6 ms·

In case anyone out there hasn’t moved on: WinSCP is better than FileZilla ever was.

sunsipples 6y ago
any chance you know of something comparable for linux? I have tried a half dozen or so in last few months and keep coming back to filezilla, maybe it's because it's familiar, but always like options.
- blfr 6y ago
  I use lftp. The website design tells you exactly how the tool works. https://lftp.yar.ru/ https://lftp.yar.ru/ One of the most valuable features is its ability to download a single file over multiple connections pget -n 4 your.file.tar.gz because many ISPs limit speed per flow and opening multiple of them, even to the same target, allows you to max out your connection.
  - sunsipples 6y ago
    appreciated, thank you
  - lathiat 6y ago
    I use this all the time not due to ISP limits but in Australia the 200-400ms latency limits you instead especially as you go over 50Mbit. Mirror command is also great :)
  - dmoo 6y ago
    +1 for lftp. On windows I use it via Cygwin for scheduled tasks etc. FileZilla has a speed advantage over winscp but nothing like the flexibility.
- Macha 6y ago
  Your file manager probably does FTP. Try enter a [s]FTP[s]:// URL into your location field. Depending on your distro, for gnome or derivatives you might have to install a gvfs plugin package first.
- marcosdumay 6y ago
  Just to add, you file manager probably does SCP and SFTP too. So, on Linux just launch whatever tool you use to browse and copy files, it will probably work seamlessly. It's Windows that does nothing out of the box, so people has to go after tools.
  - olestraLeaking 6y ago
    Windows does this out of the box, by typing in an ftp:// address into the default explorer file manager address bar. it even saves logins if you want. Windows has done this since Windows 95 /IE4 days. Good to know that Linux has finally joined the fresh tech wave of the 90's and copied that basic useful function. My little brother once heard Jack and Diane on the radio, and proudly proclaimed that John Cougar Mellencamp has copied Jessica Simpson's "I Think I'm in Love with You." That also was funny.
    - Macha 6y ago
      > Good to know that Linux has finally joined the fresh tech wave of the 90's and copied that basic useful function. I don't think anyone has said that Linux didn't do this in the 90s too, e.g. KDE supports this since KDE2, released in the year 2000: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Desktop_Environment_2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Desktop_Environment_2 In pretty much its current transparent form, though more protocols have been added since. Not sure what CDE supported, which I think was the big pre-Gnome/KDE UI.
- SquareWheel 6y ago
  WinSCP is so much better than Filezilla, I just run it in Wine.
- mpol 6y ago
  There is also Gftp, which is most probably available in your distro. https://github.com/masneyb/gftp https://github.com/masneyb/gftp
iagovar 6y ago
When I looked to FileZilla alternatives some time ago, I was surprised that there wasn't actually many alternatives. WinSCP is my default now too.
- rsync 6y ago
  It's been a long time ... perhaps 12 or 15 years ... but when I was driving a FreeBSD desktop I would install Konqueror as a file manager and then plug in: fish:// ... addresses and browse SFTP-capable addresses very conveniently. I have no idea if any of these components (Konqueror ? fish ?) are still in use ? I thought it was a tremendously convenient workflow and it was nice to not have a different application for file management and SSH file endpoints. Which leads me to my lament that all these years later you can't just put an sftp:// address into the mac finder. It's an almost comically blatant missing feature.
  - KozmoNau7 6y ago
    It still works just as you'd expect in Dolphin (the current KDE file manager), you click in the breadcrumb address bar on top, type in fish:// and the address, and you get a login prompt. All of the other KIO slaves work as well, certainly SMB/CIFS works great and I use it all the time. KDE has all these nice convenient little features that just makes everyday tasks a bit easier.
    - rsync 6y ago
      How much KDE Do I need to install just to get dolphin? That is, if I am using a different window manager such as ion3...
      - michaelmrose 6y ago
        Depends on how it's packaged you could trivially end up with an extra GB of libraries. I guess it depends on whether that much storage is meaningful.
      - Macha 6y ago
Nextgrid 6y ago
CyberDuck is a nicer-looking and more user-friendly alternative to both.
- sonthonax 6y ago
  So buggy though.
- nullify88 6y ago
  I do like CyberDucks features when it comes to cloud storage like S3, but I do miss the WinScp file commander like interface.
- javajosh 6y ago
  Did not realize that CyberDuck has a Windows version; thanks!
- TwoBit 6y ago
  CyberDuck ten years ago was the only Mac FTP app that actually worked.
aasasd 6y ago
Could as well just use Double Commander, or platform-specific analogs, and have a good file manager for both local files and ftp/ssh. (Though admittedly fewer features might be supported over the net.)
- yellowapple 6y ago
  This often works the other way around, too; remote file managers like WinSCP can usually do local things just fine.
majkinetor 6y ago
WinSCP also has epic automation interface which include PowerShell cmdlets, unlike mentioned competitors.
patentatt 6y ago
Agreed, but FZ has built in support for backblaze b2. Anyone have an alternative? Other than cyberduck, the performance was too low to be useful to me.
- anamexis 6y ago
  B2 has an S3-compatible API, so WinSCP should work.
  - patentatt 6y ago
    Good point! Last I was looking at this was before the B2 S3 api was available. Might consider switching to WinSCP now.
morganvachon 6y ago
When FileZilla started doing the adware thing years ago, I switched to WinSCP on Windows and never looked back. I was so pissed at FileZilla that I stopped using it on Linux even though their Linux builds didn't have any adware. gFTP is good enough for most servers, and recent versions fixed a lot of long standing bugs. On Mac it's Cyberduck all the way.
- jdmg94 6y ago
  For mac I had a paid FTP client called YummyFTP, the app was superb, however the developer passed away and the app stayed on 32 bits
  - EricE 6y ago
    I'm spoiled with Transmit :)
    - mcyukon 6y ago
      Transmit is good too, although I really liked the Scheduling function YummyFTP had. It was great for setting a large download to 2AM when the DSL network wasn't overloaded. Wish Transmit would add that feature. I suppose it can be done with Automator but it's not as nice as built in.
  - fireattack 6y ago
    In the golden age of FTP there are plenty of great proprietary clients. Of of my mind I can think of (for Windows) FlashFXP, FTPRush, CuteFTP, SmartFTP, and so on.
- vetinari 6y ago
  There's also Cyberduck for Windows.
CTOSian 6y ago
Alternative too, esp for console fans: Midnight Commander
KayL 6y ago
wish Commander view add `ADDRESS` bar for quick dir changes.
dagw 6y ago
Last time I compared the two Filezilla was a lot faster on fast connections. Grabbing the same bunch of files from the same server it was as at times literally twice as fast as WinSCP.
- axiolite 6y ago
  If you're talking nearly 10 years ago, yes I saw that too, but WinSCP has long since improved dramatically.
  - dagw 6y ago
    I'm probably talking 3-4 years ago.
bayindirh 6y ago
WinSCP was using too much CPU when I last checked (years ago TBH), and it doesn't work on Linux. For macOS, I'm spoiled with Forklift, which does a lot of things out of the box, sufficiently.
- pas 6y ago
  For Linux the default file managers all support SFTP/SCP. Also there's Krusader (KDE/Qt - https://krusader.org/ https://krusader.org/ ) if you want something with two panes.
  - bayindirh 6y ago
    For most of the time, I use KDE's own KIO slaves but, sometimes for long running stuff I want something more advanced. TBH, my remote servers list is taking a lot of space on the left pane. :D Will take a look to Krusader, didn't check it for a very long time. Edit: Just checked, it looks a lot like PathFinder (for macOS). Will try it, thanks again.
voltagex_ 6y ago
Neither Cyberduck nor WinSCP seem to be able to do parallel transfers as well as FileZilla can, especially over SFTP - i.e. FileZilla is about twice as fast downloading from a server ~300ms away than WinSCP is, and this is on a gigabit connection.
pfranz 6y ago
The nice thing about FileZilla is that you don't have to qualify which OS you're using. Now it's "Grab WinSCP if you're using Windows, X if Linux, Y if macOS. Now here are 3 separate pages we probably didn't keep up to date on how to connect and download what you need from our servers."
stjohnswarts 6y ago
Nah, they had a long runing bug where the client was -significantly- slower at transferring files than filezilla (or plain old CLI). They fixed it a couple years ago though and I'd say now it's easily an equal without all the baggage.

any chance you know of something comparable for linux? I have tried a half dozen or so in last few months and keep coming back to filezilla, maybe it's because it's familiar, but always like options.

blfr 6y ago
I use lftp. The website design tells you exactly how the tool works. https://lftp.yar.ru/ https://lftp.yar.ru/ One of the most valuable features is its ability to download a single file over multiple connections pget -n 4 your.file.tar.gz because many ISPs limit speed per flow and opening multiple of them, even to the same target, allows you to max out your connection.
- sunsipples 6y ago
  appreciated, thank you
- lathiat 6y ago
  I use this all the time not due to ISP limits but in Australia the 200-400ms latency limits you instead especially as you go over 50Mbit. Mirror command is also great :)
- dmoo 6y ago
  +1 for lftp. On windows I use it via Cygwin for scheduled tasks etc. FileZilla has a speed advantage over winscp but nothing like the flexibility.
Macha 6y ago
Your file manager probably does FTP. Try enter a [s]FTP[s]:// URL into your location field. Depending on your distro, for gnome or derivatives you might have to install a gvfs plugin package first.
marcosdumay 6y ago
Just to add, you file manager probably does SCP and SFTP too. So, on Linux just launch whatever tool you use to browse and copy files, it will probably work seamlessly. It's Windows that does nothing out of the box, so people has to go after tools.
- olestraLeaking 6y ago
  Windows does this out of the box, by typing in an ftp:// address into the default explorer file manager address bar. it even saves logins if you want. Windows has done this since Windows 95 /IE4 days. Good to know that Linux has finally joined the fresh tech wave of the 90's and copied that basic useful function. My little brother once heard Jack and Diane on the radio, and proudly proclaimed that John Cougar Mellencamp has copied Jessica Simpson's "I Think I'm in Love with You." That also was funny.
  - Macha 6y ago
    > Good to know that Linux has finally joined the fresh tech wave of the 90's and copied that basic useful function. I don't think anyone has said that Linux didn't do this in the 90s too, e.g. KDE supports this since KDE2, released in the year 2000: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Desktop_Environment_2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Desktop_Environment_2 In pretty much its current transparent form, though more protocols have been added since. Not sure what CDE supported, which I think was the big pre-Gnome/KDE UI.
SquareWheel 6y ago
WinSCP is so much better than Filezilla, I just run it in Wine.
mpol 6y ago
There is also Gftp, which is most probably available in your distro. https://github.com/masneyb/gftp https://github.com/masneyb/gftp

iagovar 6y ago

When I looked to FileZilla alternatives some time ago, I was surprised that there wasn't actually many alternatives. WinSCP is my default now too.

rsync 6y ago
It's been a long time ... perhaps 12 or 15 years ... but when I was driving a FreeBSD desktop I would install Konqueror as a file manager and then plug in: fish:// ... addresses and browse SFTP-capable addresses very conveniently. I have no idea if any of these components (Konqueror ? fish ?) are still in use ? I thought it was a tremendously convenient workflow and it was nice to not have a different application for file management and SSH file endpoints. Which leads me to my lament that all these years later you can't just put an sftp:// address into the mac finder. It's an almost comically blatant missing feature.
- KozmoNau7 6y ago
  It still works just as you'd expect in Dolphin (the current KDE file manager), you click in the breadcrumb address bar on top, type in fish:// and the address, and you get a login prompt. All of the other KIO slaves work as well, certainly SMB/CIFS works great and I use it all the time. KDE has all these nice convenient little features that just makes everyday tasks a bit easier.
  - rsync 6y ago
    How much KDE Do I need to install just to get dolphin? That is, if I am using a different window manager such as ion3...
    - michaelmrose 6y ago
      Depends on how it's packaged you could trivially end up with an extra GB of libraries. I guess it depends on whether that much storage is meaningful.
    - Macha 6y ago

Nextgrid 6y ago

CyberDuck is a nicer-looking and more user-friendly alternative to both.

sonthonax 6y ago
So buggy though.
nullify88 6y ago
I do like CyberDucks features when it comes to cloud storage like S3, but I do miss the WinScp file commander like interface.
javajosh 6y ago
Did not realize that CyberDuck has a Windows version; thanks!
TwoBit 6y ago
CyberDuck ten years ago was the only Mac FTP app that actually worked.

aasasd 6y ago

Could as well just use Double Commander, or platform-specific analogs, and have a good file manager for both local files and ftp/ssh. (Though admittedly fewer features might be supported over the net.)

yellowapple 6y ago
This often works the other way around, too; remote file managers like WinSCP can usually do local things just fine.

majkinetor 6y ago

WinSCP also has epic automation interface which include PowerShell cmdlets, unlike mentioned competitors.

patentatt 6y ago

Agreed, but FZ has built in support for backblaze b2. Anyone have an alternative? Other than cyberduck, the performance was too low to be useful to me.

anamexis 6y ago
B2 has an S3-compatible API, so WinSCP should work.
- patentatt 6y ago
  Good point! Last I was looking at this was before the B2 S3 api was available. Might consider switching to WinSCP now.

morganvachon 6y ago

When FileZilla started doing the adware thing years ago, I switched to WinSCP on Windows and never looked back. I was so pissed at FileZilla that I stopped using it on Linux even though their Linux builds didn't have any adware. gFTP is good enough for most servers, and recent versions fixed a lot of long standing bugs. On Mac it's Cyberduck all the way.

jdmg94 6y ago
For mac I had a paid FTP client called YummyFTP, the app was superb, however the developer passed away and the app stayed on 32 bits
- EricE 6y ago
  I'm spoiled with Transmit :)
  - mcyukon 6y ago
    Transmit is good too, although I really liked the Scheduling function YummyFTP had. It was great for setting a large download to 2AM when the DSL network wasn't overloaded. Wish Transmit would add that feature. I suppose it can be done with Automator but it's not as nice as built in.
- fireattack 6y ago
  In the golden age of FTP there are plenty of great proprietary clients. Of of my mind I can think of (for Windows) FlashFXP, FTPRush, CuteFTP, SmartFTP, and so on.
vetinari 6y ago
There's also Cyberduck for Windows.

CTOSian 6y ago

Alternative too, esp for console fans: Midnight Commander

KayL 6y ago

wish Commander view add `ADDRESS` bar for quick dir changes.

dagw 6y ago

Last time I compared the two Filezilla was a lot faster on fast connections. Grabbing the same bunch of files from the same server it was as at times literally twice as fast as WinSCP.

axiolite 6y ago
If you're talking nearly 10 years ago, yes I saw that too, but WinSCP has long since improved dramatically.
- dagw 6y ago
  I'm probably talking 3-4 years ago.

bayindirh 6y ago

WinSCP was using too much CPU when I last checked (years ago TBH), and it doesn't work on Linux. For macOS, I'm spoiled with Forklift, which does a lot of things out of the box, sufficiently.

pas 6y ago
For Linux the default file managers all support SFTP/SCP. Also there's Krusader (KDE/Qt - https://krusader.org/ https://krusader.org/ ) if you want something with two panes.
- bayindirh 6y ago
  For most of the time, I use KDE's own KIO slaves but, sometimes for long running stuff I want something more advanced. TBH, my remote servers list is taking a lot of space on the left pane. :D Will take a look to Krusader, didn't check it for a very long time. Edit: Just checked, it looks a lot like PathFinder (for macOS). Will try it, thanks again.

voltagex_ 6y ago

Neither Cyberduck nor WinSCP seem to be able to do parallel transfers as well as FileZilla can, especially over SFTP - i.e. FileZilla is about twice as fast downloading from a server ~300ms away than WinSCP is, and this is on a gigabit connection.

pfranz 6y ago

The nice thing about FileZilla is that you don't have to qualify which OS you're using. Now it's "Grab WinSCP if you're using Windows, X if Linux, Y if macOS. Now here are 3 separate pages we probably didn't keep up to date on how to connect and download what you need from our servers."

stjohnswarts 6y ago

Nah, they had a long runing bug where the client was -significantly- slower at transferring files than filezilla (or plain old CLI). They fixed it a couple years ago though and I'd say now it's easily an equal without all the baggage.