The fastest clients (ForkLift and Yummy FTP) were uploading 1.86 times as fast as Transmit, the third and 4.64 times as fast as Filezilla, the slowest FTP client. ForkLift was the fastest to download the same small files, it finished the task within 16 seconds and Yummy FTP, which came in second, was short by just 2 seconds.
AdvicesAcademy.com lists out popular and 10 best FTP Client for Mac and Windows PC(best ftp software ever).
FTP or File Transfer Protocol is a standard protocol which is used to transfer files from one location to another through the Internet or a file network. The entire structure is based on client-server architecture and can be used for multiple reasons, viz. photo sharing, document sharing, etc.
Best FTP Client for Mac & Windows
There are many FTP clients available for use. Few of them are listed below –
FileZilla
FileZilla is free open source FTP software which allows both clients and server to exchange files free of cost. This cross-functional FTP software provides support to Windows, MAC OS and Linux. FileZilla is equipped to transfer large files and the users can make use of stop and resume function and drag and drop feature for easy file transfer.
SmartFTP
SmartFTP can best be used for website publishing and maintenance, uploading and downloading of images, files, documents, movies and music files.
The FTP can also be best used for sharing the files among friends and coworkers and to backup and synchronize local and remote files. It is a network file transfer program which supports multiple platforms including Windows and Mac OS.
FireFTP
FireFTP is a free open source cross platform FTP software which is available as an add-on in Mozilla Firefox. This secure and free FTP server can be activated from the tools menu.
WinSCP 5.5
WinSCP 5.5 is the upgraded version of the free open source SFTP client and FTP client for Windows. The new version comes with enhanced features with quick installation and transfer options.
CyberDuck
CyberDuck is an open source FTP and SFTP browsers developed for Mac with easy to use interface, GUI and drag and drop features. The FTP allows the users to distribute content in the cloud and do a first-class bookmarking as well.
FlashFXP
FlashFXP facilitates server to server FTP transfers, uploading and downloading photos, document, videos, and music file. Built with Windows-based GUI, it supports the client to server and server to server transfers.
CuteFTP 9
Cute FTP 9 is the latest version of world’s favorite FTP client. This FTP client supports WebDAV, UNICODE character set in addition to providing a secured file sharing over mobile platforms. The client facilitates over 100 concurrent file transfers.
WS_FTP
WS_FTP is world’s most popular FTP client which has over 40 million users around the globe. Through this FTP client, users can transfer files through the internet with a high level of encryption and customization options. It has easy to operate and several time saving features.
GoFTP
GoFTP is a free FTP client using special buffer overstuffing technique and compression methodology to transfer files three times faster than any other FTP clients.
CoffeeCup
CoffeeCup FTP client is known for providing fast and reliable file transfers with drag and drop feature and remote editing and stellar support team.
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So which of these FTP client are you using?
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. You might want to use FTP for any number of reasons, be you a web designer for example, or just a digital hoarder with your own server.
Either way, you’ll want to get yourself a quality and fully functional FTP client that won’t let you down whilst transferring massive files from one place to another. So, here’s our list of both free and paid applications that can get you on your way.
Free FTP Clients for Mac
Filezilla
When it comes to file transfer protocol (FTP), Filezilla is the ubiquitous option, being free and open-source it’s a popular choice as Firefox is as a browser and Thunderbird a mail client. What you get with Filezilla is pretty comprehensive functionality, allowing you an expanse of views and options to customize your usage of the application, whilst being one of the more substantial and reliable FTP programs I’ve used.
My only qualm with Filezilla is the user interface. It just isn’t pretty, and when there are other options available that are, then it’s pretty much a no-brainer for me as I’m more pedantic than I should be when it comes to app design.
However, if my other client doesn’t work for one reason or another, Filezilla is usually the one I fall back and can rely upon.
You can download Filezilla here
Cyberduck
Besides a cute icon, Cyberduck is one of the more fully-featured and user-friendly options for FTP on the Mac. Again, it’s open source, but this time it has a lot more than just the bare necessities you’ll get with Filezilla. Not that you can do a lot more, it just handles some of the hard work for you.
For example, Cyberduck includes a handful of preset options for connecting to Google Storage and Amazon S3, amongst other online storage options, and allows you to browse them on your desktop as you would do your hard drive, with deep integration into Finder.
The front end interface is also a lot more minimalistic and attractive, leaving only what you need on view at any time. That’s not to see the more advanced options aren’t there, they are, but they just stay in the background instead of cluttering up the page.
You can download Cyberduck here
MacFusion
First of all, it’s worth noting that MacFusion is dependant on you having the latest version of Google’s MacFUSE software installed to operate, which you can download and find instructions for here. For this reason, it’s certainly not the most simple application, to begin with, though equally, it’s not the most difficult.
What it offers once you’re set up, on the other hand, couldn’t be simpler. Instead of having window after window of complicated looking directories and options, MacFusion offers the bare minimum. However, it leaves the whole interface side to Finder, which in my opinion is a much nicer environment than any of the other free FTP clients, so a good move there.
MacFusion simply allows a means for you to connect to your servers around the web, and after that, it’s placed as a volume on your machine which you can mount and unmount at will using the most basic of interfaces.
You can download MacFusion here
Paid FTP Clients for Mac
YummyFTP
At $28, you’ll obviously have to be pretty sure that you do really need the improvements that this paid option brings over the free alternatives before splashing the cash, but what YummyFTP gives you is unparalleled transfer speeds to and from your server.
The interface isn’t as polished as others, however, the multi-pane layout can be perfect if you need to see a lot of what’s going on in your various directories, and the full-screen mode in Lion means that depending on which Mac or screen you own, it shouldn’t look too cluttered anyway.
There are also various other useful features, such as the ‘failure auto recovery’. This is well worth paying for in my opinion, as in my experience no free option offers anything like that. Usually, if a FTP transfer dies, it dies. However many of the paid options do allow for resuming the transfer at the point at which it failed. Very useful, particularly with big files.
There’s also a handy little feature which allows you to automatically upload folders from your local directory to your server, great for backup purposes if that’s your reasoning for having the external server.
You can buy and download YummyFTP here
Transmit
Transmit is a little more expensive than YummyFTP at $34 for a single user license, however, it’s simple to tell why. The app is by far and away the most polished of any FTP app I’ve ever used in terms of how it looks and the usability. The dual pane layout is equally useful to when it was mentioned before in other apps, and the ease of setup and bookmarking is also a Godsend.
Not only that, Transmit allows you, like MacFusion, to place your servers as a volume on your desktop, so you need never actually enter the app again once you’ve setup your server, instead just accessing it from the desktop or the menubar.
Like YummyFTP, it also prides itself on being a great deal faster than the free options when it comes to transferring speeds and allows you to recover failed downloads midway through if you need to.
Free Ftp For Mac
You can buy and download it here
Did we miss out any of your favorite FTP apps? Let us know in the comments below.
See Also:
Filezilla Ftp Client For Mac
And Viper FTP? I have tried all on this list and always back to Viper…