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Add to SafariWhen comparing FreeCommander vs Altap Salamander, the Slant community recommends Altap Salamander for most people. In the question“What are the best file managers for Windows?” Altap Salamander is ranked 13th while FreeCommander is ranked 15th.
Specs
Question 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 Looks very polished and consistent
Pro Very feature-rich
Pro Very stable, even preview versions
Pro Intuitive two-pane interface
The program features a dual-pane interface that allows you to easily move files between views.
Pro As of July 2019 now freeware
Pro Very fast
No delay is noticable in the user interface.
Pro License is good on multiple machines
Can be used at home and work.
Pro Extensive keyboard shortcut support
Pro Built-in FTP and SFTP
The program has built in support for a variety of common network protocols (such as FTP, FTPS, SCP and SFTP) for file transferring over the internet.
Pro Powerful bookmark support
Easy bookmark usage, e.g., Shift+1 selects the first directory. The bookmarked directories are also available in the usual popups to switch the left/right drive (Alt+F1/F2).
Pro Built-in archive support (zip, rar, etc)
Pro Customizable colors
Different colors can be assigned to compressed files or files with a certain name pattern.
Pro Customizable with own external tools
Pro Copy and move operations can work in background
Pro Automation plugin
Enables user to automate repetitious actions via JScript and VBScript (via windows script engines already installed). There is also support for Perl, PHP, Python and Ruby (Arton's ruby must be installed to have the Action script support)
Pro Encrypt files
Pro Built-in undelete plugin
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 Slow development
Rarely updates.
Con Text Viewer does not support UTF-8
Con Winscp not available for x64 version
Winscp plugin is available only for x86 version and missing @x64.
Con Hard-coded shortcuts
Shortcuts are hard-coded and therefore can't be changed by the user.
Con Image viewer is basic
Con No tabs in dual panes
There are no tabs available in the dual panes view, which can be a time-saver for some users.
Con No Unicode support
Unicode was promised many years ago, but due to slow development, still nothing.
Con Is only available for Windows
There is no full replacement for Linux or OS X.
