manycommander

compared

What manycommander does differently from mc, ranger, yazi, nnn and lf, read from each project's own documentation: panels and keys, archives and servers as panels, the copy and trash guarantees, and the live theme.

Each cell reads the project's own main documentation, on the date in the sources below. The values:

ValueMeaning
built inthe documentation describes it as part of the program
externalthe documentation offers it through a plugin, a script or another program
partialthe documentation describes part of it, or a related feature
not documentedthe documentation read does not describe it; the feature may exist in a plugin, a later release or a page not read

"Not documented" is a statement about the documentation, never about the program. A correction with a source is welcome as an issue.

The table#

manycommandermcrangeryazinnnlf
Two panels side by sidebuilt inbuilt inpartial: a multi-pane view modenot documentednot documented: contexts show one directory at a timenot documented
F-key verbs (F3 view, F5 copy, F6 move, F8 delete)built inbuilt innot documentednot documentednot documentednot documented: vi and readline keys
Tabs in a panelbuilt innot documentedbuilt inbuilt inbuilt in: contextsleft to the window manager or multiplexer, by design
Archives browsed as directoriesbuilt in: zip, tar, compressed tar, 7zbuilt in: tar and zip through the VFSexternal: previewed with atool or bsdtarpartial: archive preview and extractionpartial: mount with FUSE, extract, listnot documented
SFTP through your own ssh configurationbuilt in: config, keys, agent, ProxyJumpbuilt in: sftp file system; ~/.ssh/config not documentednot documentedpartial: a virtual file system for remote filesexternal: sshfs or rclone mountsnot documented
Pictures in the terminalbuilt in: kitty graphics, Sixel, halfblocksnot documentedexternal: w3m, ueberzug, kitty, iTerm2built in: kitty, iTerm2, Sixel, Überzug++external: a thumbnail pluginexternal: a previewer script
Find by name and contentbuilt inbuilt innot documentedpartial: ripgrep and fd integrationpartial: a search pluginnot documented: search matches names
Multi-rename with a preview and undobuilt innot documentedbuilt in: bulk renamebuilt in: bulk renamebuilt in: batch renamenot documented
Delete to the freedesktop.org trashbuilt innot documentednot documentedbuilt in: trash binpartial: integration with a trash utilitynot documented
A copy written under a temporary name and renamed into placebuilt innot documentednot documentednot documentednot documentednot documented
Jump to frequent directoriesbuilt in: bookmarks and frequency, zoxide merged inbuilt in: the directory hotlistpartial: bookmarkspartial: zoxide integrationpartial: bookmarksnot documented
Follows the Omarchy theme switch livebuilt innot documentednot documentedpartial: flavours switch with the terminal's light or dark schemenot documentednot documented
LanguageRustCPythonRustCGo
LicenceMIT or Apache-2.0GPL-3.0-or-laterGPL-3.0MITBSD-2-ClauseMIT

The row on copies states what the documentation says, not what the programs do: a program can copy safely without documenting it. manycommander documents its copy in file operations and durability, because it is a promise the program is tested against.

What this table leaves out#

The other five are good programs with strengths this table does not measure: mc's age and ubiquity, ranger's and yazi's plugin ecosystems, nnn's size and speed on small machines, lf's minimal surface and its server for many instances. If you want Miller columns, vi keys or a plugin system, manycommander is not the one; it keeps the two panels and the F-keys of Total Commander.

Sources#

Read on 2026-10-13: