Rat Commander vs superfile
Rat Commander
rat-commander.comsuperfile
superfile.devSide by side
| Figure | Rat Commander | 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 · File managers | 8.8 (#2) | 8.5 (#9) |
| Spec score · Terminal File Managers | 8.3 (#12) | 8.1 (#18) |
| Archive support | Yes | Yes |
| Dual-pane layout | Yes | Yes |
| File operations | It supports file copy, move, delete, permissions, ownership, symlinks, and directory creation. | It supports copying, moving, deleting, renaming, fuzzy search, bulk operations, and image preview. |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Installation Requirement | Nothing else is required to install | Official installation methods include shell scripts for Linux and macOS, PowerShell, Winget, Scoop, Homebrew, Arch, NixOS, Pixi, and X-CMD. |
| License | The project is licensed under GNU General Public License version 2, GPL-2.0-only. | The project describes itself as open source and MIT licensed. |
| Linux support | Yes | Yes |
| macOS support | Yes | Yes |
| Panels | The file manager provides two panels with full, brief, details, tree, 3D, and thumbnail-grid views, plus vertical or horizontal splits and multi-file selection. | Users can split into multiple directory panes and copy or paste across panels. |
| Preview pane | Yes | Yes |
| Product | Rat Commander is a self-contained, two-panel terminal file manager written in Rust with Ratatui. | superfile is a modern terminal file manager built with Go and Bubble Tea. |
| Support | The project links to GitHub Issues for reporting issues. | 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
Rat Commander
Rat Commander is a free, two-panel terminal file manager for Linux, macOS, and Windows. It brings file browsing and media viewing together with editing, archives, Git, remote filesystems, and system tools. Panels can show files as lists, trees, thumbnail grids, or interactive 3D views, and can be split vertically or horizontally. The built-in viewer and editor support syntax highlighting, search and replace, Markdown, tables, images, and in-place hex editing. Git tools cover tasks including staging, commits, branches, diffs, and history. Remote connections over SFTP, SCP, FTP, and FTPS let users work with remote filesystems in a local-disk-like way. ZIP, TAR variants, 7z, and other archives can be browsed and edited; RAR is read-only. QR codes support sending and receiving files over a local network. Linux disk tools can mount, format, flash, and image disks and USB devices. On Windows, Drive Manager and Network Connections are unavailable. Rat Commander is written in Rust with Ratatui and is licensed under GNU GPL-2.0-only.
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.