Comparison

FileBrowser vs File Manager & Documents

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

FileBrowser

Access and manage files across your home computers, network drives, and cloud storage. Upload, download, copy, and edit documents directly from your device, with built-in viewers for various file types and streaming capabilities.

Highlights
  • Connect to computers, NAS, and cloud storage
  • Upload, download, copy, and move files
  • Multi-tabbed browsing and split-screen support
  • Edit documents in-place
  • Built-in viewers for documents, photos, and media
  • Stream movies and music with AirPlay/Chromecast
  • Annotate PDFs and images
Read full description

Use your iPad or iPhone to connect to your home computers, network drives and cloud storage. Easily upload/download/copy files and folders from one location to another, and browse your content using a variety of built-in viewers. *** FileBrowser remains the best option if you're looking for a file manager that supports a variety of external connections and also integrates deeply with iOS - Federico Viticci - MacStories *** *** FileBrowser's setup varies for every device, and the automatic wizards work super-well. Charlie Sorrel - Cult of Mac *** Ultra-fast browsing of your computers. Faster than Windows Explorer or Mac Finder and our users agree! GET ORGANIZED FileBrowser gives you everything you need to keep your files effortlessly organized: Move, edit, delete, rename, copy, zip and unzip. Download files from the web and paste them wherever you choose. MULTI-TABBED BROWSING Our FileBrowser suite of apps are the first file management apps to support multiple tabs. Connect to many of your locations at once and switch between them with ease. Use iPadOS split-screen mode to drag & drop between multiple windows. CONNECT TO Windows, Mac, Linux, Time Capsule, NAS drives, portable WiFi drives, SMB, Samba. Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, WebDAV, FTP and SFTP. Link to the same cloud storage with multiple accounts, if you have more than one Dropbox account, for example. EXTEND THE FILES APP FileBrowser allows you to access all your connections from the iOS Files app and other apps that use this as their document chooser, bringing network access to those apps. EDIT IN-PLACE No more copying of documents between apps. Launch an app to edit a network document in-place, such as Word or Pages or any of the Office and Mac suite. Changes are saved to the original document automatically. BLAZINGLY FAST Create bookmarks to your favorite locations & folders. Use a single tap to connect and browse to a favorite folder. PHOTO VIEWER Browse your photos wherever they are stored and display them on your TV or projector using AirPlay or Chromecast. Easily flick through holiday snaps or use the built-in slideshow feature. STREAM YOUR MOVIES / MUSIC Stream movie files or listen to music, both with AirPlay™ and Chromecast support. Use our built-in viewers or stream video to other apps. DOCUMENT VIEWER View Microsoft Office, Apple Pages, Numbers, KeyNote, PDF, text files, source code, HTML, and many more using the built-in viewers. ANNOTATE PDFS AND IMAGES Use the built-in annotation tools for PDFs and images, or use the iOS annotation tools to add notes, drawings or highlight text. SECURITY AND ENCRYPTION FileBrowser securely stores your passwords in the iOS keychain and uses iOS encryption features to protect your local content. Protect local files using a password, TouchID or FaceID. CONNECT ANYWHERE Connect to your Mac or PC when away from home. See our website for details: https://www.stratospherix.com/setupvpn TOO MANY FEATURES TO LIST FileBrowser has many features that we would like to tell you about. Check out our website. You'll be amazed! https://www.stratospherix.com/products/filebrowser FIRST CLASS SUPPORT User manuals and help are available at stratospherix.com/support with how-to articles and videos. You can also email us for fast, friendly support.

About

File Manager & Documents

Organize and manage your downloaded files and documents conveniently on your iPhone or iPad. Create folders, store files in the cloud to save space, and use the built-in browser for direct downloads. Sort files by various criteria for easy access.

Highlights
  • Manage downloads
  • Create folders
  • Cloud storage
  • Built-in browser
  • Direct downloads
  • Sort files
Features
Read full description

Manage your downloads conveniently from your iPhone or iPad, Download, browse and organize your files like you would on a PC. Don’t worry about loosing space on your internal memory. - Get all your files stored directly on one convenient location. - Create folders to organize all your date on an intuitive way. - Store your files on the cloud and save valuable internal memory. - Download images or video with special search options to get focused results. - Specialize build in browser so you can do direct downloads while using the app. - Sort your files by name, date, size or type. Download Manager Subscription options:

 1. Title of publication or service: Download Manager. 2. Length of subscription & Price of subscription, and price per unit if appropriate: - Weekly (First 3 day free trial) 3. Price of subscription: - 3 day free trial then $2.99 per week - 3 days free trial then $9.99 per month - 3 days free trial then $49.99 per year 4. Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase 
 5. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. You can turn of the auto-renew subscription from iPhone setting
 6. Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal 7. Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase.
 8. Privacy Policy: https://giantbrainsllc.wordpress.com/privacy-policy/ 9. Terms of use: https://giantbrainsllc.wordpress.com/terms-of-use/ 10. Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication where applicable 
11. Download Manager adds new features above and are available through an auto-renewing subscription. Subscriptions will be charged to your credit card through your iTunes account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of your current subscription, and you can cancel anytime a subscription during the active period. You can manage your subscription, either by viewing your account in iTunes from your Mac or PC, or Account Settings on your device after purchase.

Screenshots

FileBrowser4 screens
File Manager & Documents4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: File Manager & Documents at Free against FileBrowser's $7.99. FileBrowser's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and review sentiment (82% vs 52%). On ratings volume, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

File Manager & Documents is free to download; FileBrowser costs $7.99 up front. File Manager & Documents sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days. FileBrowser asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

FileBrowser holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5.6K and 4.8K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 82% of FileBrowser's written reviews are positive against 52% of File Manager & Documents's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

FileBrowser ships an update every 5 weeks, File Manager & Documents every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
FileBrowser versus File Manager & Documents: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFileBrowserFile Manager & Documents
Price$7.99Free — better
Rating4.7 (5.6K ratings) — better4.5 (4.8K ratings)
Positive reviews82.1% of reviews — better52.0% of reviews
Number of ratings5.6K — better4.8K
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksEvery 4 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaid — betterSubscription
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size70 MB88 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperStratospherix LtdGiant Brains

Customer experience

FileBrowser

All ratings5,642 ratings
Positive94.2%
Neutral2.4%
Negative3.4%
Written reviews1,157 reviews
Positive82.1%
Neutral6.1%
Negative11.8%

File Manager & Documents

All ratings4,751 ratings
Positive85.6%
Neutral4.0%
Negative10.4%
Written reviews200 reviews
Positive52.0%
Neutral5.5%
Negative42.5%

User reviews

FileBrowser

From 5.6K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great file manager
  • 🚀 Powerful and versatile
  • 🔒 Secure access to files
  • 💡 Excellent integration with iOS Files app
  • 👍 Reliable and stable

Room to improve

  • 🐛 SMB connection issues
  • 🐛 Misleading directory caching
  • 🐛 Video playback problems
  • 🐛 Buggy UI changes
  • 🐛 Inability to rename photos

File Manager & Documents

From 4.8K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 User-friendly
  • 🚀 Fast and efficient
  • 💡 Innovative features

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes
  • 🔒 Security and privacy concerns
  • 💰 Expensive subscription model

Bugs and requests

FileBrowser

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Copy and paste functionality broken after update
  • Inability to access iCloud files
  • Crashes when accessing large files
  • Thumbnails not generating properly

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add support for AV1 video codec
  • Improve audio playback controls
  • Implement a recycle bin/trash feature
  • Add option to loop video playback
  • Improve video scrubbing and seeking

File Manager & Documents

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Login screen freezes
  • Incompatible with newer iOS versions
  • Download issues

Requested features

3 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Improved file management capabilities
  • Better integration with other apps

In-app purchases

None

FileBrowser

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

File Manager & Documents

Subscriptions4
  • Weekly Subscription3 Days trial$4.997 Days
  • Monthly Subscription1 Month trial$9.991 Month
  • Yearly3 Days trial$29.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Yearly Subscription3 Days trial$49.991 Year

Questions

Is FileBrowser free?
FileBrowser costs $7.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is File Manager & Documents free?
File Manager & Documents is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, FileBrowser or File Manager & Documents?
FileBrowser is rated higher. FileBrowser averages 4.7 out of 5 from 5.6K ratings, while File Manager & Documents averages 4.5 from 4.8K ratings.
Do FileBrowser or File Manager & Documents have ads?
Neither FileBrowser nor File Manager & Documents shows ads.
Which is updated more often, FileBrowser or File Manager & Documents?
FileBrowser ships an update every 5 weeks, and File Manager & Documents every 4 weeks. Most recently, FileBrowser was updated on September 24, 2026 and File Manager & Documents on September 23, 2026.

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