Thunar
Shares rank 13 of 15 file managers by recommenders
Fast, simple Linux file manager that people prefer over heavier options like Dolphin and Nautilus. Critics say it only temporarily mounts network drives.
5 people recommended Thunar in Hacker News comments, 2 had mixed feelings and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
Summary written by Claude from 7 comments.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- mixed feelings
- 2
- warn against or regret it
- 1
The record
Recommended in 5 of 12 months
In 5 different threads.
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
- Recommended in 5 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 7 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.
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Network drives only temporarily mounted
“it seems that Thunar can only temporarily mount a network drive”
Comment from 28 Sep 2026 in “Windows 11½”
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 | — | — |
| ThunarThis page | 5 | 2 | 1 | 83% | 5 | — | — |
Also compared with File Pilot, Total Commander, Yazi and Nautilus.
What people said
7 of the 8 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“it seems that Thunar can only temporarily mount a network drive”
“in Thunar you just open a dialog and paste the connection string and you're done”
“Thunar is very fast compared to Nautilus.”
“I much prefer it to the bloat that is Dolphin”
“e for file manager (thunar”
“You can make the most popular GUI file explorers on Linux like thunar do this automatically”
“Thunar, which is a nice enough file manager”
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.