Finder Alternatives With Cloud Drives Built In (2026)

The best Finder alternative depends on which gap bothers you most. For dual panes plus a long list of cloud and server connections, ForkLift and Commander One are the safe picks. QSpace is the budget choice with flexible multi-pane layouts. If you mainly want a free file manager for Mac that opens Google Drive without a sync client and keeps projects in separate workspaces, try X-Filer, the app we make. Below we compare six options on dual pane, tabs and workspaces, cloud access and price, all checked on vendor sites in October 2026.

What Finder still can't do in 2026

Finder is fine for opening a folder and dragging a file to the Desktop. It gets awkward as soon as your work spans several folders and a cloud drive.

No dual pane. Finder has tabs, but no way to show two folders side by side in one window. Copying between two locations means juggling two windows.
No saved workspaces. You can't save a set of tabs for a project and come back to it later. Every project shares the same pile of windows.
Cloud only through sync clients. iCloud Drive is built in. Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive show up in Finder only after you install each provider's desktop app. Google says that in streaming mode, files are accessible only while Drive for desktop is running, and mirroring mode keeps a full copy on your disk.

If you just want to grab a few files from Google Drive, or copy a folder between Drive and a local project, running a sync client in the background can feel like overkill. We cover the sync-free options for Drive in more detail in how to access Google Drive without syncing.

Criteria: dual pane, tabs, cloud access, price

We looked at each app through four questions:

Dual pane. Can you see two folders side by side and copy between them?
Tabs and workspaces. Can you keep several folders open and save a layout per project?
Cloud without a sync client. Does the app connect to Google Drive or other clouds itself, so you browse remote files in a pane?
Price and platform. What does it cost at the time of writing (October 2026), and does the vendor say it runs natively on Apple Silicon?

ForkLift

ForkLift from BinaryNights is the most familiar name in this category. It describes itself as a dual pane file manager and file transfer client, and both halves are strong. Version 4.7.6 shipped on September 29, 2026.

What it does well:

Dual panes with tabs in each pane.
Workspaces that save layouts with open tabs and locations, plus favorites that can sync across Macs through iCloud.
A long list of remote connections: SFTP, FTP, WebDAV, Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Rackspace Cloudfiles, SMB, AFP and NFS. For Google Drive, the manual describes signing in through the browser, after which Drive opens in ForkLift.

Things to know:

ForkLift 4.4 and later require macOS 14.6 Sonoma or newer, so older Macs are stuck on earlier builds.
Pricing starts at $19.95 for a single-user license at the time of writing (October 2026). It's a lifetime license with one year of updates. Two years of updates cost $34.95, and a family license is $29.95.
BinaryNights added a universal build for Apple Silicon back in ForkLift 3.5. The current site doesn't restate it.

ForkLift fits developers, designers and anyone who moves files to servers every day. If you also work on Windows, see our note on ForkLift-style file managers for Windows.

Commander One

Commander One is a classic two-panel file manager in the Total Commander tradition: keyboard-first, with function-key shortcuts and unlimited tabs. Version 3.18 came out on September 25, 2026. The vendor says it is optimized for both Apple Silicon and Intel and runs on macOS 10.13 or later.

Free vs PRO. The free edition gives you the dual-pane interface, tabs, search and ZIP support. Cloud is a paid feature. The Mac App Store listing puts Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box, Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, pCloud, Mega, WebDAV and FTP/SFTP connections in the PRO Pack.

Price. The PRO Pack costs from $29.99 at the time of writing (October 2026) as a one-time payment for one Mac. A five-Mac team license is $99.99.

Commander One suits people who already think in two panels and want broad cloud coverage for a one-time price. The free edition makes a good free dual pane file manager for Mac, but it does not touch the cloud.

QSpace and Marta

QSpace

QSpace takes a different approach to panes: instead of a fixed pair, it offers 12 layouts. You can split one window into several panes, open tabs in each, pin tabs and save workspaces. It runs on Intel and Apple Silicon Macs with macOS 10.15 or later. The current version is 7.0.4.

Cloud and servers come as a separate Server Connections extension. According to the App Store listing, it covers SFTP, WebDAV, SMB, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive and Amazon S3, among others.

On the pricing page, QSpace Pro (the direct version, with a 30-day trial) lists at $29.99. When we checked in October 2026 it was on a sale price of $13.99, with Server Connections at $0.99 instead of $9.99. One account works on up to two devices at the same time.

Marta

Marta is a fast, keyboard-driven two-pane file manager written in Swift. It has tabs, a Lua plugin API, themes, archive browsing and a built-in terminal.

It is not a cloud tool. Marta has no cloud or remote connections, and it is still in beta. The latest release is 0.8.2, from July 25, 2024, according to the changelog. That release's blog post said development was back on track after a break. Since then nothing new has shipped, more than two years at the time of writing. It's free while in beta, and the author plans to ask for a license once it leaves beta. The site doesn't say whether it runs natively on Apple Silicon.

Marta is worth a look if you want a lightweight free dual pane file manager for Mac and don't need the cloud. We wouldn't build a workflow on it until releases pick up again.

What about Path Finder?

Path Finder is the oldest name here, and it is still alive. Cocoatech announced in 2024 that Distant Future is its parent company, and Path Finder 26 shipped in May 2026 with a redesign, folder comparison and duplicate finding. Point releases have followed through the summer.

It offers a dual-pane view, Drop Stack (a shelf for gathering files) and deep customization. Cloud is more limited than in ForkLift or Commander One. Cocoatech documents a Cloud File Uploader that sends files to Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3, Backblaze B2 and FTP/SFTP servers. That works for uploads, but it is not the same as browsing Drive in a pane.

Cocoatech's store sells a 1-year license from $32.95 at the time of writing (October 2026), with 2-year and 5-year options. Path Finder is also available as a subscription and through Setapp. The vendor site doesn't say whether it runs natively on Apple Silicon.

X-Filer

X-Filer is our app, so weigh this section accordingly. It's a free desktop file manager for macOS 12+ (Apple Silicon and Intel) and Windows 10/11. It's natively compiled, signed and notarized on macOS, and updates itself in the background. It's also young: we're before version 1.0, and the feature list is shorter than ForkLift's.

What it does differently:

Workspace in the sidebar, Arc-browser style. Instead of a tab bar, open folders live in a sidebar. Spaces keep projects separate, each with its own pinned folders, open tabs and accent color. Pinned tabs stay put. Open tabs can close themselves after a period of inactivity, on exit, or never.
Split view puts two panes side by side, and you can drag and drop between them.
Launcher on Cmd+T jumps to pinned folders, open tabs, drives or a typed path.
Cloud drives without a sync client. You sign in to Google Drive (My Drive) or Yandex Disk through OAuth in your browser. Then you browse, copy, move, rename, delete, create folders and preview images and text right inside X-Filer. You can copy between the cloud and your local disk, or drag files between a cloud pane and a local one. Search goes through subfolders, and Copy Public Link gives you a link to share a file.
Servers and other storage from the same Add drive dialog: iCloud Drive (with Download Now and Remove Download), SFTP (password or SSH key), FTP, WebDAV (Nextcloud, Synology, ownCloud), S3-compatible storage (Amazon S3, Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2, MinIO) and SMB network folders.

Honest limits:

No Dropbox or OneDrive yet; they are coming next. Google Drive means My Drive, without Shared drives.
X-Filer doesn't mount the cloud as a volume in Finder. The cloud opens inside X-Filer, and files move to Finder by drag and drop or the clipboard.
No offline access to cloud files.

Price. Managing local files is free forever, with no ads and no account. Pricing for cloud features hasn't been decided yet.

The basics are there too: undo with Cmd+Z for move, rename and Trash, quick preview on Space (images, text, PDF, Markdown, code), batch rename with a preview, search by name or contents, Finder tags, zip, 7z, rar and tar archives that open like folders, Compress to ZIP, conflict handling (replace, keep both, skip), light and dark themes, Open in Terminal and Open in Editor. You can download X-Filer here.

Comparison table

Prices are from vendor sites in October 2026 and can change.

App	Dual pane	Tabs / workspaces	Google Drive in the app	Other clouds and servers	Apple Silicon (per vendor)	Price
Finder	No	Tabs, no workspaces	Only via Drive for desktop	iCloud built in; others need their clients	Yes	Included with macOS
ForkLift 4	Yes	Tabs + workspaces	Yes	Dropbox, OneDrive, S3, B2, SFTP, FTP, WebDAV, SMB, NFS	Universal since 3.5	From $19.95 (1 year of updates)
Commander One	Yes	Unlimited tabs	PRO only	Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, S3, B2, pCloud, Mega, FTP/SFTP, WebDAV (PRO)	Yes	Free; PRO from $29.99 one-time
QSpace	Yes, 12 layouts	Tabs, pinned tabs, workspaces	With paid extension	Dropbox, OneDrive, S3, SFTP, WebDAV, SMB (extension)	Yes	From $13.99 on sale (list $29.99) + extension
Marta	Yes	Tabs	No	None	Not stated	Free beta; last release July 2024
Path Finder	Yes	Tabs	Upload only	Uploader for Dropbox, S3, B2, FTP/SFTP	Not stated	From $32.95 (1-year license)
X-Filer (ours)	Split view	Spaces, pinned and open tabs	Yes (My Drive)	Yandex Disk, iCloud Drive, SFTP, FTP, WebDAV, S3, SMB	Yes	Free for local files

Verdict by use case

You connect to servers and many clouds every day: ForkLift. It combines a long protocol list with workspaces, with a fair one-time price. It needs macOS 14.6 or newer.
You want two panels, keyboard shortcuts and a one-time price: Commander One PRO. Start with the free edition to see if the layout suits you.
You want flexible layouts on a budget: QSpace with the Server Connections extension, especially while the sale price holds.
You want a free dual pane file manager and don't need the cloud: Commander One's free edition, or Marta if you're comfortable with a beta that hasn't shipped in two years.
You rely on Finder-style power features like Drop Stack and folder compare: Path Finder, which is actively developed again.
You want Google Drive or Yandex Disk in a file manager without a sync client, and separate workspaces per project: X-Filer. It's free for local files and early in its life, so check that it covers your clouds first.

FAQ

Is there a free Finder alternative with Google Drive?

Commander One's free edition has dual panes, but its Google Drive support is in the paid PRO Pack. X-Filer, our app, opens Google Drive (My Drive) inside the app, and local file management is free. Pricing for its cloud features hasn't been decided yet.

Can a Finder alternative replace Google Drive for desktop?

For browsing and copying files, yes. ForkLift, Commander One PRO, QSpace and X-Filer all talk to Google Drive directly. None of them gives you offline copies the way Drive for desktop's mirroring mode does, so keep the client if you need files offline.

Which dual pane file manager for Mac runs natively on Apple Silicon?

Commander One, QSpace and X-Filer say so on their sites. ForkLift has shipped a universal build since version 3.5. Path Finder and Marta don't state it on their vendor sites.

Bottom line

Finder still lacks dual panes, saved workspaces and direct cloud access. ForkLift and Commander One PRO cover the most clouds and servers. QSpace is the cheapest way to get multi-pane layouts with cloud connections. If what you want is Google Drive or Yandex Disk inside a free file manager, without a sync client and with Spaces to keep projects apart, try X-Filer.