Why people leave File Manager Plus
Alpha Inventor’s File Manager Plus crossed 168M installs by being free, lightweight, and reasonably feature-complete. It handles SD card, USB OTG, NAS, FTP, and the big cloud providers. The catch is in three places:
- Ads in the main view. The file list is the most-visited screen of any file manager, and that’s where the banner sits. The ad-removal upgrade exists, but you have to know to look for it.
- No dual-pane mode. Power users moving thousands of files between folders or between local storage and a NAS want side-by-side panes. File Manager Plus stays single-pane, which means more taps for every move.
- App-management quirks. Bulk uninstall and APK extraction work, but the flow opens system dialogs one at a time. Compared to dedicated managers, batch operations feel slow.
The File Manager Plus alternatives below cover ad-free defaults, dual-pane workflows, and open-source picks.
Quick comparison
| App | Best for | Free plan | Starting price | Standout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Files by Google | Stock-clean Pixel and Android Go users | Full file manager, no ads | Free | Smart suggestions for clearing space |
| Solid Explorer | Dual-pane workflow, NAS heavy users | 14-day trial | About $3 one-off | True dual-pane, deep cloud and SMB support |
| X-plore File Manager | Power users who want everything visible | Full file manager free | Optional donate version | Tree-pane view, root access |
| Material Files | Privacy-first, open-source preference | Free, no ads, no tracking | Free | Material You design, GPL-licensed |
| FX File Explorer | Privacy-conscious paid users | Free with optional Plus | About $3 one-off | No ads, no tracking, even free |
| Cx File Explorer | Free dual-pane without paying | Free | Free | Network and dual-pane without ads |
| Total Commander | Long-time desktop Total Commander users | Free | Free, donation-supported | Plugin system, FTP, SMB, WebDAV |
The 7 File Manager Plus alternatives
Files by Google, best for a stock-clean experience on any Android device
Files by Google works on every Android device, not only Pixel. The home screen surfaces space-saving suggestions: duplicates, large files, unused apps, junk caches, and downloaded videos. Nearby Share is built in, so transferring files to another Android phone without Bluetooth pairing is one tap.
Where it falls short: No dual-pane view, limited FTP, and no built-in SMB browser. If you regularly browse a NAS, this isn’t the pick.
Pricing:
- Free: Full feature set with no ads and no upsell.
- Paid: Free.
- vs File Manager Plus: cleaner, free, and the space-saving suggestions are genuinely useful
Migrating from File Manager Plus: No data to migrate. Install, grant storage access, and your file tree is identical.
Bottom line: The pick for users who want zero ads and don’t need NAS or dual-pane.
Solid Explorer, best for serious dual-pane work between local and remote storage
Solid Explorer’s dual-pane is the best on Android: you can drag a file from local storage to a Google Drive folder in another pane, or from your phone’s internal storage to a NAS share. Cloud and network connectors cover Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Box, MEGA, SMB/CIFS, FTP, SFTP, and WebDAV. Encrypted-archive support uses standard ZIP AES.
Where it falls short: The 14-day trial expires and the one-off purchase is required to keep going. There’s no free permanent tier.
Pricing:
- Free: 14-day trial of the full app.
- Paid: About $3 one-off, no subscription.
- vs File Manager Plus: paid, but dual-pane and SMB browsing make it the clear power-user upgrade
Migrating from File Manager Plus: Bookmarks and cloud accounts re-add in five minutes. No automated import from File Manager Plus.
Bottom line: The pick for users who actually use NAS shares and want a dual-pane workflow.
X-plore File Manager, best for seeing everything in a tree view
X-plore is the polar opposite of Files by Google: instead of hiding complexity, it shows you the whole filesystem in a side-by-side tree view. Root browsing works, internal app data is visible if you grant the right permission, and ZIP/RAR/TAR archives extract in place. SMB1/2/3, FTP, SFTP, and WebDAV are all supported, plus the major cloud providers.
Where it falls short: The interface is dense and the icons are small. New users will spend ten minutes orienting themselves.
Pricing:
- Free: Full feature set with a small ad strip.
- Paid: Donate version is about $2 one-off and removes ads.
- vs File Manager Plus: more powerful for power users; the tree view alone is worth the switch
Migrating from File Manager Plus: No import. Re-add your cloud and SMB connections in the dedicated Network section.
Bottom line: The pick for power users and rooted device owners who want everything visible.
Material Files, best for open-source users and Material You fans
Material Files is an open-source file manager (GPL-3.0) that nails the Material You aesthetic and adds the features the stock Android file manager always lacked: tabbed browsing, archive support, FTP and SFTP, and root browsing. The code is on GitHub, so privacy-minded users can audit what the app does with their files.
Where it falls short: No cloud sync to Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive directly. You’d pair this with the cloud apps you already use.
Pricing:
- Free: Free, open-source, no ads, no in-app purchases.
- Paid: Free.
- vs File Manager Plus: cleaner UI and open-source, but loses the integrated cloud connectors
Migrating from File Manager Plus: Nothing to migrate. The app reads your existing storage as soon as it’s granted access.
Bottom line: The pick for privacy-conscious users who want a clean, auditable app.
FX File Explorer, best for privacy-first paid users who hate trackers
FX File Explorer markets itself on what it doesn’t do: no ads, no tracking, no analytics, even on the free tier. The free app already covers internal and SD card browsing, USB OTG, root, ZIP and RAR archives, and a basic music and video player. FX Plus adds cloud connectors, SMB, FTP, and a dual-pane mode.
Where it falls short: The free tier doesn’t include cloud or network browsing. To get them you need FX Plus, which is paid.
Pricing:
- Free: Local storage, USB OTG, archives, media player, root, and text editing.
- Paid: FX Plus runs about $3 one-off and adds cloud, SMB, FTP, and dual-pane.
- vs File Manager Plus: genuinely ad-free even on the free tier, but cloud features need the upgrade
Migrating from File Manager Plus: Add cloud accounts manually after FX Plus is unlocked. No auto-import.
Bottom line: The pick for users who refuse trackers and are happy to pay once.
Cx File Explorer, best for free dual-pane without paying anything
Cx File Explorer is the rare free file manager that bundles dual-pane, SMB, FTP, and cloud connectors without a paywall and without ads. The interface is closer to Files by Google than X-plore, so the learning curve is small. Local network discovery finds NAS shares automatically.
Where it falls short: Development pace is slower than the paid alternatives. New Android storage APIs sometimes take a release or two to land.
Pricing:
- Free: Full app: dual-pane, cloud, SMB, FTP, ZIP support. No ads.
- Paid: Free, no premium tier.
- vs File Manager Plus: free with dual-pane and SMB, which File Manager Plus doesn’t offer at all
Migrating from File Manager Plus: No import needed. Add cloud accounts and NAS shares after first launch.
Bottom line: The pick if you want dual-pane and NAS for free with no ads.
Total Commander, best for users coming from desktop Total Commander
The Android version mirrors the layout that’s defined desktop Total Commander since the 90s: two file panes, keyboard-shortcut-style buttons at the bottom, and a plugin architecture that adds FTP, WebDAV, LAN browsing, and cloud connectors. The plugins are separate installs but free.
Where it falls short: The UI looks like Windows 95. New users without the desktop muscle memory will find the layout cramped on phone screens.
Pricing:
- Free: Full app and all plugins.
- Paid: Free, donation-supported.
- vs File Manager Plus: ugly but enormously powerful, and free
Migrating from File Manager Plus: No import. Add plugins for the cloud and network services you use.
Bottom line: The pick for desktop Total Commander users; everyone else picks something else.
How to choose
Pick Files by Google if you want zero ads and a clean default, and you don’t browse a NAS. Pick Solid Explorer if you regularly move files between local storage and a NAS or cloud, and the dual-pane workflow matters; it’s the strongest paid upgrade. Pick Cx File Explorer if you want Solid Explorer’s feature set without paying. Pick X-plore if you’re a power user who wants the whole filesystem visible at once. Pick Material Files if open-source matters and you don’t need cloud connectors inside the file manager. Pick FX File Explorer if tracker-free even on the free tier is your top priority. Pick Total Commander only if you’ve been using its desktop sibling for years.
Stay on File Manager Plus if you’ve already paid for the ad-removal IAP and your workflow is single-pane local plus a few cloud accounts; it does that competently.
FAQ
Is Files by Google better than File Manager Plus? Better for users who want a clean, ad-free experience and don’t browse NAS shares. File Manager Plus has wider cloud and FTP coverage. Pick on whether you need NAS.
What’s the best free File Manager Plus alternative? Cx File Explorer covers dual-pane, SMB, FTP, and cloud without ads or a paywall. Material Files is the open-source pick if you want auditable code.
Can I copy files between phone and NAS on Android? Yes. Solid Explorer, X-plore, Cx File Explorer, and FX Plus all support SMB/CIFS. Solid Explorer’s dual-pane makes the workflow feel closest to a desktop file manager.
Are file managers safe to use? Reputable ones, yes. The risk is the all-files-access permission: pick a publisher with a long track record. Avoid file managers that bundle cleaners and battery savers if you’re worried about scope creep.
Why does File Manager Plus need so many permissions? Storage access is required to read and write files. Some features (USB OTG, SMB, FTP) need additional network or USB permissions. None of that is unusual for the category.
