Disclosure: I built Foldout, one of the apps below. I've tried to give every app a fair shake. Where another app does something better, this page says so. Spot an error? Open an issue and I'll fix it.
Quick picks
Free, open source, for projects
Foldout (MIT). Real folder sizes, a file-type breakdown, largest and recent files, git branch and status, and the README rendered inline.
Cheapest paid, most archive formats
Folder Preview ($1.99, App Store). List and icon views, thumbnails, and archive previews for zip, tar, gz, 7z, rar and xz.
Browse into folders and open files
Folder Preview Pro ($9.99). Unsandboxed, so it can navigate into subfolders, open files with a double-click and drag them out.
One app for every file type
Unfold ($10). Folders plus code, JSON, Markdown with diagrams and math, ebooks and 17 archive types, as separate toggleable extensions.
Feature comparison table
"Real size" means the total includes everything in subfolders. "Git" means the preview shows branch or commit information for repositories.
| App | Price | Open source | macOS | Real size | Type chart | Largest + recent | Git | README | Image grid | Archives | Markdown | Homebrew | Notarized |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foldout | Free | MIT | 14 | Yes | Yes | Top 100 each | Branch, commit, changes | Yes | Yes | Zip | Yes | Own tap | No |
| Folder Preview | $1.99 once | No | 12 | Yes | No | Columns only | No | No | Icon view | zip, tar, gz, 7z, rar, xz | No | No | App Store |
| Folder Preview Pro | $9.99 once | No | 12 | Yes | No | Columns only | No | No | Icon view | Same 6 formats | No | Cask | Unknown |
| PeekX | Free | MIT | 14 | Top level only | No | Date column | No | No | Side pane | No | Needs internet | No | Yes |
| Unfold | $10 once | No | 15.6 | Yes | Unknown | Unknown | Not listed | Not listed | Grid layout | 17 formats | Yes, plus diagrams | Unknown | Unknown |
| Folder Quick Look | $4.99 | No | 15.6 | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | No | App Store |
| Peek | $7.99 | No | 10.15 | Last updated April 2022. Users report it broken on recent macOS releases. | |||||||||
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
Prices in USD as listed on 20 October 2026 and may change. "Unknown" means the official listing didn't say. Sources are linked in each app's section below.
Foldout Folder Preview
Free · MIT · macOS 14+ · GitHub
Treats a folder as a project. Press Space and it scans every subfolder in the background, filling in the total size, a file-type bar, and tabs for top-level contents, the 100 largest files and the 100 newest. For git repositories it shows the branch, last commit, author and how many tracked files are modified or deleted, read straight from .git, and opens the README rendered. Folders of photos open to a thumbnail grid. It also previews .zip contents and .md files. Sandboxed, read-only and offline.
Where it falls short: zip is the only archive format, there's no tree view or code highlighting, you can't open or drag files out of the preview, untracked files don't count toward git changes, and the downloaded build isn't notarized, so the first launch needs Open Anyway in System Settings. Installing with Homebrew avoids that prompt.
Folder Preview
$1.99 · Mac App Store · macOS 12+ · App Store · anybox.ltd
The most established paid option, by Anybox. Quick Look for folders and archives (zip, tar, gz, bz2, 7z, rar, xz and jar), with list and icon views, thumbnails for images, PDFs and video, customisable columns, and recursive folder sizes. It's translated into 38 languages and also works inside ForkLift, Path Finder, Commander One and QSpace. Version 3.1.1 shipped on 2 October 2026.
Where it falls short: no git or README awareness and no type breakdown. Some App Store reviewers call it sluggish and say zip previews can hang. Its developer explains that the App Store sandbox blocks opening files and browsing into folders, which is why those live in the Pro version.
Folder Preview Pro
$9.99 · direct download · macOS 12+ · anybox.ltd · Homebrew cask
The unsandboxed edition of Folder Preview. It adds double-click to open, drag and drop, a toolbar, a two-column preview and navigating into subfolders. It needs Full Disk Access to browse outside the previewed folder. Its developer describes it on MPU Talk.
Choose it if you want Quick Look to act like a mini Finder. Foldout and the App Store version can't open files from the preview.
PeekX
Free · MIT · macOS 14+ · GitHub
An open-source folder previewer with an expandable tree, filters by kind, and a side pane that previews the selected image or text file. Its releases are notarized. The last commit and release were on 19 November 2025.
Where it falls short: the header size counts only top-level files, so folders with subfolders show the wrong total (issue #3). It lists at most 500 entries per level. Single-file Markdown loads its renderer from a CDN, so it fails offline. There's no Homebrew install yet (issue #4), and none of its seven open issues has been closed.
Unfold
$10 · direct (7-day trial) or App Store · macOS 15.6+ · unfold.tools
A broad Quick Look suite: folders with native, grid and list layouts and recursive totals, plus code, JSON, Markdown with Mermaid and math, TSV, ebooks and 17 archive formats. It ships 13 separate extensions you can switch on and off, which helps when several apps compete for the same file type. This review compares it with other Quick Look tools.
Choose it if you want one paid app to replace several previewers and you're on macOS 15.6 or later. Its site doesn't list git or README features for folders.
Folder Quick Look
$4.99 · Mac App Store · macOS 15.6+ · App Store
A folder previewer by App ahead GmbH. It started free and later became paid, which r/macapps users discussed. Its listing doesn't detail sizes, archives or project features, so the table marks those Unknown.
Peek
$7.99 · Mac App Store · macOS 10.15+ · App Store
Once a popular Quick Look extension for many file types. Version 2.6.4 from 2 April 2022 is the latest, and users call it abandoned on recent macOS releases.
Not folder apps, but good companions
- Glance (free, MIT): source code, Markdown, archives, notebooks and TSV. No folder preview.
- Syntax Highlight and QLMarkdown (free, GPL-3.0): highlighted code and GitHub-flavoured Markdown, notarized, with Homebrew casks.
- QLStephen no longer works: macOS 15 dropped old-style
.qlgeneratorplugins, and its Homebrew cask is disabled.
These claim individual file types, so they work alongside a folder previewer. If two apps claim the same type, turn one off in System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions → Quick Look.
How to choose a folder preview app
- Want it free and open source? Foldout or PeekX. Foldout gets sizes right across subfolders and adds git and README views.
- Work with code? Foldout is the only one here that shows the git branch, last commit, uncommitted changes and the README.
- Need rar, 7z or tar archives? Folder Preview or Unfold.
- Want to open or drag files from the preview? Folder Preview Pro.
- Older Mac? Folder Preview runs on macOS 12. Foldout and PeekX need 14, and Unfold and Folder Quick Look need 15.6.
Try Foldout Folder Preview
Free and open source. Real folder sizes, type breakdown, largest and newest files, git status and README, one keypress away.
How this comparison was made
Every claim comes from the app's official website, Mac App Store listing, release notes, documentation or GitHub repository, read on 20 October 2026. PeekX's behaviour comes from reading its open-source code and issues. I haven't bought and run every paid app, so "Unknown" marks anything the listing didn't confirm. Prices are the listed USD prices on that date. I'll update this page when apps ship major changes.