compare
lf vs nnn
The same facts for both, read from GitHub every night, and the relation a person reviewed.
| Fact | lf | nnn |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Go | C |
| Licence | MIT | BSD-2-Clause |
| Stars | 9.5k | 22k |
| Latest | r42 | v5.3 |
| Last push | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-03 |
| Release cadence | about 65 days between releases | about 268 days between releases |
| Active contributors | 4 commit authors on the default branch in the last 90 days | 6 commit authors on the default branch in the last 90 days |
| Flags | none | none |
How they relate
Both replace ranger. Alternatives to ranger →
Full replacementlfModeled on ranger, as a single Go binary with its own config format.
Full replacementnnnA single small C binary, extended through plugins rather than a Python config.
lf
- r422026-07-31The key <backspace2> has been renamed to <backspace> for map keybindings (#2286).
- r412026-02-04The previewer script no longer skips non-regular files (#2327).
- r402025-12-10Error messages from the server are no longer written to the terminal which causes the UI to break (#2290).
- r392025-12-01File extensions are now shown for long filenames even if they are truncated (#2159).
- r382025-09-19The deprecated globfilter and globsearch options are now removed (#2108).
lf
✓ signed The latest release, r42, carries a signature GitHub verified.
Loading the security report
nnn
✓ signed The latest release, v5.3, carries a signature GitHub verified.
Loading the security report