When comparing ForkLift 3 vs Path Finder, the Slant community recommends ForkLift 3 for most people. In the question“What are the best alternatives to Mac Finder?” ForkLift 3 is ranked 2nd while Path Finder is ranked 3rd. 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 Heavily customizable
Path Finder is built around a modular interface with six customizable views. Show only the information you need, when you need it.
Pro Dual finder panes allow seeing two folders side-by-side
Pro Tabs
Pro Integrates useful utilities, protocols, viewers and editors
Path Finder can be configured to automatically open and edit word documents, text, and image files. It also has an integrated terminal, hex editor, can archive type files, and can handle file network protocols, such as ftp and afp.
Pro File tagging
Pro Batch renaming support
Pro Powerful file search
Pro Permissions
Pro Drop stack allows temporarily collect files for operations
Pro Git and Subversion
Path Finder has built-in support for Git and Subversion version control systems.
Pro 30-day free trial
A full-featured version of Path Finder can be evaluated for free for 30 days.
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 Buggy
- Heavy load on the system after network drive activity
- Crashes sometimes without warning
Con Expensive
Con Inserted disks or mounted volumes do not show up in the left pane in Path finder
You have to dig into the menu bar to mount a disk in the pathfinder, a royal pain. Disks should just show up when inserted.
