FileMayor vs Marta.

The decision matrix.

Flying through files by hand.

If you want a fast, keyboard-first dual-pane manager — jump between folders, compare two locations, move and rename with muscle memory — Marta is a joy and it is free. For surgical, hands-on file work it is faster than any plan-and-approve tool, FileMayor included. That niche belongs to Marta.

When the folder is too big to drive by hand.

A dual-pane manager is precise but manual — every move is a decision you make and execute. That is fine for ten files and exhausting for ten thousand. FileMayor scans the whole tree, explains what it found, proposes a structured cure, and applies it in a single journaled session that undo --all can reverse completely.

It also detects content-level duplicates, runs on Windows and Linux, and integrates with AI assistants via MCP — capabilities outside Marta's scope.

Manual is precise. It is also slow at scale.

Marta users add FileMayor for the jobs that are not worth doing by hand — the quarterly cleanup, the duplicate sweep, the archive of everything older than a year — where a planning engine and an undo journal beat raw speed.

• →Describe the goal once — FileMayor plans the entire reorganisation for you.
• →Every operation is reversible — Marta has no session-level undo for batched moves.
• →Content-hash dedupe and cross-platform support — beyond a dual-pane navigator’s scope.

The cleanup you keep putting off, in one command.

$ filemayor scan ~/Documents --dedupe

  Scanned 9,540 files · 31.2 GB

  ◆ Diagnosis
    • 2,140 duplicate files (7.8 GB recoverable)
    • 3,300 files unmodified for 12+ months
    • Deeply nested folders (up to 11 levels)

  ◆ Proposed cure
    [1] Deduplicate 2,140 files, keep newest → saves 7.8 GB
    [2] Archive 3,300 stale files to _archive/
    [3] Flatten nesting deeper than 4 levels

  Apply? [y/N] y

  ✓ 5,440 operations journaled. Run `filemayor undo --all` to reverse.

FileMayor vs Marta — FAQ.

Is FileMayor an alternative to Marta?

They solve different problems. Marta is a fast, keyboard-driven dual-pane file manager in the Norton Commander tradition — built for navigating and manipulating files quickly by hand. FileMayor automates organisation: it scans a folder, plans a reorganisation with AI, and applies it with rollback. Marta is for manual control; FileMayor is for bulk automation.

Does FileMayor have a dual-pane interface like Marta?

No. FileMayor uses a command bar and plan-review model, not a dual-pane navigator. If you specifically want a fast keyboard-driven two-pane file manager, Marta is excellent and free. FileMayor is the right tool when you want the organising done for you rather than driving each move yourself.

Is Marta or FileMayor better for organising a messy folder?

For a large messy folder, FileMayor. Marta lets you move and rename files quickly, but you still decide and execute every action. FileMayor diagnoses the folder, proposes a complete plan (sort, dedupe, archive), and applies it in one reversible session. For surgical manual edits, Marta is faster; for bulk cleanup, FileMayor is.

Does FileMayor work on Windows and Linux?

Yes — macOS, Windows, Linux, plus a CLI and PWA. Marta is macOS-only. If you want one consistent organising workflow across operating systems, FileMayor provides it; Marta does not.