Comparison of file managers
The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of notable file managers.
General information
| Name | Creator | First public version | Latest stable version | Cost | Software license |
| Altap Salamander | Altap | ||||
| Commander One | Eltima Software | ||||
| CRAX Commander | Soft4U2 | ||||
| Directory Opus | Jonathan Potter, GPSoftware | Amiga: v1 Windows: v6 | |||
| Dired | integral part of Emacs, part of the GNU project | 1974? | |||
| Documents by Readdle | Readdle | ||||
| Dolphin | KDE | ||||
| DOS Navigator | Ritlabs | 1991 | 1999 | ||
| DOS Shell | Microsoft / IBM | 1988 | 1998 | ||
| Double Commander | Alexander Koblov and others | 2007 | |||
| emelFM2 | tooar | ||||
| Explorer++ | David Ercig | ||||
| Far Manager | Eugene Roshal ; Far Group | 1996 | |||
| File Commander | Brian Havard | 1993 | |||
| File Explorer | Microsoft | ||||
| File Manager | Microsoft | 1990 | |||
| Files | Apple Inc. | ||||
| Files by Google | Google LLC | ||||
| GeoManager | Berkeley Softworks, Breadbox Ensemble | 1990 | 2009 | ||
| Finder | Apple Inc. | ||||
| fman | Michael Herrmann | ||||
| ForkLift | BinaryNights | ||||
| gentoo | Emil Brink | ||||
| GNOME Commander | GNOME Commander | ||||
| GNOME Files | Eazel | ||||
| Konqueror | KDE | ||||
| Krusader | Krusader Krew | ||||
| Midnight Commander | GNU Midnight Commander | < May 1994 | |||
| muCommander | Maxence Bernard | ||||
| Nemo | Linux Mint | December 11, 2018 | |||
| Nomad.NET | Eugene Sichkar | ||||
| Norton Commander | Peter Norton Computing, later Symantec corporation | 1986 | |||
| Path Finder | Cocoatech | ||||
| PathMinder | Albert Nurick and Brittain Fraley | 1984 | 1988 | ||
| PCManFM | Hong Jen Yee | ||||
| PC Shell | Central Point Software | 1986 | |||
| ROX-Filer | Thomas Leonard et al. | Before | |||
| SpaceFM | IgnorantGuru | ||||
| STDU Explorer | STDUtility | ||||
| Tabbles | Yellow blue soft UAB | ||||
| Thunar | Xfce | ||||
| Total Commander | Christian Ghisler | ||||
| ViewMAX | Digital Research / Novell | 1990 | 1993 | ||
| Volkov Commander | Vsevolod Volkov | circa 1992 | |||
| WinSCP | WinSCP | ||||
| Xandros File Manager | Xandros Corporation | ||||
| Xfe | Roland Baudin | 2002 | |||
| Xfile | Rixstep | ||||
| Xfm | Simon Marlow, Albert Gräf, Till Straumann, Robert Vogelgesang, Juan D. Martin | 1992 | |||
| xplorer² | Nikos Bozinis | ||||
| XTree | Jeffery C. Johnson | ||||
| XYplorer | Donald Lessau | 1997 | |||
| ZTreeWin | Kim Henkel | 1996 | |
Operating system support
Cross-platform file managers
This table shows the operating systems that the file managers can run on, without emulation.| File manager | DOS | OS/2 & eCS | Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | BSD | Unix | AmigaOS | OpenVMS |
| Directory Opus | |||||||||
| Dired | |||||||||
| Dolphin | |||||||||
| Double Commander | |||||||||
| DOS Navigator | |||||||||
| emelFM2 | |||||||||
| File Commander | |||||||||
| fman | |||||||||
| GNOME Commander | |||||||||
| Konqueror | |||||||||
| Krusader | |||||||||
| Midnight Commander | |||||||||
| muCommander | |||||||||
| nnn | |||||||||
| GNOME Files | |||||||||
| Nemo | |||||||||
| PathMinder | |||||||||
| PCManFM | |||||||||
| Ranger | |||||||||
| ROX-Filer | |||||||||
| Thunar | |||||||||
| Total Commander | |||||||||
| Volkov Commander | |||||||||
| Xandros File Manager | |||||||||
| Xfe | |||||||||
| Xfm | |||||||||
| ZTreeWin | |||||||||
| File manager | DOS | OS/2 & eCS | Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | BSD | Unix | AmigaOS | OpenVMS |
Mac-only file managers
- Finder
- ForkLift
- Path Finder
- Xfile
- Commander One
- CRAX Commander
*nix-only file managers
- emelFM2
- Gentoo file manager
- Konqueror
- Krusader
- nnn
- Nautilus
- Nemo
- PCMan File Manager
- Ranger
- ROX-Filer
- Thunar
- SpaceFM
Windows-only file managers
- Altap Salamander
- Directory Opus
- Explorer++
- File Manager
- Nomad.NET
- PowerDesk
- SE-Explorer
- STDU Explorer
- Total Commander
- File Explorer
- xplorer²
- XYplorer
- ZTreeWin
iOS-only file managers
- Files
- Documents by Readdle
Android-only file managers
- Files by Google
- Ghost Commander
Manager views
Note that the "Column View" does not refer to the Miller Columns browsing / visualization technique that can be applied to tree structures / folders.
| File manager | Family | UI | Icon view | List view | Column view | Thumbnails | Details + Thumbs | Grouping | Content dependent | Twin panel | Favorites / Bookmark | Panel tabs |
| Altap Salamander | Orthodox | GUI | ||||||||||
| Commander One | Orthodox | GUI | ||||||||||
| CRAX Commander | Orthodox | GUI | ||||||||||
| Demos Commander | Orthodox | Text | ||||||||||
| Directory Opus | Orthodox | GUI | ||||||||||
| Dired | Orthodox | Text | , on GUI | , on GUI | , one or more | |||||||
| Documents by Readdle | GUI | |||||||||||
| Dolphin | Navigational | GUI | ||||||||||
| Double Commander | Orthodox | GUI | ||||||||||
| DOS Navigator | Orthodox | Text | ||||||||||
| emelFM2 | Orthodox | GUI | ||||||||||
| FAR Manager | Orthodox | Text | ||||||||||
| File Commander | Orthodox | Text | ||||||||||
| File Manager | Orthodox | GUI | ||||||||||
| Files | GUI | |||||||||||
| Files by Google | GUI | |||||||||||
| Finder | GUI | , with Cover Flow | ||||||||||
| ForkLift | Orthodox | GUI | ||||||||||
| gentoo | Orthodox | GUI | ||||||||||
| GNOME Commander | Orthodox | GUI | ||||||||||
| Konqueror | GUI | |||||||||||
| Krusader | Orthodox | GUI | ||||||||||
| Midnight Commander | Orthodox | Text | ||||||||||
| GNOME Files | GUI | |||||||||||
| Nemo | GUI | ,press | ||||||||||
| Nomad.NET | Orthodox | GUI | , Manual | , Shared | ||||||||
| Path Finder | Navigational | GUI | ||||||||||
| PCManFM | Navigational | GUI | ||||||||||
| ROX-Filer | Spatial | GUI | ||||||||||
| STDU Explorer | Navigational | GUI | ||||||||||
| Total Commander | Orthodox | GUI | In viewing | |||||||||
| Thunar | Navigational | GUI | ||||||||||
| Volkov Commander | Orthodox | Text | ||||||||||
| Windows Explorer | GUI | |||||||||||
| Xandros File Manager | Navigational | GUI | ||||||||||
| Xfe | Hybrid Navigational | GUI | ||||||||||
| Xfm | Spatial | GUI | ||||||||||
| xplorer² | Hybrid Navigational / Orthodox | GUI | ||||||||||
| XYplorer | Hybrid Navigational / Orthodox | GUI | ||||||||||
| ZTreeWin | Orthodox | Text | ||||||||||
| File manager | Family | UI | Icon view | List view | Column view | Thumbnails | Details + Thumbs | Grouping | Content dependent | Twin panel | Favorites / Bookmark | Panel tabs |
Twin-panel file managers have obligatory connected panels where action in one panel results in reaction in the second. Konqueror supports multiple panels divided horizontally, vertically or both, but these panels do not act as twin panels by default.
Network protocols
Information on what networking protocols the file managers support. Note that many of these protocols might be supported, in part or in whole, by software layers below the file manager, rather than by the file manager itself; for example, the macOS Finder doesn't implement those protocols, and the Windows Explorer doesn't implement most of them, they just make ordinary file system calls to access remote files, and Konqueror either uses ordinary file system calls or KIO slave calls to access remote files. Some functions, such as browsing for servers or shares, might be implemented in the file manager even if most functions are implemented below the file manager.| File manager | SMB/CIFS | WebDAV | NFS | AFP | FTP | FISH/SSH |
| Altap Salamander | ||||||
| Commander One | ||||||
| CRAX Commander | ||||||
| Directory Opus | ||||||
| Dired | ||||||
| Documents by Readdle | ||||||
| Dolphin | ||||||
| Double Commander | ||||||
| emelFM2 | ||||||
| Far Manager | ||||||
| File Commander | ||||||
| File Manager | ||||||
| Files | ||||||
| Files by Google | ||||||
| Finder | ||||||
| ForkLift | ||||||
| GNOME Commander | ||||||
| Konqueror | ||||||
| Krusader | ||||||
| muCommander | ||||||
| Midnight Commander | ||||||
| GNOME Files | ||||||
| Nemo | ? | ? | ? | |||
| Nomad.NET | ||||||
| Path Finder | ||||||
| PCManFM | ||||||
| ROX-Filer | ||||||
| Total Commander | ||||||
| Thunar | ||||||
| Windows Explorer | ||||||
| Xandros File Manager | ||||||
| Xfe | ||||||
| Xfm | ||||||
| xplorer² | ||||||
| XYplorer | ||||||
| ZTreeWin | ||||||
| File manager | SMB/CIFS | WebDAV | NFS | AFP | FTP | FISH/SSH |
File features
Information on what basic file features the file managers support.Browsing features
Search features
Information on what file searching features the file managers support. RegExp include the possibilities of nested Boolean searches, thus implicitly all file managers supporting RegExp search support also Boolean searches.| File manager | File Name | File Contents | Basic metadata search | All metadata search | RegExp for Contents | Boolean | Fuzzy logic | Save searches | Refined searches |
| Altap Salamander | |||||||||
| Commander One | |||||||||
| CRAX Commander | |||||||||
| Directory Opus | |||||||||
| Dired | |||||||||
| Documents by Readdle | |||||||||
| Dolphin | |||||||||
| Double Commander | |||||||||
| emelFM2 | |||||||||
| FAR Manager | |||||||||
| File Commander | |||||||||
| Files | |||||||||
| Files by Google | |||||||||
| Finder | |||||||||
| ForkLift | |||||||||
| Konqueror | |||||||||
| Krusader | |||||||||
| GNOME Files | |||||||||
| Nemo | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Nomad.NET | |||||||||
| Path Finder | |||||||||
| PCManFM | |||||||||
| ROX-Filer | |||||||||
| Total Commander | |||||||||
| Windows Explorer | |||||||||
| Xandros File Manager | |||||||||
| Xfe | |||||||||
| Xfile | |||||||||
| Xfm | |||||||||
| xplorer² | |||||||||
| XYplorer | |||||||||
| ZTreeWin | |||||||||
| File manager | File Name | File Contents | Basic metadata search | All metadata search | RegExp for Contents | Boolean | Fuzzy logic | Save searches | Refined searches |
Column Definitions
Entry Notes
Extensibility
Information on which parts of the application can be extended by plugins.| File manager | Filesystem support | Attribute columns | File previews | Metadata indexing | Unicode support | Visual Themes |
| Altap Salamander | ||||||
| Commander One | ||||||
| CRAX Commander | ||||||
| Directory Opus | ||||||
| Dired | ||||||
| Documents by Readdle | ||||||
| Dolphin | ||||||
| Double Commander | ||||||
| emelFM2 | ||||||
| Far Manager | ||||||
| Files | ||||||
| Files by Google | ||||||
| Finder | ||||||
| ForkLift | ||||||
| Konqueror | ||||||
| Krusader | ||||||
| Midnight Commander | ||||||
| GNOME Files | ||||||
| Nemo | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Nomad.NET | ||||||
| Path Finder | ||||||
| PCManFM | ||||||
| ROX-Filer | ||||||
| Total Commander | In search tool | |||||
| Windows Explorer | ||||||
| Xandros File Manager | ||||||
| Xfe | ||||||
| Xfile | ||||||
| Xfm | ||||||
| xplorer² | ||||||
| XYplorer | ||||||
| ZTreeWin | ||||||
| File manager | Filesystem support | Attribute columns | File previews | Metadata indexing | Unicode support | Visual Themes |