Comparison of FTP client software

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of FTP clients and related clients that use other file transfer protocols. Please see the individual products' articles for further information. This article is not all-inclusive or necessarily up to date. Unless otherwise specified in footnotes, comparisons are based on the stable versions without any add-ons, extensions or external programs.

Basic general information about the clients: creator/company, license/price etc.

Contents

Free

Client Creator First public release date Latest stable version Software license Copy files over 2 GiB[1] Interface
cURL Daniel Stenberg 1998 7.23.1 MIT Yes CLI
CurlFtpFS Robson Braga Araujo 2006 0.9.2 GPL ? Virtual file system
Cyberduck David V. Kocher 2001 4.2.1 GPL Yes GUI
edtFTPj Bruce P. Blackshaw 2000 2.2.0 LGPL Yes Java JAR file
edtFTPnet Bruce P. Blackshaw 2003 2.2.1 LGPL Yes Windows DLL
FileZilla Community 2001 (January) 3.5.2 GPL Yes GUI
FireFTP Mime Čuvalo 2004 (September) 2.0 MPL, Charityware No Firefox addon
Fugu University of Michigan Research Systems Unix Group 2003 1.2.0 BSD ? GUI
gFTP Brian Masney 1998 2.0.19 GPL Yes GTK+
lftp Alexander V. Lukyanov 1996 (August) 4.3.3 GPL Yes CLI
Macfusion Michael Gorbach 0 ? 2.0.4 BSD ? GUI
NcFTP NcFTP Software Inc. 1991 3.2.5 Clarified Artistic License Yes CLI
net2ftp David C. Gartner 2003 (January) 0.98 GPL ? Web interface
PSFTP (PuTTY) Simon Tatham 1999 (January) 0.6 MIT ? CLI
Swish Alexander Lamaison 2007 0.6.0 GPL Yes Windows Explorer shell extension
WinSCP Martin Prikryl 2000 4.3.5 GPL Yes GUI
Yafc John Buswell 0 ? 1.1.1 GPL ? CLI

Freeware

Client Creator First public release date Latest stable version Software license Copy files over 2 GiB[1] Interface
BitKinex Barad-Dur, LLC. 2003 3.2.2 Proprietary Yes GUI + command line
Classic FTP NCH Software 2007 1.13 Proprietary Yes GUI
Fling FTP (free version contains adware) NCH Software 2007 1.0.7 Proprietary Yes Windows Explorer shell extension
FTP Rush Wing FTP Software 2011 2.1.5 Freeware Yes GUI
LeechFTP Jan Debis 1998 1.3 (Discontinued) Proprietary No ?
Mosaic NCSA 1993 3.0 (Discontinued) Proprietary ? ?
pbFtpClient Level5Software 2007 6.1 Proprietary ? Windows GUI
UploadFTP Free Brightek Software 2011 2.0 Proprietary Yes GUI

Freeware and Payware Editions

Client Creator First public release date Latest stable version Software license Copy files over 2 GiB[1]
CoreFTP CoreFTP.com 2003 2.1 Proprietary ?
CrossFTP CrossFTP.com 2006 1.51 Proprietary Yes
FAR Manager Eugene Roshal / FAR Group 1996 2.0.1807 Proprietary Yes
Fetch Fetch Softworks 1989 5.5.1 Proprietary Yes
Secure FTP Glub Tech 1999 2.6.0 Proprietary Yes
Sysax FTP Automation Codeorigin, LLC 2005 4.1 Proprietary Yes

Trials of Payware

Client Creator First public release date Latest stable version Software license Copy files over 2 GiB[1]
BatchFTP ENSware LLC. 2000 9.0.0.1 Proprietary Yes
Beyond Compare Scooter Software  ? 3.3 Proprietary Yes
3D-FTP SiteDesigner Technologies, Inc. 1999 9.01 Proprietary Yes
AbsoluteTelnet Celestial Software 1996 7.21 Proprietary Yes
AutoFTP PrimaSoft PC 1998 4.9 Proprietary ?
BulletProof FTP aka BPFTP BulletProof Software LLC 1997 2.63 Proprietary Yes
CuteFTP Alex Kunadze 1994 8.3.4 Proprietary Yes
FlashFXP OpenSight Software, LLC 1999 4.0 Proprietary Yes
FTP Client Vicomsoft 1997 4.6.3 Proprietary Yes
FTP Voyager Rhino Software, Inc January, 1997 15.1.0.4 Proprietary Yes
Global Downloader Actysoft Inc 2005 1.6.2.1 Proprietary Yes
LeapFTP LeapWare 1996 3.0.1 Proprietary Yes
GoAnywhere Director Linoma Software 2002 3.5.1 Proprietary Yes
Robo-FTP Serengeti Systems Incorporated 2001 3.7.8 Proprietary Yes
SmartFTP SmartSoft Ltd 1998 3.0.1217.0 Proprietary Yes
Total Commander Christian Ghisler 1993 7.55a Proprietary Yes
UploadFTP Brightek Software 2011 2.0 Proprietary Yes
WebDrive South River Technologies, Inc. 1998 9.0.2199 Proprietary Yes
WS_FTP Ipswitch, Inc. 1996 12.3 Proprietary Yes
Yummy FTP Yummy Software 2004 1.8.7 Proprietary ?

Payware

Client Creator First public release date Latest stable version Software license Copy files over 2 GiB[1]
ALFTP ESTsoft 2000 5.1 Proprietary ?
BitKinex FTP Barad-Dur, LLC. 2003 3.0.3 Proprietary ?
Captain FTP Xnet 2001 6.0 Proprietary ?
Directory Opus GPSoftware 1990 9.5 Proprietary Yes
ExpanDrive (Mac) ExpanDrive, Inc 2008 1.3.4 Proprietary Yes
ExpanDrive (Windows) (formerly SftpDrive) ExpanDrive, Inc 2005 1.8.1 Proprietary ?
FTP Commander Internetsoft Corporation 1997 9.20 Proprietary Yes
FTP Explorer FTPx Corp. October, 1996 1.0.1.53 Proprietary ?
GoAnywhere Director Linoma Software 2002 3.6.2 Proprietary Yes
Interarchy nolobe pty ltd. 1993 (as Anarchie) 10.0.2 Proprietary Yes
SecureFX VanDyke Software 1998 6.7 Proprietary Yes
Transmit Panic, Inc. 1998 4.1.6 Proprietary Yes
WISE-FTP AceBIT 1998 6.1.0 Proprietary ?

Operating system support

The operating systems the clients can run on.

Client Windows Mac OS X Linux BSD Unix AmigaOS
3D-FTP Yes No No No No No
AbsoluteTelnet Yes No No No No No
ALFTP Yes No No No No No
BitKinex Yes No No No No No
Captain FTP No Yes No No No No
Classic FTP Yes Yes No No No No
CoreFTP Yes No No No No No
CrossFTP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
cURL (CL) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
CurlFtpFS No Yes Yes Yes No No
CuteFTP Yes Yes No No No No
Cyberduck Yes Yes No No No No
Directory Opus Yes No No No No Yes
ExpanDrive Yes Yes No No No No
FAR Manager Yes No No No No No
Fetch No Yes No No No No
FileZilla Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
FireFTP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
FlashFXP Yes No No No No No
Fling FTP Yes No No No No No
FRENDS Cobalt Yes No No No No No
FTP Client No Yes No No No No
FTP Commander Yes No No No No No
FTP Explorer Yes No No No No No
FTP Voyager Yes No No No No No
Fugu No Yes No No No No
FTP Rush Yes No No No No No
gFTP No Yes Yes Yes Yes No
GoAnywhere Director Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Interarchy No Yes No No No No
LeechFTP Yes No No No No No
lftp (CL) Yes (cygwin) Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Macfusion No Yes No No No No
Mosaic Yes Yes No No Yes Yes
NcFTP (CL) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
net2ftp (webbased) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
pbFtpClient Yes No No No No Yes
PSFTP (PuTTY) (CL) Yes No Yes Yes Yes No
Robo-FTP Yes No No No No No
SFTPPlus Yes No Yes No Yes No
Secure FTP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
SmartFTP Yes No No No No No
Swish Yes No No No No No
Sysax FTP Automation Yes No No No No No
Total Commander Yes No No No No No
Transmit No Yes No No No No
UploadFTP Yes No No No No No
WebDrive Yes Yes No No No No
WinSCP Yes No No No No No
WISE-FTP Yes No No No No No
WS_FTP Yes No No No No No
Yummy FTP No Yes No No No No
Client Windows Mac OS X Linux BSD Unix AmigaOS

(CL) Command-Line interface only – no GUI

Protocol support

Information about what internet protocols the clients support. External links lead to information about support in future versions of the clients or extensions that provide such functionality.

Client FTP FTP over SSH SFTP FTPS (FTP over SSL) FXP (Site2site transfer) DAV / HTTP(S) Compression Remote Compression API / Commandline available Resume Download Passive mode
3D-FTP Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No Yes ?
AbsoluteTelnet No No Yes No No No Yes Yes ? ? ?
ALFTP Yes No No Yes No No No ? ? ? ?
BitKinex Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ?
Captain FTP Yes No Yes Yes ? No No ? ? ? ?
Classic FTP Yes No No Yes No No No ? ? ? ?
CoreFTP Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes ? ?
CrossFTP Yes Yes (Pro only) Yes (Pro only) Yes (Pro only) Yes (Pro only) Yes (Pro only) Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
cURL Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes (Only) Yes Yes
CurlFtpFS Yes No No Yes No No No No ? ? ?
CuteFTP Yes No Yes (Pro only) Yes Yes (Pro only) Yes (HTTP(S) – Pro only) Yes (Pro only) No ? ? ?
Cyberduck Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No Yes (SFTP only) No Yes ?
Directory Opus Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes ?
ExpanDrive (Mac) Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes ? ?
ExpanDrive (Windows) No No Yes No No No ? No ? ? ?
FAR Manager Yes ? Yes (with WinSCP plugin) Yes (with Far Navigator plugin) ? No No ? ? ? ?
Fetch Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No ? ?
FileZilla Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes (basic) Yes Yes
FireFTP Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No ? ?
FlashFXP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes ? ?
Fling FTP Yes No No Yes No No No Yes Yes ? ?
FTP Client Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No No No Yes ?
FTP Commander Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? ? ?
FTP Explorer Yes No No No ? ? No ? ? ? ?
FTP Voyager Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Fugu No No Yes No No No No ? ? ? ?
FTP Rush Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ?
gFTP Yes Yes Yes Yes (control connection only) Yes ? No ? ? ? ?
GoAnywhere Director Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes ?
Interarchy Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? ? Yes ?
LeechFTP Yes No No No No No No ? ? ? ?
lftp Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes (Partial) No No Yes Yes ?
Macfusion Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Mosaic Yes No No No No No No ? ? ? ?
NcFTP Yes No No ? ? ? No ? Yes ? ?
pbFtpClient Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No ? ? ?
PSFTP (PuTTY) No No Yes No No No No No Yes Yes ?
Robo-FTP Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ?
SFTPPlus Yes No Yes Yes ? Yes No ? Yes ? ?
Secure FTP Yes No No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes ? ?
SmartFTP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes ? ?
Swish No No Yes No No No Yes ? No ? ?
Sysax FTP Automation Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes (script and command line) ? ?
Total Commander Yes Yes Yes (plugin) Yes Yes Yes (plugin) Yes ? Yes Yes Yes
Transmit Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? ? Yes ?
UploadFTP Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes ?
WebDrive Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes ? ?
Windows 7 (ftp.exe) Yes No No No No No No No No ? No
WinSCP Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes (SFTP only) Yes (SCP command) Yes Yes ?
WISE-FTP Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes ? ? ?
WS_FTP Yes Yes (Pro only) Yes (Pro only) Yes Yes (Pro only) Yes Yes (Pro only) No Yes (Pro only) ? ?
Yummy FTP Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No ? ?
Client FTP FTP over SSH SFTP FTPS (FTP over SSL) FXP (Site2site transfer) DAV / HTTP(S) Compression Remote Compression API / Commandline available Resume Download Passive mode

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e ubuntuforums.org: 2007, 2gb data transfer limitation? Quote: "...The common 2GB limit is actually a bug in many FTP clients. If he is using Windows, try the latest FileZilla...", kernel.org: FAQ: I can't download a file with size greater than 2GB, is your website broken?, Comparison_of_file_systems#Limits

See also