When comparing TotalFinder vs XtraFinder, the Slant community recommends XtraFinder for most people. In the question“What are the best Mac file managers?” XtraFinder is ranked 10th while TotalFinder is ranked 21st.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Adds dual panes to the Mac finder
A great feature of TotalFinder is the ability to have dual panes. This is really handy for moving files around.
Pro Adds cut/paste context menu functionality to Finder
You can cut and paste with just the mouse.
Pro Copy path to file or directory feature
You can copy the path to a directory or file using the context menu in Finder, options include POSIX Path, URL, Windows Path, UNC Path, HFS Path, and Terminal Path.
Pro Free
Pro Old full-size color labels from OS X < 10.9
Pro Adds useful toolbar items
XtraFinder provides useful options for toolbar such as: Launch as Root, New Terminal Here, New File..., and Select...
Pro Additional right-click options
Xtra Finder provides additional options when performing the right click.
Pro Custom hotkeys
Pro Copy Path
Pro Can open a terminal in set position
XtraFinder can open up a terminal from the right-click menu in given path with "New Terminal Here".
Pro Dual panel
Split the Finder window into to windows to achieve better file handling.
Pro Colored icons in the Finder sidebar
Cons
Con Requires special installation procedure in El Capitan and later due to "System Integrity Protection"
"System Integrity Protection" (also know as "Rootless") is a feature introduced in El Capitan that, among other things, inhibits applications to inject code on system apps (TotalFinder injects code into Finder).
For TotalFinder to work properly one must disable SIP temporarly to install. After installation a user can turn SIP back on without issue.
Instructions are detailed here.
Con Doesn't work on recent macOS versions without a workaround
This tool doesn't work on recent macOS versions, except if you try workaraound that may or may not work. It involves disabling System Integrity Protection and details on how to do it can be found on the XtraFinder website.