Alternatives to ranger
A console file manager with vi keybindings and a three-column view showing parent, current and preview. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
ranger
A console file manager with vi keybindings and a three-column view showing parent, current and preview.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as ranger.
Yazi
A terminal file manager where nothing blocks: every read, preview and copy happens asynchronously.
Yazi keeps a terminal preview-focused layout but is fully asynchronous with built-in image previews and code highlighting, runs on Windows, and uses Lua plugins and TOML configuration.
nnn
A terminal file manager of about 150 KB that starts instantly, uses under 4 MB of memory and needs almost no configuration.
nnn is about 150 KB, starts instantly and uses under 4 MB of memory, but previews need plugins and configuration is done through environment variables.
superfile
A terminal file manager with a modern, colourful interface, built in Go with themes and plugin support.
superfile is a single Go binary with a themed interface, built-in previews and fuzzy search that installs on Windows, though its hotkeys still change between releases.
xplr
Explore files with a configurable terminal interface.
xplr is an MIT-licensed terminal explorer on macOS and Linux with scriptable navigation, but customisation requires configuring the surrounding workflow.
broot
Navigate large directory trees and find files in the terminal.
broot offers compact tree navigation and interactive search on Windows, macOS and Linux, but changing the parent shell directory requires shell integration.
Midnight Commander
Two-panel file manager for the terminal, with an editor and remote access.
Midnight Commander uses a two-panel layout with a built-in editor and remote filesystem access, with function-key bindings instead of vi keys.
Joshuto
A ranger-like terminal file manager written in Rust with Miller-column navigation.
Joshuto keeps ranger-style Miller-column keyboard navigation but is written in Rust, with optional fzf and zoxide integration, and needs a recent Rust toolchain.
Vifm
A terminal file manager with a curses interface and Vim-like keybindings.
Vifm uses Vim keybindings and commands in a curses interface and ships Windows binaries, though it is listed as not open source.
Also worth comparing
These listings name ranger as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
clifm
A shell-like terminal file manager that works directly on the command line, without menus or panes.
ranger provides a visual three-column view with vi keys and previews instead of working inside the shell prompt, and is written in Python.
felix
A terminal file manager written in Rust with Vim-like key bindings and file previews.
ranger is a GPL-3.0 Python terminal manager with vi keys and a three-column preview view, slower to start and with slowed development.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
