10 Best FTP Clients for Windows and Mac WordPress Users
Do you have a business that performs daily transfer of files (communication and data) between your server and end-clients?
If yes, I’m sure you may be worried about the reliability and security while doing so.
This is where FTP (File Transfer Protocol) comes into the picture!
List of popular FTP clients for Windows and Mac operating system to safeguard WordPress website users
With the original specification for the File Transfer Protocol written by Abhay Bhushan, today, there are many free and paid FTP clients available for your Windows and Mac operating systems.
However, in this post, I have selected top 10 FTP clients to save you time and explore the ones that are of your needs.
Considering Free and open source FTP clients
1. cURL
https://curl.haxx.se/libcurl/c/libcurl-multi.html
This FTP client is a command line tool, also called console interface or even a character user interface (CUI) for transferring all type of files that includes cookies, DICT, FTP, FTPS, Gopher, and HTTP. cURL also supports SSL certificates, HTTP POST, HTTP PUT, FTP uploading and more.
2. CyberDuck
This FTP client is an easy to use interface offering a drag and drop solution, that allows business website owners to connect to FTP, SFTP (Secured file transfer protocol), WebDAV (Web-based distributed authoring and versioning), Amazon S3, Cloud files, Google cloud storage and Dropbox.
3. FireFTP
This cross-platform FTP client from Mozilla Firefox can be added to your default browser. FireFTP supports caching directory listings, and identify the difference between local directory tree and the remote one. It also performs file comparison using “MODE Z” compression and allows file hashing and IPv6 support.
4. FileZilla
https://filezilla-project.org/
This FTP client is increasing its popularity as a multi-platform data and file transfer solution written in C++, wxWidgets. Available in multiple languages, FileZilla extends its support to HTTP/1.1, SOCKS5, and FTP-Proxy support. It offers both, a client and server FTP solution.
5. LFTP
Written by Alexander Lukyanov, this FTP client is made available under the GNU General Public License. Supporting a list of protocols that include FISH and SFTP, LFTP will also allow you create bookmarks, built-in mirror command and transfer of files to multiple connections with maximum speed.
Considering Freeware and Commercial FTP clients
6. Secure FTP
http://glub.github.io/secureftp/
This Java-based FTP client will allow you to perform file transfers protocols over SSL/TSL. Secure FTP features include compression of files and data, multiple connections support, and command-line scripting. The code has been put under Apache 2 license to allow anyone use, extend or even fix the application as per requirements.
Considering Trials of commercial FTP clients
7. Cute FTP
https://www.globalscape.com/cuteftp
This FTP will help you secure transfer of important files that include comprehensive protocols like One Time Password Authentication, Open PGP encryption and a password manager for working with multiple remote sites. Available in CuteFTP Pro and CuteFTP Mac Pro along with CuteFTP home with free trial periods.
8. GoAnywhere MFT
A product of Linoma Software, this FTP client is popularly known for managing sensitive data of mid-sized companies, large enterprises and government entities too. Offering a Free FTP client automation, GoAnyWhere MFT supports MLSD standards for parsing directory listings.
9. Beyond Compare
http://www.scootersoftware.com/index.php
The major strength of this FTP client is that it can be configured as difftool and mergetool for version control systems like Git. Apart from allowing you to compare files, Beyond Compare allows side-by-side comparison of directories, Dropbox directories, Amazon S3 directories, and archives.
Considering Commercial FTP clients
10. ExpanDrive
This FTP client facilitates better organization of file and data transfer to multiple types of cloud storage. Offering a 7-day unrestricted demo for evaluation, ExpanDrive can read, write, and manage remote files as per-user and cross-platform users.
I hope this article helps you to find a correct FTP client for managing your crucial files and data transfers!
Have you used any of these FTP clients? Then, let me know which is your favorite one and why?
Please share your experience in the comments section below.
About the Author
Anil Parmar is the co-founder of Glorywebs, a wordpress web development agency aiming to help clients with services like web design, digital marketing and more. Themes & plugins we develop have a common # 1 goal: Keeping it as simple as possible for not tech geeks. Follow him on Twitter @abparmar99 & say Hi!
