Monday, June 22, 2009

Free FTP/SFTP Clients And Tools

Have you ever wondered what FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is? It is a way to tranfer files across a network more efficiently than normal data transfer modes. With FTP, you can upload your website to a webhost, or you can simply upload files to a online hard drive. Some of the tools below have multiple download options, like FTP, Secure FTP (SFTP), HTTP and more. Check them out to know more.

AceFTP (Free Edition) - Free FTP/SFTP Client/Tool


Just like FTP Commander, AceFTP is the free, cut-down version of its commercial FTP client (AceFTP Commercial Edition) It comes with regular file upload/download, deletion and renaming. This software works on Windows.

Core FTP Lite - Free FTP/SFTP Client/Tool


CoreFTP Lite is a software which allows different mores of file transfer like FTP, SFTP TLS and SSL. You can upload/download your files, delete the files or directories. Core FTP Lite has a buitl-in site manager, which can hold your site URL, username and password. Core FTP Lite even allows you to change file permissions (CHMOD) and control your file tranfer bandwidth, etc. Core FTP Lite is a very good software and runs under Windows 98, NT, 2000, ME, XP and Vista. (Recommended!)

Curl - Free FTP/SFTP Client/Tool


This software allows you to tranfer files using one of the various file tranfer protocols. The supported protocols are FTP, SFTP, FTPS, LDAP, TFTP, FILE, DICTand Telnet. You can thus download/upload files no matter what is the transfer protocol of the remote server. Curl is a command-line tool and has been ported to many platforms (truly overwhelming number of platforms too!). It is will be too long to list all the platforms here, so check them out at the website, but here are some of the popular supported platforms: Windows, Linux, Unix, MAC OS X, AmigaOS, DOS, Several BSD distribution, Netware, Solaris and more. Curl is an open source software.

Cyberduck - Free FTP/SFTP Client/Tool


This software allows you to perform FTP and SFTP file uploading/downloading. It can synchronize folders on the local computer with the remote one and supports drap-and-drop. You can pause/resume your uploads/downloads. This software is released as an open source one and runs on MAC OS X.

Downloader for X - Free FTP/SFTP Client/Tool


Like Net Transport and ProZilla, this software is not an FTP Client, but is listed here due to its ability to download from both HTTP and FTP sources. It can pause/resume your downloads, schedule your dowlnoads and even hsve multiple connections to a single files (a.k.a simultaneously connections) to make download become faster. Although its GUI is intented for the X desktop, you can still use its command-line tool to perform download on other desktop environments. This software runs on UNIX and Linux.

FileZilla - Free FTP/SFTP Client/Tool


FileZilla is a FTP and SFTP and SSL file tranfer client, which allows you to upload/download files, delete files and directories change file/directory permissions. FileZilla is from the trusted Mozilla Organisation. FileZills is free and runs under Windows (2000, XP and Vista), Linux and MAC OS X. It is Open Source and distributed under the popular GNU GPL License.

FTP Commander - Free FTP/SFTP Client/Tool

This software is an easy and user-friendly FTP client which allows you to tranfer files between two servers. You can upload/download files/directories, delete them and rename them. It allows you to pause/resume connections. FTP Commander can also automatically detect errors in FTP addresses and correct them. However, FTP commander cannot CHMOD (change permission) of files. I think this option is availble in their commercial versions. This software runs under Windows 9x/Me/XP/NT/2003/Vista.


FTP Surfer - Free FTP/SFTP Client/Tool


This software need Internet Explorer to work. It allows you to access FTP and HTTP connections. You can upload/download and do the regular things you expect from an FTP client. You can download multiple files simultaneously. You can CHMOD (change permission) of files and more. This software works on Windows.

FTP Wanderer - Free FTP/SFTP Client/Tool


This FTP client allows you to upload/download files, manipulate file and directories easily. It is very user-friendly and runs on Windows.

Fugu - Free FTP/SFTP Client/Tool


This software allows you to perform FTP, SCP, SSH and SFTP file uploading/downloading. This software is released as an open source one, lecensed under BSD and runs on MAC OS X.

i.FTP - Free FTP/SFTP Client/Tool


This is another FTP client which allows you to upload/download files and do the regular stuffs you expect from an FTP client. i.FTP is open source and works on Windows and some of the earlier versions work on BeOS too.

JFTP - Free FTP/SFTP Client/Tool


JFTP is an FTP client written in the JAVA programming language. It has a GUI front-end and is very easy to use. Since it is written in Java, it can run on many platforms like Windows, Linux, MAC OS X, Unix and more. This software is free for personal use only.

NcFTP - Free FTP/SFTP Client/Tool


This software is on open-source, command-line based FTP client which works on Windows, Linux, UNIX and MAC OS X.

Net Transport - Free FTP/SFTP Client/Tool


This software although not an FTP client (similar to Downloader for X and ProZilla), is listed here due to its support for downloading file from FTP sources. Along with this source, it can also download files from regular sources like HTTP, HTTPS and less common sources like RTSP, PNM and MMS. There are numerous options for regulating your downloads like controlling download speed, scheduling download and downloading through proxies. You just have to set the options right. Net Transport also has a multi-lingual interface. This software is free and runs under Windows.

OneButton - Free FTP/SFTP Client/Tool


OneButton allows its users to upload/download file and do other things that most FTP clients do. OneButton's interface has intensive support for 'drag-and-drop' and promote usability. Built using the Cocoa framwork, OneButton is releaed under the GNU GPL Licenseworks on MAC OS X.

ProZilla - Free FTP/SFTP Client/Tool


This software, like Net Transport and Download for X, is not an FTP client, but can download files from both FTP and HTTP sources. You can pause/resume your downloads, have simultaneous connections and more. This software is open source and runs under Linux.

Putty - Free FTP/SFTP Client/Tool


Putty is a group of software, which includes SSH, SCP, Telnet and SFTP clients. Putty is a very small package (less than 500 KB). The SFTP client works as a command-line tool. This software is open source and runs on Windows.

Right FTP - Free FTP/SFTP Client/Tool


This software allows you to handle file uploads/downloads, you can delete file/directories and change their permissions and more. This software runs on Windows.

SmartFTP - Free FTP/SFTP Client/Tool


This is a free FTP client which allows you to upload/download your files very easily. It allows you to change the permissions (CHMOD) of files abd more. It runs on Windows and is for personal/non-profit use only.

Star Downloader - Free FTP/SFTP Client/Tool


This software is a download manager. You might not be able to upload your files to a server with it, but it can download from FTP sources. It has numerous options, which I will not list, since those are the features of a download manager. Check out the other tools for a real FTP client for Windows. This software works on Windows.

WinSCP - Free FTP/SFTP Client/Tool


This software is an FTP and SFTP client for Windows. It allows you to upload/download files and do other useful things.

1 comment:

  1. FTP Manager Lite is an excellent modern free FTP and SFTP client software. The clean interface is super easy to use. It performs your file transfers quickly and efficiently.

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