Broot vs superfile
Broot
dystroy.orgsuperfile
superfile.devSide by side
| Figure | Broot | superfile |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Terminal File Managers | 8.6 (#2) | 8.1 (#18) |
| Spec score · File managers | 8.3 (#12) | 8.5 (#9) |
| Archive support | No | Yes |
| Dual-pane layout | Yes | Yes |
| File operations | Move, copy, remove, and mkdir operations are built in, and users can add shortcuts. | It supports copying, moving, deleting, renaming, fuzzy search, bulk operations, and image preview. |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| 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 describes itself as open source and MIT licensed. |
| Linux support | Yes | Yes |
| macOS support | Yes | Yes |
| Panels | Multiple panels can be opened for navigation and copying or moving elements between panels, with customizable colors. | Users can split into multiple directory panes and copy or paste across panels. |
| Preview pane | Yes | Yes |
| Support | The maker provides contact by email and invites users to chat through Miaou. | The project invites users to join its Discord community and use GitHub issues and discussions for bugs, ideas, and help. |
| Windows support | Yes | Yes |
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.
superfile
superfile is a free, open-source terminal file manager built with Go and Bubble Tea, aimed at developers who work in the terminal. It supports copying, moving, deleting, renaming, fuzzy search, bulk operations, and image preview, alongside archive support. Users can split the view into multiple directory panes and copy or paste between them. Hotkeys are remappable, and themes, borders, and colors can be adjusted. The project lists more than 20 built-in themes and community plugins for functions such as Git status, system monitoring, custom commands, metadata, MD5 checksums, and smart directory jumping. Official support covers Linux, macOS, and Windows, though the project notes that Windows is not fully supported yet. Installation options include shell scripts for Linux and macOS, PowerShell, Winget, Scoop, Homebrew, Arch, NixOS, Pixi, and X-CMD. The installation guide recommends a Nerd Font, but superfile works without one. Its stated focus is lightweight file and directory tasks, rather than the full feature set of some other terminal file managers. The project is MIT licensed and self-installed.