Three different things get called “a file manager with a terminal”: a command line (one input box that runs a command in the current folder), a subshell or console (the file manager lives on top of a real shell), and an embedded terminal (a full PTY inside a graphical file manager). Only the last can also do the thing that saves the most keystrokes — keep the shell and the panel on the same folder in both directions — and today that is what cwdio does. Below is what each well-known tool actually gives you.
The table
| Product | Kind of terminal | Follows the panel? | Panel follows the shell? | Platform | Licence / source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cwdio | Embedded terminals (PowerShell, cmd, bash, WSL, Git Bash; SSH shell on SFTP), plus a command line | Yes | Yes (OSC 7 shell integration) | 64-bit Windows 10/11 | Free in beta; private source; no telemetry |
| Midnight Commander | Subshell under the text-mode panels | Yes (the subshell runs in the panel’s folder) | See its documentation | Unix-like; WSL on Windows | GPL, open source |
| Far Manager | It is a console program; command line under the panels | Yes | Command line runs in the panel’s folder | Windows | BSD-3-Clause, open source |
| Total Commander | Command line under the panels | Runs in the current folder | No | Windows | Shareware, closed |
| Double Commander | Command line under the panels | Runs in the current folder | No | Cross-platform | Free, open source |
| FreeCommander XE | No embedded terminal | — | — | Windows | 32-bit freeware; 64-bit paid access |
| Windows File Explorer | “Open in Terminal” launches Windows Terminal separately | Opens in the folder once | No | Windows | Part of Windows |
| ranger / nnn / lf / yazi (TUI) | The file manager runs inside your terminal | n/a (they are the terminal’s foreground program) | n/a | Unix-first; WSL on Windows | Open source |
Directory Opus, XYplorer, OneCommander, Files and fman do not embed a terminal, based on their sites and repositories as read on 2026-08-15; each is covered on its own comparison page.
What “follows” means in practice
With an embedded, synced terminal you stop typing paths. In cwdio: open the terminal with Ctrl+`
and it is already in the panel’s folder; double-click into src and the prompt is in src; type
cd ../tests and the panel is in tests; press Ctrl+Enter and the cursor file’s name lands on
the command line. Each pane can have its own terminal, and on an SFTP connection the terminal is a real SSH
shell that stays in step with the remote panel. If a command is running, cwdio does not interrupt it with a
cd; the sync resumes when the shell is idle. Full details: terminal sync.
Midnight Commander gets close from the other side: the panels sit on a subshell, so commands run where you
are, and the classic Ctrl+O flips between panels and the shell. Far Manager goes further still —
it is a console program, so there is no boundary to cross, at the cost of being text-mode. Total Commander
and Double Commander give you a command line that runs in the current folder, which is enough for a quick
git status but is not a shell you live in.
The tools, one paragraph each
cwdio — a graphical dual-pane file manager for Windows with embedded terminals and two-way working-directory sync; the terminal group has a profile picker that discovers PowerShell, Windows PowerShell, cmd, every WSL distribution, Git Bash and Visual Studio developer shells the way Windows Terminal does. Also: verified transfers with a journaled queue, git in the list, previews, archives, SFTP as folders, batch undo. Free in beta, no telemetry. Every feature.
Midnight Commander — the free-software, text-mode two-panel manager with a subshell, internal viewer, editor and diff, running on any console or over ssh. cwdio vs Midnight Commander.
Far Manager — open source, text-mode, plugin-driven; the file manager as a console program. cwdio vs Far Manager.
Total Commander — the orthodox reference with a command line under the panels and FTP/FTPS built in. cwdio vs Total Commander.
Double Commander — free, open source, cross-platform, with a command line and Total Commander plug-ins. cwdio vs Double Commander.
FreeCommander XE — the veteran free dual-panel manager; no embedded terminal. cwdio vs FreeCommander.
Windows File Explorer — Open in Terminal launches Windows Terminal separately. cwdio vs Windows Explorer.
Terminal-native managers (ranger, nnn, lf, yazi) — the inverse design: the file manager runs inside your shell. Excellent on Linux and macOS; on Windows they live in WSL, where cwdio’s per-distribution terminal profiles can host them.
Last checked
2026-08-15: midnight-commander.org, the FarGroup/FarManager repository, ghisler.com, doublecmd.sourceforge.io, freecommander.com, and the vendor sites of the products listed as having no embedded terminal. cwdio’s own behaviour is documented on terminal sync.