ranger AlternativesFile Managers and other similar apps like ranger

ranger is described as 'Terminal file manager with VI key bindings. It provides a minimalistic and nice curses interface with a view on the directory hierarchy. The secondary task of ranger is to psychically guess which program you want to use for opening particular files' and is a popular File Manager in the development category. There are more than 25 alternatives to ranger for a variety of platforms, including Linux, Mac, Windows, BSD and Android apps. The best ranger alternative is Double Commander, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like ranger are Spacedrive, Dolphin File Manager, Midnight Commander and Thunar.

ranger iconranger
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Terminal file manager with VI key bindings. It provides a minimalistic and nice curses interface with a view on the...

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ranger alternatives page was last updated Jul 25, 2024
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  1. Double Commander icon
     574 likes
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    Open-source file manager with dual-panel interface, inspired by Total Commander. Supports plugin use, advanced search, tabbed browsing, and runs smoothly with background operations. Unicode and multi-platform compatibility enhance its versatility.

    132 Double Commander alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • RU flagRussia

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD

    Properties

    1.  Configurable
    2.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Dual Pane Support
    2.  Two-panel file manager
    3.  Folder Sync
    4.  TC plug-in's support
    5.  Batch Rename Files
    6.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    7.  File Comparison
    8.  Multiplatform
    9.  Portable
    10.  File Sync
    11.  Ad-free
    12.  Multiple Files Renaming

    Double Commander VS ranger

     
    • Double Commander is the most popular Windows, Mac & Linux alternative to ranger.

    • Double Commander is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to ranger.

    • Double Commander is Free and Open Sourceranger is also Free and Open Source
  2. Spacedrive icon
     139 likes
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    Organize files across many devices in one place. From cloud services to offline hard drives, Spacedrive combines the storage capacity and processing power of your devices into one personal distributed cloud, that is both secure and intuitive to use.

    74 Spacedrive alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    Discontinued

    The development has been paused for now.

    Properties

    1.  Privacy focused
    2.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Filesystem
    2.  Dark Mode
    3.  Rust
    4.  File Tagging
    5.  Image Preview
    6.  Cross-Platform
    7.  No Tracking
    8.  Works Offline
    9.  Ad-free
    10.  No registration required
    11. Git icon  Git Support
    12.  Live Preview

    Spacedrive VS ranger

     
  3. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Dolphin is a file manager for KDE focusing on usability. Has three view modes: Icon, Detail and it used to have Column View like in Finder (it is not available in current version due to problems with maintaibility). Supports FTP, SCP and other protocols. Highly configurable.

    76 Dolphin File Manager alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • KDE Plasma
    • Flathub

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  Split-screen view
    2.  Tree view
    3.  File preview
    4.  Built-in terminal emulation
    5. KDE Plasma icon  KDE Plasma integration
    6.  Network protocols
    7.  Ad-free
    8.  Works Offline
    9.  No Tracking
    10.  Batch Rename Files
    11.  No registration required
    12.  Portable

    Dolphin File Manager VS ranger

     
  4. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    GNU Midnight Commander is a visual file manager, licensed under GNU General Public License and therefore qualifies as Free Software. Its a feature rich full-screen text mode application that allows you to copy, move and delete files and whole directory trees, search for files...

    103 Midnight Commander alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Cygwin
    • MacPorts

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Minimalistic

    Features

    1.  Console-based
    2.  Support for FTP
    3.  Dual Pane Support
    4.  Two panels
    5.  Support for SFTP
    6.  SSH
    7.  Mounting drives

    Midnight Commander VS ranger

     
    Comments about Midnight Commander as an Alternative to ranger
    Guest
    Positive Sep 18, 2022
    0

    It also runs on the console, but it is not based on vim-style keybindings, so navigation is more traditional while ranger & lf (below) focuses on keyboard usage efficiency

    ranger Icon
    Midnight Commander icon
    • Midnight Commander is Free and Open Sourceranger is also Free and Open Source
    • Midnight Commander is Lightweightranger is not according to our users
  5. Thunar icon
     143 likes
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    Thunar is a modern file manager for the Xfce Desktop Environment. Thunar has been designed from the ground up to be fast and easy-to-use. Its user interface is clean, intuitive, and customizable. Thunar is fast and responsive with a good start up time and directory load time.

    85 Thunar alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Xfce
    • MacPorts
    • XQuartz

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Support for Keyboard Shortcuts
    2.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    3.  Custom Actions
    4.  Ad-free
    5.  No registration required
    6.  Live Preview
    7.  Works Offline
    8.  Dark Mode
    9.  Batch Rename Files
    10.  File Tagging
    11.  Built-in viewer
    12.  Integrated Search

    Thunar VS ranger

     
    Comments about Thunar as an Alternative to ranger
    RemovedUser
    Negative Oct 5, 2021
    1

    This is not CLI this is GUI, can't compare this to Ranger ^_^

    ranger Icon
    Thunar icon
    • Thunar is Free and Open Sourceranger is also Free and Open Source
    • Thunar is Lightweightranger is not according to our users
  6. Superfile icon
     24 likes
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    Pretty fancy and modern terminal file manager.

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • International

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • Windows

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Support for Themes
    3.  Privacy focused
    4.  Customizable

    Features

    1.  Terminal-based
    2.  Two panels
    3.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    4.  Dark Mode
    5.  No Tracking
    6.  Command line interface
    7.  Works Offline
    8.  No registration required
    9.  Ad-free
    10.  Support for Keyboard Shortcuts
    11.  Split-screen view
    12.  Support for Hotkeys

    Superfile VS ranger

     
  7. muCommander icon
     124 likes
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    muCommander is a lightweight, cross-platform file manager with a dual-pane interface. It runs on any operating system with Java support (Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, *BSD, Solaris...).

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • FR flagFrance
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • BSD
    • Java

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Support for Themes

    Features

    1.  Dark Mode
    2.  No registration required
    3.  No Coding Required
    4.  Works Offline
    5.  Portable
    6.  Ad-free
    7.  Dual Pane Support
    8.  Java based
    9.  SSH

    muCommander VS ranger

     
    • muCommander is the most popular Web-based alternative to ranger.

    • muCommander is Free and Open Sourceranger is also Free and Open Source
    • muCommander is Lightweightranger is not according to our users
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    Terminal file manager written in Go (programming language).

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • TR flagTürkiye

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • FreeBSD
    • DragonFly BSD
    • NetBSD

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Portable
    2.  Works Offline
    3.  Ad-free
    4.  Run in console
    5.  Console-based
    6.  Tui

    lf (file manager) VS ranger

     
  9. fman icon
     233 likes
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    The most modern dual-pane file manager. For Windows, Mac and Linux.

    105 fman alternatives

    License model

    • FreemiumProprietary

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux

    fman Features

    1.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    2.  Plugin API
    3.  Dual Pane Support
    4.  Keyboard Shortcuts

    fman VS ranger

     
  10. yazi icon
     5 likes
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    Yazi (means "duck") is a terminal file manager written in Rust, based on non-blocking async I/O. It aims to provide an efficient, user-friendly, and customizable file management experience.

    7 yazi alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • CN flagChina

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Arch Linux
    • Windows
    • Mac

    yazi Features

    1.  Tui
    2.  Rust

    yazi VS ranger

     
  11. Vifm icon
     23 likes
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    Vifm is a file manager with curses interface, which provides Vi[m]-like environment for managing objects within file systems, extended with some useful ideas from mutt.

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • International

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux

    Vifm Features

    1.  Works Offline
    2.  Command line interface
    3.  No Tracking
    4.  Terminal-based
    5.  Vim Key Mapping

    Vifm VS ranger

     
  12. nnn icon
     16 likes
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    Initially forked from noice file browser, nnn is a super fast and resource-sensitive, terminal-based file browser.

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • IN flagIndia

    Platforms

    • Linux

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Console-based
    2.  Bookmarks

    nnn VS ranger

     
    Comments about nnn as an Alternative to ranger
    Rodney42
    Positive Dec 17, 2019
    1

    Uses a standard mime type opener not its own. Fast. Minimal configuration needed.

    ranger Icon
    nnn icon
    • nnn is Free and Open Sourceranger is also Free and Open Source
    • nnn is Lightweightranger is not according to our users
12 of 34 ranger alternatives