{"slug": "path-finder", "name": "Path Finder", "category": "files", "category_name": "Files, sync and backup", "description": "", "recommenders": 5, "commenters": 9, "warners": 2, "score": 2.427, "rising": -1.64, "first": "2026-01-23", "latest": "2026-09-06", "why": "chose Path Finder, and have been using it ever since", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 3, "compare": 0, "warn": 2}, "spark": [0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "chose Path Finder, and have been using it ever since", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "cocoatech.io", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://cocoatech.io", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Path Finder", "PathFinder", "Pathfinder"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 781082608, "item_id": 48817663, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48817663", "by": "belthesar", "date": "2026-07-07", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used to use Path Finder [^1] over the native Finder", "excerpt": "During the days of my Powerbook G4 and 1st gen Intel Mac days, I used to use Path Finder [^1] over the native Finder, as it provided a richer and more comprehensive toolset. The base Finder wasn't bad, but Path Finder did more. Totally understand in today's era why you might jump to enshittification as the reason for this. Sometimes though, someone see the functionality a tool does, and goes \"I wish it did this, but ", "context": "former Powerbook G4 / early Intel Mac user", "use_case": "macOS file manager", "switched_from": "Finder", "story": "Show HN: Fast, native Mac file manager (filters, fuzzy find, 9 MB, no Electron)"}, {"id": 770682608, "item_id": 48167663, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48167663", "by": "eddy-sekorti", "date": "2026-05-17", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Great concept and actually usefull", "excerpt": "Great concept and actually usefull, maybe you need to integrate with other tools, show some examples on the page, some use cases. The hardest part for these tools is closing on Enterprise customers, I own Reetro and had the same issue, people loved the tool, use it but once the time for paid version come. The security gets invloved, they will ask you way alot of questions and drain your time and energy. I would highl", "context": "owns Reetro", "use_case": "mapping paths to goals", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: PathFinder \u2013 Map every path to your goal, then execute it step by step"}, {"id": 765495601, "item_id": 47843475, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47843475", "by": "paradox460", "date": "2026-04-20", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Pathfinder on MacOS, and it's generally a lot better than finder", "excerpt": "It has one feature I wish everyone else would copy: Miller columns. But even after NeXT used them 35+ years ago, they have remarkably little penetration into other OSes. I use Pathfinder on MacOS, and it's generally a lot better than finder, but there are features I wish would carry over from other OSes. Windows file check boxes are incredibly useful", "context": "", "use_case": "macOS file management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tim Cook to become Apple Executive Chairman"}, {"id": 748019554, "item_id": 46751222, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46751222", "by": "f30e3dfed1c9", "date": "2026-01-24", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "chose Path Finder, and have been using it ever since", "excerpt": "\"of course, it was Path Finder! You could even have it respond to 'Reveal'\" This still works. I have been using macs since 1985 and have always hated the Finder. In the days of classic Mac OS, my go to for file management was a desk accessory called DiskTop, which was great. Super fast and easy to operate from the keyboard. When I switched to OSX, I needed something better than the Finder, chose Path Finder, and have", "context": "", "use_case": "File management", "switched_from": "Finder", "story": "Bugs Apple Loves"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 793451104, "item_id": 49590694, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49590694", "by": "etrautmann", "date": "2026-09-06", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "I ended up hating the subscription and constant feature churn", "excerpt": "A path bar anywhere in the interface? I also want this to be able to copy a file\u2019s path. Right now I\u2019m not even sure how to do that aside from cmd-i to get info and then clunkily drag select the parent dir to copy. Repeat for the file name. Am I insane or is there a better way? Just use terminal? For a time I used pathfinder which had a feature to copy the full path but I ended up hating the subscription and constant", "context": "", "use_case": "copying file paths", "switched_from": "", "story": "Finder is so frustrating and has been since day one"}, {"id": 793439360, "item_id": 49589960, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49589960", "by": "GiorgioG", "date": "2026-09-06", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "I no longer use PathFinder, it had its own problems and bugs", "excerpt": "He\u2019s complaining\u2026because he sells a solution to this problem. I hated Finder when I switched to Mac back in 2007. So much so I bought PathFinder. One thing that pissed me off and still does, is when I copy over a folder with the same name, it doesn\u2019t merge the contents, it deletes everything in the existing folder. That\u2019s not what I expected as a Windows user and it still seems like the wrong behavior almost 20 years", "context": "switched from Windows to Mac in 2007", "use_case": "file management on Mac", "switched_from": "", "story": "Finder is so frustrating and has been since day one"}]}], "who": [{"by": "belthesar", "context": "former Powerbook G4 / early Intel Mac user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48817663", "date": "2026-07-07"}, {"by": "eddy-sekorti", "context": "owns Reetro", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48167663", "date": "2026-05-17"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["file management", "copying file paths", "file management on mac", "file management on macos", "macos file manager", "mapping paths to goals"], "compared": [{"slug": "finder", "name": "Finder", "co": 8, "switched_from": 2, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49589722", "title": "Finder is so frustrating and has been since day one", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48814952", "title": "Show HN: Fast, native Mac file manager (filters, fuzzy find, 9 MB, no Electron)", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46727587", "title": "Bugs Apple Loves", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48166766", "title": "Show HN: PathFinder \u2013 Map every path to your goal, then execute it step by step", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47921130", "title": "Tim Cook Is Leaving. Good", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47840219", "title": "Tim Cook to become Apple Executive Chairman", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"neutral": 2, "recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"warn": 2}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 793451104, "item_id": 49590694, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49590694", "by": "etrautmann", "date": "2026-09-06", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "I ended up hating the subscription and constant feature churn", "excerpt": "A path bar anywhere in the interface? I also want this to be able to copy a file\u2019s path. Right now I\u2019m not even sure how to do that aside from cmd-i to get info and then clunkily drag select the parent dir to copy. Repeat for the file name. Am I insane or is there a better way? Just use terminal? For a time I used pathfinder which had a feature to copy the full path but I ended up hating the subscription and constant", "context": "", "use_case": "copying file paths", "switched_from": "", "story": "Finder is so frustrating and has been since day one"}, {"id": 793439360, "item_id": 49589960, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49589960", "by": "GiorgioG", "date": "2026-09-06", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "I no longer use PathFinder, it had its own problems and bugs", "excerpt": "He\u2019s complaining\u2026because he sells a solution to this problem. I hated Finder when I switched to Mac back in 2007. So much so I bought PathFinder. One thing that pissed me off and still does, is when I copy over a folder with the same name, it doesn\u2019t merge the contents, it deletes everything in the existing folder. That\u2019s not what I expected as a Windows user and it still seems like the wrong behavior almost 20 years", "context": "switched from Windows to Mac in 2007", "use_case": "file management on Mac", "switched_from": "", "story": "Finder is so frustrating and has been since day one"}, {"id": 781163345, "item_id": 48822709, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48822709", "by": "andrekandre", "date": "2026-07-07", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "old pathfinder user here", "excerpt": "i have a theory: all file browsers suck, they just suck in different ways for different people my other theory is that its entirely possible to make a good file browser, but nowadays theres not much investment in them beyond fixing major issues for most users... > I don\u2019t quite understand the discontent with the Finder for the most part its got a lot better over the years (old pathfinder user here) but for me anyways", "context": "", "use_case": "file management on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Fast, native Mac file manager (filters, fuzzy find, 9 MB, no Electron)"}, {"id": 781082608, "item_id": 48817663, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48817663", "by": "belthesar", "date": "2026-07-07", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used to use Path Finder [^1] over the native Finder", "excerpt": "During the days of my Powerbook G4 and 1st gen Intel Mac days, I used to use Path Finder [^1] over the native Finder, as it provided a richer and more comprehensive toolset. The base Finder wasn't bad, but Path Finder did more. Totally understand in today's era why you might jump to enshittification as the reason for this. Sometimes though, someone see the functionality a tool does, and goes \"I wish it did this, but ", "context": "former Powerbook G4 / early Intel Mac user", "use_case": "macOS file manager", "switched_from": "Finder", "story": "Show HN: Fast, native Mac file manager (filters, fuzzy find, 9 MB, no Electron)"}, {"id": 770682608, "item_id": 48167663, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48167663", "by": "eddy-sekorti", "date": "2026-05-17", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Great concept and actually usefull", "excerpt": "Great concept and actually usefull, maybe you need to integrate with other tools, show some examples on the page, some use cases. The hardest part for these tools is closing on Enterprise customers, I own Reetro and had the same issue, people loved the tool, use it but once the time for paid version come. The security gets invloved, they will ask you way alot of questions and drain your time and energy. I would highl", "context": "owns Reetro", "use_case": "mapping paths to goals", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: PathFinder \u2013 Map every path to your goal, then execute it step by step"}, {"id": 766751681, "item_id": 47921980, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47921980", "by": "jshaqaw", "date": "2026-04-27", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used to like Pathfinder and was willing to just pay for that as an alternative but that software is just buggy enough", "excerpt": "Can we add to the software failure list that Finder is an underpowered mess? Like the author said, fixing Finder won't have a correspondingly visible ROI. But haven't any of the Apple developers using these machines just said \"ENOUGH\" already. I used to like Pathfinder and was willing to just pay for that as an alternative but that software is just buggy enough that it's annoying to rely on for something as important", "context": "", "use_case": "file management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tim Cook Is Leaving. Good"}, {"id": 765495601, "item_id": 47843475, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47843475", "by": "paradox460", "date": "2026-04-20", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Pathfinder on MacOS, and it's generally a lot better than finder", "excerpt": "It has one feature I wish everyone else would copy: Miller columns. But even after NeXT used them 35+ years ago, they have remarkably little penetration into other OSes. I use Pathfinder on MacOS, and it's generally a lot better than finder, but there are features I wish would carry over from other OSes. Windows file check boxes are incredibly useful", "context": "", "use_case": "macOS file management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tim Cook to become Apple Executive Chairman"}, {"id": 761983473, "item_id": 47623967, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47623967", "by": "al_borland", "date": "2026-04-03", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "PathFinder replaced Finder", "excerpt": "The advice was to question what is truly needed. I may be a bit on the extreme end, as I never stop asking this question and seeing what life is like without various things. This doesn\u2019t seem like horrible advice to someone who is running into UI breaking problems. This also isn\u2019t a new notch issue. I remember this being a common topic of discussion going back to the 12\u201d MBP 20+ years ago. People with a lot of menuba", "context": "", "use_case": "File management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tailscale's New macOS Home"}, {"id": 748019554, "item_id": 46751222, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46751222", "by": "f30e3dfed1c9", "date": "2026-01-24", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "chose Path Finder, and have been using it ever since", "excerpt": "\"of course, it was Path Finder! You could even have it respond to 'Reveal'\" This still works. I have been using macs since 1985 and have always hated the Finder. In the days of classic Mac OS, my go to for file management was a desk accessory called DiskTop, which was great. Super fast and easy to operate from the keyboard. When I switched to OSX, I needed something better than the Finder, chose Path Finder, and have", "context": "", "use_case": "File management", "switched_from": "Finder", "story": "Bugs Apple Loves"}, {"id": 747844513, "item_id": 46740282, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46740282", "by": "andrekandre", "date": "2026-01-23", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "> I recall you used to be able to flip some bit somewhere to allow you to Quit the Finder you can still do this with a hidden preference using command line: defaults write com.apple.finder QuitMenuItem -bool true; killall Finder [0] https://www.defaults-write.com/adding-quit-option-to-os-x-finder/ > But even then, you'd want more than just that, as when you tell the OS to \"Reveal\" a file or open a folder, that's the ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bugs Apple Loves"}]}