When comparing FreeCommander vs Far Manager, the Slant community recommends Far Manager for most people. In the question“What are the best file managers for Windows?” Far Manager is ranked 7th while FreeCommander is ranked 15th. The most important reason people chose Far Manager is:
Far Manager's interface encourages keyboard operation - all actions are easily accessible with keyboard shortcuts, you can quickly record macros for any repeatable action, there are no screen redraws if it is not necessary and that makes everything faster.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro 2 Pane Layout
Makes normal file operations (like move & copy) easy.
Pro Quick Navigation
Commonly used folders can be added and accessed using the favorites list -- in addition, physical and network drives can be switched to with a single click.
Pro Very powerful Multirename tool
Pro Has a portable version
Because it's portable, you can easily move the folder with all your files to other devices.
Pro Powerful search feature
FreeCommander provides a search functionality that allows you to filter out results.
Pro Very powerful set of file copying options
FreeCommander has a very powerful set of file copying options.
Pro Very usable and reliable Sync tool
Pro Shows folder file size
In Details mode you can turn on Folder Data file size.
Pro Keyboard shortcuts
Has a good set of keyboard shortcuts enabled by default
Pro Interface highly customizable, native Dark Mode, stable, very accessible primary functionality, very frequent updates
Simple 1-click buttons to toggle views, enable or disable visual filter, etc. Very simple instant filtering. The folder syncing is as good as "GoodSync".
Pro Excellent file manager with lots of hotkeys
Also file search, filter and multi file rename functionalities.
Pro Keyboard-oriented
Far Manager's interface encourages keyboard operation - all actions are easily accessible with keyboard shortcuts, you can quickly record macros for any repeatable action, there are no screen redraws if it is not necessary and that makes everything faster.
Pro Open source
Released under BSD license.
Pro Two-panel interface
Pro Many plugins
There are may of them, and you can write them in any languages, including Python.
Pro Editor with syntax highlighting
Every Far feature is also true for its editor. You can setup an external editor if you like, but the included editor works really well and features syntax highlighting.
Pro Easily recorded macros
Hit "Ctrl-." and start recording your boring sequence. Hit "Ctrl-." again to assign it a key. You can use Lua if you need more advanced macros.
Pro Numeric sorting option
E.g. readme-9.txt before readme-10.txt
Pro Extremely fast
Pro Offline context help
Just press F1 when you need it. No internet connection or browser is required.
Pro Themeable
Fully themeable, allowing you to change the colors of every part of the interface.
Pro Scrippting support via LUA
Cons
Con It's easy to delete important stuff by accident
When you want to delete something, it will often highlight both a file and its folder. The whole folder is then removed if you don't de-select the folder manually.
Con Only the 32-bit version is free
You have to make a donation to be able to download the 64-bit version.
Con Cluttered and dated UI
The user interface has an outdated look, with a lot of button and menu options that can be overwhelming.
Con Unable to replace default file explorer
Con Buggy
Good facilities overall, but there's a bug that makes menus freeze and get stuck on the page.
Con Blocking operations
Operations such as copy, move, delete, etc are blocking, and you have to wait for them to complete before you can continue.
Though you can cancel the operation with the escape key.
Con Only for Windows
Con Always uses monospace font
Which makes long file names look extremely wide
Con Does not support scrolling with mouse
With plugin
Con Text-based interface
Far Manager does not use a GUI like most windows applications nowadays. This may prove difficult to use for people who are not familiar with text-based user interfaces.