When comparing ForkLift 3 vs Finder.app, the Slant community recommends ForkLift 3 for most people. In the question“What are the best Mac file managers?” ForkLift 3 is ranked 5th while Finder.app is ranked 19th. The most important reason people chose ForkLift 3 is:
It's just a perfectly crafted app, try and enjoy
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Best UX/UI'd file manager on the market
It's just a perfectly crafted app, try and enjoy
Pro Rewritten in Swift
Forklift 3 is a significant update from FL2, having been rewritten entirely in Swift.
Pro Optional dark UI
In addition to the default Mac gray UI, Forklift 3 offers an alternate "Dark Mode" featuring light text elements against dark backgrounds.
Pro Connect to and mount lots of storage options
FTP, WebDAV, Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, Google Drive, Rackspace CloudFiles, SMB, AFP, NFS, VNC, etc.
Pro Easily toggle hidden files
Pro Built-in application remover
Pro Built-In
Comes with your system, and is updated alongside the rest of it, so it should never break suddenly or lag in terms of supported features. This is the finder most software will expect to find and use.
Pro Applescript
Finder is well-supported by Applescript and/or Automator.
Cons
Con Like Apple, it does not standardize file size. Mixes up KBs, MBs GBs in the same column which makes it very difficult to review file sizes
Con Like Apple, shows the date of Today's file as "Today" instead of the actual date
Con Does not sync the "selected" folders (i.e. highlighted ones), but the "current" folders (i.e. the top of the visible tree.)
Con Does not show the fixed tree section in the left pane of a dual horizontal panes
Con Very few features
Need for a lot of external tools.
Con No cut option in context menu
Con No right click > create new folder option
Con Write index hidden files to all external storages you connect to
Con Sorts folders between files in some settings
Folders and sorting gets weird in some cases.
Con subfolders side-by-side but no file details
The side-by-side view of several sub folders is useful for many people, but in this view you loose all file details.