Files vs nnn
Files
files.communitynnn
github.comSide by side
| Figure | Files | nnn |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 0 | 1 |
| Spec score · File Manager Software | 7.6 (#65) | 8.7 (#6) |
| Archive support | Yes | Yes |
| Dual-pane view | Yes | No |
| Supported platforms | windows | The project says nnn runs on Linux, macOS, Android through Termux, Cygwin, and WSL, among other environments. |
| Privacy | The privacy policy says Files collects non-identifiable diagnostic and usage data, uses Sentry for error reporting, and does not share collected information with third parties. | The project describes nnn as privacy-aware, with no unconfirmed user data collection. |
| Product | Files is an open-source file explorer built for Windows to help organize files and folders. | nnn is a full-featured terminal file manager designed to be small, fast, and nearly zero-configuration. |
| Support | The site directs users to GitHub to report bugs and Discord to request features. | The project invites users to discuss new ideas or enhancement requests in GitHub Discussions. |
| Windows support | The install page says Windows Update and Delivery Optimization must be enabled for installation and that modified versions of Windows are not officially supported. | No |
Plans
In their own words
nnn
nnn is a terminal file manager designed to be small, fast and nearly zero-configuration. It handles copying, moving, deleting, archiving and linking selections, alongside batch renaming, disk-usage analysis, app launching and file picking. Navigation includes contexts, sessions, bookmarks and directory marks, while search options include instant filtering, fuzzy matching, regular expressions and string filters. It provides directory and text previews, and can create, list, extract and mount archives. Plugins can add functions such as live previews, disk mounting, file comparison and uploads. Remote mounts require optional sshfs or rclone dependencies. The project says nnn typically needs less than 3.5 MB of resident memory; it has no configuration file and uses defaults, with optional environment-variable settings. It is free and open source under the BSD-2-Clause license, and is listed for Android, Linux, macOS and Windows. The project offers packages and a statically linked binary, or users can compile it from source.