Far Manager
Shares rank 13 of 15 file managers by recommenders
Keyboard-driven file manager that people prefer over GUI alternatives like Midnight Commander. Critics say it does too much and trails Total Commander.
5 people recommended Far Manager in Hacker News comments and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
Summary written by Claude from 6 comments.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- mixed feelings
- 0
- warn against or regret it
- 2
The record
Recommended in 5 of 12 months
In 6 different threads.
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 2.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
- Recommended in 6 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- The biggest thread supplies 20% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 6 of the 8 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Better than other GUI file managers
“I've yet to find a GUI file manager that is better than Midnight Commander/Far”
Comment from 28 Aug 2026 in “GUIs should be fully keyboard-driven” Preferred over Dos Navigator
“Far Manager or Dos Navigator are much better IMO.”
Comment from 14 Feb 2026 in “Building a TUI is easy now” Newer version recommended
“Far Manager for more modern version.”
Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Stop Ruining It”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Does too much for some users
“I tried Dos Navigator and FAR but these did too much for my liking”
Comment from 17 Oct 2026 in “The history of development of Norton Commander (2011)” Worse than Total Commander
“FAR Manager had to reinvent everything from scratch (including, ridiculously, picture thumbnails in a custom-built terminal) and it's still worse than Total Commander”
Comment from 29 Aug 2026 in “GUIs should be fully keyboard-driven”
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.
| Product | Recommend | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dolphin file manager | 66 | 8 | 16 | 80% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Finder (macOS) | 43 | 18 | 165 | 21% | 8 | 15 yrs21 people | — |
| Midnight Commander | 29 | 5 | 5 | 85% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Windows Explorer | 29 | 4 | 138 | 17% | 10 | — | — |
| Far ManagerThis page | 5 | 0 | 2 | 71% | 5 | — | — |
Also compared with File Pilot, Total Commander, Yazi and Nautilus.
What people said
6 of the 8 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I tried Dos Navigator and FAR but these did too much for my liking”
“FAR Manager had to reinvent everything from scratch (including, ridiculously, picture thumbnails in a custom-built terminal) and it's still worse than Total Commander”
“I've yet to find a GUI file manager that is better than Midnight Commander/Far”
“There is an awesome amount of software written by Russians”
“Far Manager for more modern version.”
“Far Manager or Dos Navigator are much better IMO.”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.