# Alternatives to Marta

Fast native Mac dual-pane manager.

Marta ranks #9 of 9 in File managers, with an Alt Score of 73. It is proprietary, sold as a one-time purchase and available on macOS. 8 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/marta/
Category: File managers

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Power users and developers on macOS who want a faster, keyboard-driven alternative to Finder and are comfortable configuring tools via shortcuts and DSL/config files rather than menus.
- **What you get**: A native Swift dual-pane file manager with tabs and multiple windows, quick substring/regex search, and system-wide lookup via macOS indices. It handles archives (ZIP, RAR, 7Z, TAR, ISO, and more) including browsing and editing files inside nested archives, plus disk usage analysis and file previews. A built-in terminal syncs to the active directory, and the app is extensible through Lua plugins, custom themes, and a config DSL.
- **How it works**: You navigate two side-by-side panes with keyboard shortcuts (mouse use is optional), triggering commands through an Action Panel (Cmd+Shift+P) and queuing file operations like copy/move/archive as background tasks.

## Profile

- **License**: Proprietary (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Pricing model**: One-time (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Starts at**: ?
- **Platforms**: macOS
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-10)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [Directory Opus](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/directory-opus.md) | 91 | Proprietary | Windows |
| 2 | [Double Commander](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/double-commander.md) | 91 | GPL-2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 3 | [Files](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/files.md) | 91 | MIT | Windows |
| 4 | [ForkLift](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/forklift.md) | 91 | Proprietary | macOS |
| 5 | [Path Finder](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/path-finder.md) | 91 | Proprietary | macOS |
| 6 | [Total Commander](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/total-commander.md) | 86 | Proprietary | Windows, Android |
| 7 | [Midnight Commander](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/midnight-commander.md) | 82 | GPL-3.0 | Linux, macOS |
| 8 | [ranger](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/ranger.md) | 73 | GPL-3.0 | Linux, macOS |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| File managers checklist | Marta | Directory Opus | Double Commander | Files | ForkLift | Path Finder |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | One-time | One-time | Free | Free | One-time | Subscription |
| Starts at | ? | ? | ? | $9.99 | $19.95 | $32.95 (1 Year License) |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary | GPL-2.0 | MIT | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Platforms | macOS | Windows | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows | macOS | macOS |
| Dual-pane view | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tabs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Batch rename | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Archive handling | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cloud connections | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Keyboard-driven | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| One-time purchase option | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Search quality | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Scripting | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes |

## Sources

Sources for Marta. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **License**: Proprietary — <https://marta.sh/blog/etty/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “I hope we will open the source code someday later.”
- **Platforms**: macOS — <https://marta.sh/blog/marta-goes-beta/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “It's a nice file manager for macOS, try it out! :)”
- **Pricing model**: One-time — <https://marta.sh/blog/introducing-marta/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “And, of course, the license will be perpetual.”
- **Status**: active — <https://marta.sh/blog/back-on-track/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “I'm committed to continuing the development of Marta”
- **Dual-pane view**: Yes — <https://marta.sh/docs/core/display-modes/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “In the screenshot below, the left pane uses the table view, and the right pane uses 2-column view.”
- **Tabs**: Yes — <https://marta.sh/blog/tabs/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Tabs really matter. It was one of the most awaited features of Finder. Of course, you could open multiple windows before, but switching between windows is not so convenient as tab switching.”
- **Archive handling**: Yes — <https://marta.sh/docs/advanced/archive/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “You can open archives as regular directories. You can even open (and edit) nested archives.”
- **Keyboard-driven**: Yes — <https://marta.sh/docs/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “All key bindings are configurable. You can read how to set the hotkeys in the [Key bindings](/docs/configuration/hotkeys/) section.”
- **Open source**: No — <https://marta.sh/blog/etty/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “I hope we will open the source code someday later.”
- **One-time purchase option**: Yes — <https://marta.sh/blog/introducing-marta/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “And, of course, the license will be perpetual.”
- **Search quality**: Yes — <https://marta.sh/docs/actions/lookup/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “By default, Look Up displays files and folders whose name matches the query.”
- **Scripting**: Yes — <https://marta.sh/api/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Marta provides a Lua API for writing plugins.”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/