Clifm vs Runa
Clifm
github.comRuna
github.comSide by side
| Figure | Clifm | Runa |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Terminal File Managers | 8.5 (#4) | 7.9 (#19) |
| Spec score · File managers | 8.1 (#17) | 7.9 (#20) |
| Customization | Users can configure profiles, keyboard shortcuts, themes, prompts, custom commands, and plugins. | Users can customize keybindings, colors, and layout through a TOML configuration file. |
| Dual-pane layout | No | Yes |
| License | The project is licensed under GPL version 2 or later. | The project is dual licensed under MIT or Apache-2.0. |
| Linux support | Yes | Yes |
| macOS support | Yes | Yes |
| Platforms | The project lists Linux, Termux on Android, BSD variants, macOS, Solaris/Illumos, Haiku, and Cygwin/MinGW as supported environments. | The project says it works on Linux, macOS, and Windows, with precompiled binaries available for those platforms. |
| Preview pane | Yes | Yes |
| Support | The project directs users to its FAQ, wiki documentation, issue tracker, and repository discussions for help and feedback. | The project directs users to GitHub issues for bug reports and Discussions for feature requests, and welcomes pull requests. |
| Windows support | No | Yes |
Plans
In their own words
Clifm
Clifm is an open-source file manager for people who prefer managing files through shell commands. It runs on the command line without a graphical or text user interface, so its workflow is based on commands rather than a conventional file-manager layout. File tools include bookmarks, search, selection, tags, filters, previews, bulk renaming, archiving, trash, and file opening. Shell features include tab completion with fzf integration, expansions, autosuggestions, syntax highlighting, aliases, and command history. Users can configure profiles, shortcuts, themes, prompts, custom commands, and plugins; a documented plugin can show Git status before each prompt. Clifm also supports remote file access and archives, but does not have a dual-pane view. It is listed for Android, Linux, and macOS, not Windows. Linux binary packages are available for most major distributions through the OpenSUSE Build System, and source installation instructions cover Linux and BSD. The project says it collects no data and makes no outside connections. Clifm is licensed under GPL version 2 or later and is free, with no paid plans stated.
Runa
Runa is a free terminal file manager written in Rust for Linux, macOS and Windows. Its keyboard-driven interface provides dual-pane browsing, a preview pane, tabs, and actions for moving, filtering, copying and renaming files. Keybindings, colors and layout can be changed in a TOML configuration file. The project describes a multithreaded engine with dedicated worker threads for input/output, previews, search and file operations. An optional fd installation enables recursive fuzzy search across files and folders; without fd, Runa remains usable but cannot perform that search. The optional bat tool adds syntax-highlighted previews, while built-in preview methods work without it. Installation is available through Cargo, Arch Linux AUR, Homebrew, Scoop, precompiled binaries or source builds. Releases from v0.5.11 are described as immutable and include attestations and SHA256 checksums. Runa is dual licensed under MIT or Apache-2.0 and remains under active development.