Alternatives to Vifm
A terminal file manager with a curses interface and Vim-like keybindings. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Vifm
A terminal file manager with a curses interface and Vim-like keybindings.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Vifm.
ranger
A console file manager with vi keybindings and a three-column view showing parent, current and preview.
ranger uses vi keybindings with a three-column view and live previews, is GPL-3.0 open source, but is slower in Python and lacks Windows support.
Yazi
A terminal file manager where nothing blocks: every read, preview and copy happens asynchronously.
Yazi is an open-source asynchronous terminal manager with image previews and Lua plugins, running on Windows, macOS and Linux.
felix
A terminal file manager written in Rust with Vim-like key bindings and file previews.
felix is a lightweight Rust terminal file manager with Vim-like bindings, file previews and simple YAML configuration, with a smaller feature set.
Joshuto
A ranger-like terminal file manager written in Rust with Miller-column navigation.
Joshuto is a Rust ranger-style terminal manager with fzf and zoxide integration, available on macOS and Linux rather than Windows.
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 a tiny BSD-licensed terminal manager with terse non-Vim keybindings and a large plugin repository, with Windows only through Cygwin or WSL.
Midnight Commander
Two-panel file manager for the terminal, with an editor and remote access.
Midnight Commander offers a two-panel terminal layout with function-key bindings instead of Vim keys, plus archive and remote filesystem browsing.
superfile
A terminal file manager with a modern, colourful interface, built in Go with themes and plugin support.
superfile is a Go terminal manager with a themed colourful interface, fuzzy search and previews, though Windows support is not yet complete.
xplr
Explore files with a configurable terminal interface.
xplr is a configurable, scriptable MIT-licensed terminal file explorer for macOS and Linux that requires setting up the surrounding workflow.
Also worth comparing
These listings name Vifm 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.
Vifm uses a curses interface with Vim keybindings and commands, offers Windows binaries, and is listed as not open source.
lf
A fast terminal file manager in the ranger style, as a single binary with no runtime dependencies.
Vifm uses Vim keybindings and commands for file management with a curses interface, runs on Windows and Linux, and is listed as not open source.
Walk
A minimal terminal file navigator that replaces cd and ls for browsing directories.
Vifm is a curses file manager with Vim keybindings and commands, available for Windows and Linux, with a steeper learning curve for people new to Vim.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
