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Dolphin file manager

Hacker Approved

The most recommended of 19 file managers

Free, fast file manager that handles remote shares and huge folders natively; people prefer it to Windows Explorer. Caveat: critics say it's slow with big folders and bloated.

Free, fast file manager that handles remote shares and huge folders natively; people prefer it to Windows Explorer. Caveat: critics say it's slow with big folders and bloated.

96 people gave an opinion

recommend it
77
criticize it
19
approval share
80%
Each figure is one person. RecommendsCriticizes

Recommended in 12 of 13 months

  1. November 2025: recommended
  2. December 2025: recommended
  3. January 2026: recommended
  4. February 2026: recommended
  5. March 2026: recommended
  6. April 2026: recommended
  7. May 2026: recommended
  8. June 2026: recommended
  9. July 2026: recommended
  10. August 2026: recommended
  11. September 2026: recommended
  12. October 2026: recommended
  13. November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)

Why it carries the badge

  • 77 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
  • 4.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
  • Recommended in 12 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.

The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works

What people say about it

The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.

Why people recommend it

Each mark is one comment

  • Better than Windows Explorer

    “responds as quickly as one would expect File Explorer to respond if it were developed by sane people”

    Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft gave FBI set of BitLocker encryption keys to unlock suspects' laptops”

    “Dolphin blows away explorer, window management is more slick and more flexible out of the box”

    Comment from 24 Jan 2026 in “Tech Is Fun Again: The Tech Monoculture Is Finally Breaking”

    “Dolphin from KDE would be a much better comparison for Windows Explorer.”

    Comment from 1 Dec 2025 in “People keep flocking to Linux, not just to escape Windows”
  • Consistent high-quality development

    “The kind of polish they put into absolutely everything, including these announcements, is incredible.”

    Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “Dolphin Emulator Progress Release 2606”

    “They've been consistently high quality for the 12 years they've been put out at this point.”

    Comment from 12 Mar 2026 in “Dolphin Progress Release 2603”

    “the Dolphin team does amazing quality archival quality code and documentation for free”

    Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “Rise of the Triforce”
  • Built-in sftp, ftp and Samba

    “Dolphin just handles everything (sftp, ftp, samba, etc) for me natively in the same window.”

    Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “Modifying FileZilla to Workaround Bambu 3D Printer's FTP Issue”

    “Dolphin just handles everything (sftp, ftp, samba, etc) for me natively in the same window”

    Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “Modifying FileZilla to Workaround Bambu 3D Printer's FTP Issue”

What people warn about

Each mark is one comment

  • Slow with big folders and previews

    “So in other words, dolphin, like every other graphical file manager, is slow as fuck working with directories with lots of files”

    Comment from 16 Apr 2026 in “Fixing a 20-year-old bug in Enlightenment E16”

    “you'd watch your disk spin and your ram usage shoot up while it previews all the image files”

    Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Fixing a 20-year-old bug in Enlightenment E16”

    “waited almost an entire second, if you're lucky, for dolphin to start”

    Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Fixing a 20-year-old bug in Enlightenment E16”
  • Bloated and cluttered feature set

    “remove 90% of the features from dolphin you're in the vicinity of the mess they are”

    Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “Hate is a strong word, but I don't like Windows 11”

    “I'm sure it's just as bloated as the other ten thousand bloated file managers.”

    Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Fixing a 20-year-old bug in Enlightenment E16”
  • Odd layout and frustrating behaviors

    “Dolphin is one of the things about KDE that bothers me, due to the way its windows are laid out and how they use margins/spacing.”

    Comment from 20 Nov 2025 in “New OS aims to provide (some) compatibility with macOS”

    “I find KDE's Dolphin similarly frustrating - for very similar reasons.”

    Comment from 6 Sep 2026 in “Finder is so frustrating and has been since day one”

    “Dolphin file manager has quite a lot weird/inconvenient behaviors”

    Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “Muse Spark Open”
  • WebDAV and SMB bugs

    “WebDAV has been partially working/broken in Dolphin/kio since Plasma 5 on KDE.”

    Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Many Hells of WebDAV: Writing a Client/Server in Go”

    “ffmpegthumbnailer loops lagged out whole system, SMB bugs”

    Comment from 11 Mar 2026 in “Writing my own text editor, and daily-driving it”

Other file managers people recommend

The four most recommended other file managers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.

Dolphin file manager compared with 4 alternatives
ProductRecommendCriticizeApprovalMonthsOwnedBadge
Dolphin file managerThis page771980%12—Approved
Finder (macOS)6117226%915 yrs22 owners—
Windows Explorer3614120%112 yrs4 owners—
Midnight Commander34587%12—Approved
File Pilot31879%10—Approved
See all 19 file managers, ranked

What people said

40 of the 107 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.

“Dolphin file manager has quite a lot weird/inconvenient behaviors”

CriticizesComment from 16 Oct 2026 in “Muse Spark Open”

“It's not only persisted across reboots, but persisted across platform upgrades”

RecommendsComment from 4 Oct 2026 on Hacker News

“Dolphin can detect these repositories and let you work on them on the spot.”

RecommendsComment from 16 Sep 2026 in “macOS 27 Golden Gate – Review”

“Simple to use until you need it to be complicated, then it probably does what you’re looking for.”

RecommendsComment from 6 Sep 2026 in “Finder is so frustrating and has been since day one”

“I find KDE's Dolphin similarly frustrating - for very similar reasons.”

CriticizesComment from 6 Sep 2026 in “Finder is so frustrating and has been since day one”

“Platform emulators can't be locked-in: MAME, Dolphin, RPCS3, Eden, etc offer user freedom”

RecommendsComment from 5 Aug 2026 in “Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc”

“emulators like Dolphin and PCSX2 arguably being superior to original hardware”

RecommendsComment from 5 Aug 2026 in “Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc”

“Contrast with the Dolphin emulator release blogs. I swear I've spent more timing reading those releases than actually using the software”

RecommendsComment from 4 Aug 2026 in “FFmpeg 9.0”

“They're easily the gold standard for emulation and open-source gaming”

RecommendsComment from 25 Jun 2026 in “Dolphin Emulator Progress Release 2606”

“The kind of polish they put into absolutely everything, including these announcements, is incredible.”

RecommendsComment from 25 Jun 2026 in “Dolphin Emulator Progress Release 2606”

“Works fine except for the huge input lag using GameCube controllers”

MixedComment from 23 Jun 2026 in “Steam Machine game testing”

“From what I understand it's the best in class emulator on that front.”

RecommendsComment from 22 Jun 2026 in “Nintendo Wii U games running from a 1980's Bernoulli disk [video]”

“there are still a lot of good ones still there that continue to improve every day”

RecommendsComment from 1 Jun 2026 in “KDE at 30”

“it's not ideal (tags are a comma separated string) but it is usable”

MixedComment from 13 May 2026 in “Haiku”

“I'm happy for you. But don't think that that means you're somehow qualified”

MixedComment from 16 Apr 2026 in “Fixing a 20-year-old bug in Enlightenment E16”

“So in other words, dolphin, like every other graphical file manager, is slow as fuck working with directories with lots of files”

CriticizesComment from 16 Apr 2026 in “Fixing a 20-year-old bug in Enlightenment E16”

“The performance was always good enough to be much faster than I am.”

RecommendsComment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Fixing a 20-year-old bug in Enlightenment E16”

“I'm sure it's just as bloated as the other ten thousand bloated file managers.”

CriticizesComment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Fixing a 20-year-old bug in Enlightenment E16”

“waited almost an entire second, if you're lucky, for dolphin to start”

CriticizesComment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Fixing a 20-year-old bug in Enlightenment E16”

“Give Dolphin a chance! It's like the kids' vi setup, just with slightly different shortcuts”

RecommendsComment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Fixing a 20-year-old bug in Enlightenment E16”

“you'd watch your disk spin and your ram usage shoot up while it previews all the image files”

CriticizesComment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Fixing a 20-year-old bug in Enlightenment E16”

“Dolphin just handles everything (sftp, ftp, samba, etc) for me natively in the same window.”

RecommendsComment from 14 Apr 2026 in “Modifying FileZilla to Workaround Bambu 3D Printer's FTP Issue”

“Dolphin just handles everything (sftp, ftp, samba, etc) for me natively in the same window”

RecommendsComment from 14 Apr 2026 in “Modifying FileZilla to Workaround Bambu 3D Printer's FTP Issue”

“just use a PC with the Duckstation, Mesen, Dolphin, MAME, Final Burn Neo, and PCSX2 emulators”

RecommendsComment from 26 Mar 2026 in “You probably don't want to buy a retro console”

“They've been consistently high quality for the 12 years they've been put out at this point.”

RecommendsComment from 12 Mar 2026 in “Dolphin Progress Release 2603”

“Running these projects ain't easy and the Dolphin team deserves a lot of credit for doing it with a level of professionalism”

RecommendsComment from 12 Mar 2026 in “Dolphin Progress Release 2603”

“can now enjoy that collection in HD with Dolphin's various enhancements”

RecommendsComment from 12 Mar 2026 in “Dolphin Progress Release 2603”

“ffmpegthumbnailer loops lagged out whole system, SMB bugs”

CriticizesComment from 11 Mar 2026 in “Writing my own text editor, and daily-driving it”

“the Dolphin team does amazing quality archival quality code and documentation for free”

RecommendsComment from 17 Feb 2026 in “Rise of the Triforce”

“responds as quickly as one would expect File Explorer to respond if it were developed by sane people”

RecommendsComment from 24 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft gave FBI set of BitLocker encryption keys to unlock suspects' laptops”

“Dolphin blows away explorer, window management is more slick and more flexible out of the box”

RecommendsComment from 24 Jan 2026 in “Tech Is Fun Again: The Tech Monoculture Is Finally Breaking”

“remove 90% of the features from dolphin you're in the vicinity of the mess they are”

CriticizesComment from 21 Jan 2026 in “Hate is a strong word, but I don't like Windows 11”

“WebDAV has been partially working/broken in Dolphin/kio since Plasma 5 on KDE.”

CriticizesComment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Many Hells of WebDAV: Writing a Client/Server in Go”

“This project is amazing but for some reason local multiplayer is always such a headache”

MixedComment from 29 Dec 2025 in “Dolphin Progress Release 2512”

“Dolphin is becoming so good that it's usually my goto benchmark for budget hardware”

RecommendsComment from 28 Dec 2025 in “Dolphin Progress Release 2512”

“Dolphin is the best file manager across every operating system, and it's not even close.”

RecommendsComment from 14 Dec 2025 in “Are we stuck with the same Desktop UX forever? [video]”

“Dolphin from KDE would be a much better comparison for Windows Explorer.”

RecommendsComment from 1 Dec 2025 in “People keep flocking to Linux, not just to escape Windows”

“Dolphin is one of the things about KDE that bothers me, due to the way its windows are laid out and how they use margins/spacing.”

CriticizesComment from 20 Nov 2025 in “New OS aims to provide (some) compatibility with macOS”

“Dolphin file browser is has cleaner and simpler UI, is more configurable”

RecommendsComment from 20 Nov 2025 in “New OS aims to provide (some) compatibility with macOS”

“I also love being able to right click on Dolphin and tell it to open Konsole in the current folder.”

MixedComment from 4 Nov 2025 in “State of Terminal Emulators in 2025: The Errant Champions”

Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.