pointer vs Yazi
pointer
github.com
Yazi
yazi-rs.github.ioSide by side
| Figure | pointer | Yazi |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · File managers | 8.5 (#8) | 8.4 (#10) |
| Spec score · Terminal File Managers | 8.3 (#11) | 7.7 (#23) |
| Archive support | Yes | Yes |
| Dependencies | Rust and Cargo are required to build from source; optional runtime tools include bat, fzf, ImageMagick, pdftotext, git, xclip, locate, navi, and curl. | The required file utility detects file types; optional tools add capabilities such as video thumbnails, archive preview, PDF preview, and file searching. |
| File operations | It supports asynchronous copy and move operations and undo for delete, move, rename, copy, symlink, permissions, and bulk rename. | Users can select multiple files and perform operations such as copy and cut, with tasks scheduled by the task system. |
| Plugins | Its plugin system uses JSON manifests to bind external commands to keys. | Yazi can be extended with Lua plugins, including functional plugins and custom previewers or preloaders; the plugin feature is marked beta. |
| Product | Pointer is a Rust terminal file manager and feature clone of RTFM. | Yazi is a blazing-fast terminal file manager written in Rust and based on asynchronous I/O. |
Plans
In their own words
pointer
Pointer is a free, open-source terminal file manager for Linux and macOS. It presents files in a two-pane layout with configurable width ratios and border styles, plus previews with syntax highlighting for more than 20 languages and inline image display through kitty, sixel, or w3m protocols. Archives including zip, tar, gz, bz2, xz, rar, and 7z can be browsed and edited as virtual directories. File operations include asynchronous copying and moving, undo for several actions, and deletion with a flag-then-purge process and default confirmation. Pointer supports SSH/SFTP remote browsing, filename and content search, extension or regex filters, bookmarks, tabs, and file-picker mode. JSON-manifest plugins bind external commands to keys. The README describes OpenAI integration and Claude-powered descriptions and sessions. Linux and macOS binaries are listed for x86_64 and aarch64.