for a serious hunt we would. Per Gem's 2022 list, the two overlap on eBay and Poshmark and little else. Set a Gem saved search for the designer and dealer end of the market and a ThriftX watch for the peer-to-peer apps, and the piece has fewer places to hide. Both are free to start.

Frequently asked

Is Gem free?

Gem's App Store listing shows a free download with no price (checked October 2026). ThriftX is also free; standard search is unlimited, and paid plans add AI-search credits and more watches.

Does Gem search Depop?

We could not confirm Gem's current source list; the last public one we found, a 2022 founder interview, said Depop was not included then. ThriftX searches Depop, plus Poshmark, Vinted, eBay, Mercari and ThredUp.

Can I use ThriftX and Gem together?

Yes. Gem's last public source list (2022) included Grailed, Etsy, The RealReal and Vestiaire Collective, which ThriftX does not cover. ThriftX covers Depop, Vinted, Mercari and ThredUp, checks listing photos with AI, and shows cross-posted items once at the cheapest price.