Comparison of FTP client software

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of File Transfer Protocol (FTP) clients. Unless otherwise specified in footnotes, comparisons are based on the stable versions without any add-ons, extensions, or external programs.

## Free and open-source software

[edit]

Client  | Developer  | Initial release  | Latest release  | License | Copy files over 2 GB limit[1] | Interface

|
|
|
|
|
|

Version  | Date
cURL | Daniel Stenberg  | 1998  | 8.13.0[2] | 2025-04-02  | curl | Yes  | CLI
Cyberduck | David V. Kocher  | 2001  | 9.1.5[3] | 2025-05-01  | GPL-3.0-or-later | Yes  | GUI and CLI
Far Manager | Eugene Roshal / FAR Group  | 1996  | 3.0.6364 | 2024-08-24  | BSD-3-Clause | Yes  | TUI
FileZilla | Community  | 2001 (January)  | 3.69.0[4] | 2025-04-15  | GPL-2.0-or-later | Yes  | GUI
FireFTP | Mime Čuvalo  | 2004 (September)  | 2.0.32[5] | 2019-02-01  | MPL-1.1, Charityware | Yes (since version 2.0.5)  | Waterfox, Firefox pre-version 57 addon
Fugu | University of Michigan Research Systems Unix Group  | 2003  | 1.2.0[6] | 2005-05-02  | Fugu[7] | ?  | GUI
gFTP | Brian Masney  | 1998  |  |  | GPL-2.0-or-later | Yes  | GTK+
lftp | Alexander V. Lukyanov  | 1996 (August)  | 4.9.3[8] | 2024-11-08  | GPL-3.0-or-later | Yes  | CLI
Macfusion | Michael Gorbach  | 0 ?  | 2.0.4[9] | 2010-12-03  | Apache-2.0 | ?  | GUI
NcFTP | NcFTP Software Inc.  | 1991  | 3.2.9[10] | 2025-03-23  | ClArtistic | Yes  | CLI
net2ftp | David C. Gartner  | 2003 (January)  | 1.3[11] | 2019-07-15  | GPL-2.0-or-later | ?  | Web application
Rclone | Nick Craig-Wood  | 2015 (July)  | 1.69.1[12] | 2025-02-14  | MIT | Yes  | CLI
tnftp | Luke Mewburn  | 1999  | 20230507[13] | 2023-05-07  | BSD-4-Clause | Yes  | CLI
WinSCP | Martin Přikryl  | 2000  | 6.5.1[14] | 2025-04-30  | GPL-3.0-only | Yes  | GUI and CLI

## Proprietary freeware

[edit]

Client  | Developer  | Initial release  | Latest release  | License | Copy files over 2 GB[1] | Interface

|
|
|
|
|
|

Version  | Date
CrossFTP | CrossFTP Software  | 2006  | 1.99.2  | 2020-05-23  | Proprietary | Yes  | GUI
LeechFTP | Jan Debis  | 1998  | 1.3 (Discontinued)  |  | Proprietary | No  | GUI
FTP Voyager | Rhino Software, Inc  | 1997 (January)  | 16.1.0.0  | 2013-08-20  | Proprietary | Yes  | GUI

## Freeware and commercial editions

[edit]

Client  | Developer  | Initial release  | Latest release  | License | Copy files over 2 GB[1]

|
|
|
|
|

Version  | Date
Core FTP | CoreFTP.com  | 2003  | 2.2 (build 1751)  | 2012-06-27  | Freeware | Yes
Fetch | Fetch Softworks | 1989  | 5.7.7  | 2017-12-02  | Proprietary | Yes
Secure FTP | Glub Tech  | 1999  | 2.6.2  | 2013-07-27  | Apache | Yes
Sysax FTP Automation | Codeorigin, LLC  | 2005  | 5.31  | 2012-04-12  | Proprietary | Yes

## Trials of commercial

[edit]

Client  | Developer  | Initial release  | Latest release  | License | Copy files over 2 GB[1]

|
|
|
|
|

Version  | Date
AbsoluteTelnet | Celestial Software  | 1996  | 9.49  | 2012-07-02  | Proprietary | Yes
Beyond Compare | Scooter Software  | 1996  | 5.0.7  | 2025-04-16  | Proprietary | Yes
Commander One | Eltima Software  | 2015  |  |  | Proprietary | Yes
CrossFTP Pro | CrossFTP Software  | 2006  | 1.98.7  | 2020-05-23  | Proprietary | Yes
CuteFTP | Alex Kunadze/Globalscape | 1994  | macOS: 3.1.3
Windows: 9.3.0  | 2014-05-02
2018-07-11  | Proprietary | Yes
Directory Opus | GPSoftware  | 1990  | 12.28  | 2022-06-03  | Proprietary | Yes
FlashFXP | OpenSight Software, LLC  | 1999  | 5.4.0.3970  | 2017-04-01  | Proprietary | Yes
SmartFTP | SmartSoft Ltd  | 1998  | 10.0.3185.0  | 2023-11-15  | Proprietary | Yes
Total Commander | Christian Ghisler  | 1993  | Android: 3.50[15]
Windows: 11.51[16] | 2024-03-27
2025-02-19  | Proprietary | Yes
WebDrive | South River Technologies, Inc.  | 1998  | 2017  | 2017-06-16  | Proprietary | Yes
WS_FTP | Ipswitch, Inc.  | 1996  | 12.7  | 2018-11-27  | Proprietary | Yes
Yummy FTP | Yummy Software  | 2004  | 1.9.0  | 2018-05-10  | Proprietary, Setapp | ?

## Commercial

[edit]

Client  | Developer  | Initial release  | Latest release  | License | Copy files over 2 GB[1]

|
|
|
|
|

Version  | Date
ALFTP | ESTsoft | 2000  | 5.31  | 2012-02-01  | Proprietary | ?
ExpanDrive (formerly SFTPDrive) | ExpanDrive, Inc  | 2005  | Linux:
macOS:
Windows: |

| Proprietary | Yes
ForkLift | BinaryNights, LLC  | 2007  | 4.0.7[17] | 2024-01-30  | Proprietary | Yes
FTP Explorer | FTPx Corp.  | October, 1996  | 1.0.1.53  | 2012-01  | Proprietary | ?
FTP Files | Anders Borum ApS  | 2024  | 2024.47  | 2024-10-07  | Proprietary | Yes
Interarchy | Nolobe Software Pty Ltd  | 1993 (as Anarchie)  | 10.0.6  | 2014-08-18  | Proprietary | Yes
Steed | French Fry, SAS  | 2012  | 1.2.1.1169  | 2017-06-27  | Proprietary | Yes
Transmit | Panic, Inc. | 1998  | 5.6.4  | 2020-04-20  | Proprietary | Yes
WISE-FTP | AceBIT  | 1998  | 7.0 (Build 7.0.4)  | 2012-03-16  | Proprietary | ?
edtFTPj | Bruce P. Blackshaw  | 2000  | 2.5.0[18] | 2016-07-06  | Proprietary | Yes
edtFTPnet  | Bruce P. Blackshaw  | 2003  | 2.2.1  | 2011-08-26  | Proprietary | Yes

## Operating system support

[edit]

The operating systems the clients can run on:

Client  | Windows | macOS | Linux | BSD | Unix | AmigaOS | ChromeOS

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

AbsoluteTelnet | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
ALFTP | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
Beyond Compare | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No
Classic FTP | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
Codeanywhere (webbased)  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes
Commander One | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
Core FTP | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
CrossFTP | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No
cURL (CL)  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No
CuteFTP | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
Cyberduck | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
Directory Opus | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | Yes  | No
ExpanDrive | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No
Far Manager | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
Fetch | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
FileZilla | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No
FireFTP | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No
FlashFXP | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
Fling FTP | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
ForkLift | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
FTP Client | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
FTP Explorer | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
FTP Files  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
FTP Voyager | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
Fugu | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
gFTP | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No
Interarchy | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
LeechFTP | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
lftp (CL)  | Yes (cygwin)  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No
Macfusion | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
Mosaic | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | No
NcFTP (CL)  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No
net2ftp (web-based)  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No
PSFTP (PuTTY) (CL)  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No
Rclone | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No
Secure FTP | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No
SmartFTP | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
Steed | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
Sysax FTP Automation | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
Total Commander | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
tnftp (CL)  | Yes (cygwin)  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes
Transmit | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
WebDrive | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
WinSCP | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
WISE-FTP | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
WS_FTP | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
Yummy FTP | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No
Client  | Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | BSD | Unix | AmigaOS | ChromeOS

(CL) Command-Line interface only – no GUI (Graphical user interface)

## Protocol support

[edit]

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 | Mode Z / Remote Compression  | API / Commandline available  | Resume Download  | Passive mode  | Parallel Transfer[19] | Segmented Downloads[19]

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

AbsoluteTelnet | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?
ALFTP | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?
Beyond Compare | Yes  | No  | Yes (Pro only)  | Yes (Pro only)  | No  | Yes (Pro only)  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | ?
Classic FTP | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | ?  | ?  | ?  | Yes  | ?  | ?
Codeanywhere | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | ?
Commander One | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | Yes  | ?  | ?
Core FTP | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | ?  | ?  | ?  | Yes[20]
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  | ?  | ?
CuteFTP | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes (HTTP(S))  | Yes  | No  | ?  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | Yes
Cyberduck | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | No  | Yes (SFTP only)  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | ?
Directory Opus | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | ?
ExpanDrive (Mac)  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?
ExpanDrive (Windows)  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | ?  | No  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?
Far Manager | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | Yes  | No  | ?  | ?  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | ?
Fetch | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | ?
FileZilla | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | Yes (basic)  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | No
FireFTP | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | ?
FlashFXP | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | ?
Fling FTP | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?
ForkLift | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | ?
FTP Client | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | Yes  | ?  | ?  | ?
FTP Explorer | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | ?  | ?  | No  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?
FTP Voyager | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | ?
Fugu | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?
gFTP | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes (control connection only)  | Yes  | ?  | No  | ?  | Yes  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?
Interarchy | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | ?  | ?  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | ?
LeechFTP | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?
lftp | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes (Partial)  | No  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | ?  | Yes
Macfusion | Yes  | ?  | Yes  | No  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?
Macfusion | Yes  | ?  | Yes  | No  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?
NcFTP | Yes  | No  | No  | ?  | ?  | ?  | No  | ?  | Yes  | ?  | Yes  | ?  | ?
PSFTP (PuTTY)  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | ?  | ?
Rclone | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes
Secure FTP | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | No  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | ?  | ?  | ?
SmartFTP | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | Yes
Steed | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | ?  | Yes  | ?  | ?
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  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | ?  | Yes (AppleScript)  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | ?
WebDrive | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes (SFTP)  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | ?
Windows 7 (ftp.exe)  | Yes  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | No  | ?  | No  | ?  | ?
WinSCP | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes (SFTP only)  | Yes (SCP command)  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | No
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)  | Yes (Pro only)  | Yes  | ?  | ?
Yummy FTP | Yes  | No  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Yes (AppleScript)  | Yes  | Yes  | ?  | ?
Client  | FTP | FTP over SSH | SFTP | FTPS (FTP over SSL) | FXP (Site2site transfer) | DAV / HTTP(S) | Compression | Mode Z / Remote Compression  | API / Commandline available  | Resume Download  | Passive mode  | Parallel Transfer  | Segmented Downloads

## See also

[edit]

* File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
* Comparison of FTP server software packages
* Comparison of SSH clients – many of these, although not listed here, also have an SFTP capability

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e ubuntuforums.org: 2007, 2GB data transfer limitation? Quote: "...The common 2 GB 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
2. ^ Daniel Stenberg. "Curl: [RELEASE] curl 8.13.0". Retrieved April 2, 2025.
3. ^ "Release 9.1.5". May 1, 2025. Retrieved May 10, 2025.
4. ^ "3.69.0 (2025-04-15)". April 15, 2025. Retrieved April 15, 2025.
5. ^ "Release 2.0.32". February 1, 2019. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
6. ^ "Research Systems Unix Group: Fugu". May 2, 2005. Archived from the original on February 19, 2019.
7. ^ "Fugu license". Archived from the original on February 19, 2019.
8. ^ "Release 4.9.3". November 8, 2024. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
9. ^ "Macfusion2.0.4".
10. ^ "ncftp at NcFTP Software Inc".
11. ^ https://www.net2ftp.com/index.php?state=homepage&state2=3. `{{cite web}}`: Missing or empty `|title=` (help)
12. ^ "Release 1.69.1". February 14, 2025. Retrieved February 19, 2025.
13. ^ "Index of pub/NetBSD/misc/tnftp/".
14. ^ "6.5.1: Overlapping controls". April 30, 2025. Retrieved May 5, 2025.
15. ^ "history2.txt". Retrieved April 7, 2024.
16. ^ "Total Commander 11.51 is available now!". Retrieved February 19, 2025.
17. ^ "ForkLift 4.0.7 is available". January 30, 2024.
18. ^ "edtFTPj/Free revision history".
19. ^ a b "Multi-threaded and Segmented FTP · Whatbox". whatbox.ca. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
20. ^ "Core FTP - SFTP client features". coreftp.com. Retrieved July 15, 2020.