Filelight vs FolderSizes

Filelight helps users find disk space to free by showing usage as concentric rings. It scans local, remote, or removable disks and displays details about files and folders; users can delete selected files or folders from the application. Scans can cover files and folders, including external drives, but Filelight does not show application sizes. Users can exclude chosen folders, remote filesystems, or removable media from scans. For remote filesystems such as NFS or Samba mounts, the handbook warns that scanning can generate high network traffic. Filelight integrates with the Dolphin, Konqueror, and Krusader file managers, and it supports configurable color schemes and scanning and appearance settings. It can also be launched from a command line with a folder name to scan that folder. Linux users can install it through Discover or another AppStream store, a distribution package manager, or Flathub. Filelight is free, with a free plan, and runs on Linux and Windows.

FolderSizes is a Windows tool for examining file and folder space across local and network storage. It scans local drives, external drives, mapped network drives, UNC paths, and network shares, then presents results as treemap, sunburst, bar, and pie charts. Searches can be narrowed by age, name, attributes, size, owner, date, or depth-related criteria. Reports export to Excel, PDF, HTML, CSV, and XML; recurring scans can also send automated email reports. Disk and folder usage tracking, along with file system snapshots, can show changes over time. The free edition has no time limit and includes four visualizations, reports, advanced search, and scan filtering. The free trial has no feature limitations. A Personal Edition license costs $30 as a one-time purchase and is limited to personal and home network use; a Single-User Pro license costs $60 as a one-time purchase. Pro upgrades include priority technical support and free minor version upgrades. The maker says FolderSizes has been continuously developed since 2003.