Broot vs Middle Manager
Broot
dystroy.orgMiddle Manager
github.comSide by side
| Figure | Broot | Middle Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 0 |
| Spec score · Terminal File Managers | 8.6 (#2) | 7.5 (#25) |
| Spec score · File managers | 8.3 (#12) | 7.3 (#25) |
| Archive support | No | No |
| Dual-pane layout | Yes | Yes |
| File operations | Move, copy, remove, and mkdir operations are built in, and users can add shortcuts. | The file manager supports copy, move, rename, create directory, delete, archive, fuzzy file search, and content search. |
| Git integration | Git status views show file states, branch name, upstream divergence, and change statistics. | Git integration displays file status, branch name, remote ahead and behind counts, and GitHub pull request status. |
| License | The repository is released under the MIT License, with permission to use, copy, modify, publish, distribute, sublicense, and sell the software subject to the license conditions. | The project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. |
| Linux support | Yes | Yes |
| macOS support | Yes | Yes |
| Search | It supports relevance-based search, regular expressions, content search, and logical search operators. | It offers fuzzy recursive file search and ripgrep-powered file-content search with filters and regex support. |
Plans
In their own words
Broot
Broot is a directory navigator for finding files, browsing folders, and launching commands. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, with a dual-pane layout and synchronized preview panels. Directory overviews respect .gitignore and .ignore files. Search supports relevance ranking, regular expressions, file contents, and logical operators. Users can select a directory and return to the shell with that location active. Built-in file operations include move, copy, remove, and mkdir, and users can add shortcuts. Multiple panels support navigation and moving or copying items between locations, with customizable colors. Preview options include PDF and Office documents through transformers and high-resolution images through Kitty's graphics protocol in Kitty and WezTerm. A staging area lets users run commands across several files. For space analysis, sorting by size or date and whale-spotting mode help locate large items; sizes, dates, and file counts are calculated in the background. Git views show file states, branch, upstream divergence, and change statistics. Client-server mode uses Unix sockets and is available only on Unix-like systems. Broot is free under the MIT License, with source and precompiled binaries available.
Middle Manager
Middle Manager has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.