Free Windows FTP

Filezilla is a great little free and open source FTP for Windows. Not-terrible UI and SFTP are all I really need.

44 thoughts on “Free Windows FTP

  1. I agree, I use Filezilla FTP server right now (and have used the client in the past) and it does the job 🙂

  2. Cyberduck the same freeware FTP client wtih secure FTP on the Mac side. But I guess now that you have that new Sony Notebook, all of us Mac users will be tossed aside like yesterday’s newspapers.
    PS.. Have you checked to see if Sony is sending home your keystrokes from the notebook or is it just the CD’s that do that? 🙂

  3. I’ve used SmartFTP before, and let me tell you, Filezilla is much better. It looks awful? Are you talking about the design (layout, colors) or the functionality. It takes like 3 minutes to get used to, tops (well it did for me, because I’ve used other FTPs before).

    Everyone should give it a try.

  4. Filezilla is awesome, not only because the “Not-terrible” UI, nor only because it is free — but mostly because IT IS PORTABLE. You can take your Filezilla XML settings file and move it around from machine to machine without hassle. Also makes backups so very nice because I hate finding those silly FTP user:pass combos again. Arg!

  5. filezilla is awesome. i finally broke down and went looking for an FTP utility after just using windows explorer all these years.

    it’s UI is axcellent, and it’s open source! w00t!

  6. Been using Filezilla for over two years now. Very cool. At work, we can only use passive ftp; Filezilla handles that perfectly. I have used SmartFTP, Coffee Cup FTP, CuteFTP and WSFTP. Filezilla beats them all hands down. For those who said the interface is confusing, it can be customized to only show what you want and that only takes a few minutes to figure out.

  7. Been using Filezilla for about 3 years now … and it sucks. Poorly integrated into Windows (like, no way to find your “Desktop” but dig deep in “Documents and Settings”) and its queue system is terrible (you practically have to stay in front of your FTP client all the time when uploading or downloading multiple files)

  8. I’ve used SmartFTP and continually had problems with it stopping with no resume during uploads of multiple files. I found it very frustrating re-uploading everything because it didn’t keep track of where the upload failed and the re-upload was not an automatic process.

    I purchased a license to BulletProof FTP ( http://www.bpftp.com/ )about 8 years ago. The license is still valid and the program is, well, bullet proof. I’m not sure why I ever stopped using it and switched to SmartFTP; I guess I liked the idea of freeware but I never should have switched. Another retail FTP program I’ve used is FTP Voyager, which probably has the best interface of any FTP program I’ve used and has about every feature you could imagine.

  9. I recently download that actually, but it wouldn’t handle the DSA signatures I need for a SSH to a server, so I switched to WinSCP. Similar to filezilla, but actually does everything.

    Filezilla might be able to do what I needed, but I couldn’t find it. I found it in WinSCP in about 2 seconds.. so *shrugs*

    One of the times I wished I had a Mac. So much easier with Fugu.

    However for general FTP stuff you cannot beat AbsoluteFTP from VanDyke. Such a nice bit of kit.

  10. I had been using FileZilla for quite a while. I used it to install many versions of WP. Recently, I attempted to upgrade to a more recent version only to find I couldn’t run the PHP file after uploading. WP is the simplest blogging software to install in the world, yet I couldn’t get it to work. I was also attempting to install MovableType to evaluate the possibility of switching, and couldn’t get that to install either.

    After several attempts, I gave up and assumed I was losing my mind. Then I came across SmartFTP when attempting to install MovableType to take a peek at what they have done recently. I got MT to install on the first attempt. I got to thinking that maybe the problem with the WP install wasn’t me, but FileZilla. So I used SmartFTP to install the latest WP and sure enough. It worked perfectly.

    I don’t know what was wrong with FileZilla, I hadn’t changed any settings yet, I wasn’t able to use it.

    SmartFTP is free for non-commercial use. It does bring up a dialog asking you to buy it after the 30 day trial is over, but there are no timers holding back the OK button like some software does. You can simply press the OK button and happily ftp to your hearts content. The interface is almost identical to FileZilla’s. Putting multiple files in the queue for up/download is a little confusing, however, the multi-threading to allow multiple up/downloads at the same time seems to work way better than FileZilla’s.

    SmartFTP is worth checking out.

  11. Oh, it’s the server you were talking about. Ooops. Sorry about that. I read some of the comments and assumed it was the client that was being talked about. The server is OK, although, I used another free FTP client before FileZilla’s and I find that the other one was easier to deal with than FileZilla’s. I don’t remember the name of it now.

  12. Yes indeed!

    You can increase more productivity by adding one more thing….

    Go to EDIT|Settings
    then Interface Settings | File Viewing/Editing

    Enter the name of your favourite Editor (I use notepad++)
    and Press OK

    then u can edit files online, without downloading them.
    one u update the file and save this, i would automatically be uploaded.

    Enjoy!

  13. FileZilla’s UI isn’t terrible, but it’s far too busy. SmartFTP at least allows itself to be sanified, and its preferences panel is written in English unlike FileZilla’s.

    I’d only grudgingly switch at the moment, but a little UI lovin’ and FileZilla wouldn’t be a problem.

    – Chris

  14. I love FileZilla. I’ve used SmartFTP til I got tired of the nags and FireFTP didn’t work too well. Only thing is I wish the list of recent connections can be altered -> i.e, i can delete bad ones. It probably can but I haven’t figured out how…anyone enlighten me?

  15. I really enjoy Filezilla as well. I wish that it would automatically switch between active and passive FTP like WS_FTP does but you can’t have everything! I always recommend Filezilla to anyone who wants a fast, stable FTP program.

  16. I’ve tried Filezilla in the past and thought it was alright (but nothing special), but I normally use SmartFTP and it’s done its job perfectly so far.

  17. On window$ I always used and still love filezilla… ctrl+R to reconnect and wooosh….
    Too bad there’s no version for Mac, but the license for Transmit was totally worth its money.

  18. I discovered FileZilla about 6 months ago. I stopped using all other ftp programs since. Though I do agree with someone else about having to be by the client while downloading. I often get failed downloads when downloading my wp or phpbb directory.

  19. I also like Filezilla but have one small problem with it. If your hosting server uses ProFTPd you won’t be able to use FTP over TLS.

  20. I have to agree with the people making noice about WinSCP. I like to use tools that I can recommend to everyone, and WinSCP comes out far ahead in “MSWin usability” *sic*

  21. FilleZilla Server is an excellent piece of software. The client is pretty OK, but needs some improvements.
    But I’ve seen before me comments about various FTP clients. The only FTP clients who deserve attention are FlashFXP and UltraFXP. The others are weak. SmartFTP is pretty OK, but the interface is pure junk

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