# Nautilus Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/nautilus/ 13 people recommended Nautilus in Hacker News comments, 3 had mixed feelings and 20 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 12 months, in 13 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Criticized more than recommended, mainly for missing features, slowness on large folders, and hard setup; those who recommend it see it as a light, smooth, consistent GNOME file manager with right-click scripts and solid remote access. Summary written by Claude from the comments below. ## What people warn about - Missing features compared with rivals (4 comments in the sample): "when Nautilus can,t replicate some functionality which Windows has since forever" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48590652)) "I don't use Nautilus though because it's pretty bare bones compared to Dolphin." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49237046)) "miller columns in Finder are just awesome and I don't have them with Nautilus." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46025268)) - Slow, laggy or leaky on big folders (3 comments in the sample): "Nautilus is both slower and less stable than Windows Explorer on large folders" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49235094)) "Nautilus sometimes leaks memory and get killed by the kernel." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49967615)) "Nautilus also lags when opening some directories." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46800060)) - Hard setup and hidden information (2 comments in the sample): "I have huge distaste for it(it's pretty, but omg what a pain to set up to be an actual DE…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46967095)) "It frustrates me to no end that GNOME, Nautilus, etc. will truncate or hide information in many places." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46932279)) ## Why people recommend it - Smooth and light on resources (2 comments in the sample): "Nautilus, for me at least, resizes at 60fps, even when in a folder of thumbnails." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47662486)) "takes less RAM and far less CPU usage than Microsoft's Explorer" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47649202)) - Consistent, usable, well-themed interface (2 comments in the sample): "something as nice and consistent and usable as Nautilus" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46503590)) "It's perfectly themed just like the GTK3 apps." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48007168)) - Solid file handling and remote access (2 comments in the sample): "nautilus and dolphin are both good ftp/scp/sftp clients" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46778961)) "Dolphin and Nautilus work without a hitch" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46011914)) - Keyboard filtering and right-click scripts (2 comments in the sample): "Works for me. I'm typing D, it instantly filters the list of files and selects first item." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46043300)) "Gnome's file manager nautilus supports scripts available on right click" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46089876)) ## Other file managers people recommend - [Dolphin file manager](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dolphin/): 66 recommend, 8 mixed, 16 criticize - [Finder (macOS)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/finder/): 43 recommend, 18 mixed, 165 criticize - [Midnight Commander](https://hackerapproved.com/p/midnight-commander/): 29 recommend, 5 mixed, 5 criticize - [Windows Explorer](https://hackerapproved.com/p/windows-explorer/): 29 recommend, 4 mixed, 138 criticize ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Nautilus", https://hackerapproved.com/p/nautilus/ (13 recommend, 3 mixed, 20 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 3 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.