Free FTP Client roundup

[Harrison]

I've been a fan of SmartFTP for a long time as it contains some nice features such as the ability to have multiple connections open at once, tabbed connections for each switching between ftp windows, and some nice file transfer features.

However version 3 saw a move from it being free to commercial, and instead of buying it I would rather find an alternative free client (as I need to use it on many different systems at once).

So far I've tried:

FlashFXP - This one is OK, and works well, but it is quite basic with no tabbed windows or advanced download queues.

FileZilla - Again this is OK, and works well. I prefer this over FlashFXP, but again it suffers from being very basic, and has no support for more than one remote connection being open at once. It is however a great free client for most to use and ideal for any CA staff to upload content.

GoFTP - This one is a bit unstable and quite basic. The layout of the windows are better in my view, but it doesn't have any tree navigation (that I could find). It does seem faster than other clients at accessing directories, and the initial ftp connecting. However if you try to navigate directories with a lot of content it hangs for a long time before recovering and showing the contents.

Does anyone have any other recommendations for free FTP clients? Features I'm especially looking for include directory tree navigation, tabbed windows (more than one ftp connection open at once), auto connecting at launch, download/upload queues, ability to rearrange the windows.

[Teho]

Well, not free, but I only use the built-in FTP features of Directory Opus. I've only ever used it, so can't say how it compares to the free stand-alone clients. Superficially it treats FTPs as if they were any other folder on your PC, so things like tabbed browsing is a definite. But at a cursory glance other features you request seem to be missing, such as a directory tree and queuing uploads (as far as I can tell, the features may very well be there without me being aware as I've never needed them myself). Well, it does queue of course when you mass copy a bunch of files. Not sure what happens if you do another copy operation before the first one has finished, I never tried that.

It supports bookmarking sites and saving individual settings for them (such as starting folder, bandwith throttling etc), and that's really all I've ever needed of it.

[Harrison]

I just tried out the Firefox plugin FireFTP to see what that was like, and it works fine, but is so far the most basic FTP client I've found. It has a lefthand local file browser, and a right-hand ftp file browser. You can use drag and drop and upload/download files. The remote file navigation is also very fast. However that is all it offers. Limited but OK if you just need very basic ftp client features for upload files, or downloading small numbers of files.

[Buleste]

I use AceFTP pro but there is a free version available here which is in some ways better than pro.

[Harrison]

I've not encountered AceFTP before. Just installed the free trial of AceFTP Pro to take a look. Looks quite good so far. Tabbed multiple FTP browsing, queues, lots to configure, can arrange the windows how I wish. Is looking good. Will have a bit more of a play with but it's looking good so far.

Only thing it does seem to be missing is an inline directory navigation tree. Does it have one? I can click the "Change to Folder" icon to select a different one, but I want such a tree navigation to be to the left of the main file view.

Cheers for that recommendation.

Any more FTP clients anyone recommends?

[Stephen Coates]

I continue to use WS_FTP as it is nice and easy to use, however it doesn't seem to meet any of the requirements that you listed.

[Harrison]

I don't know why I didn't think to look in Wikipedia first. There is a very useful list of FTP clients available on the site at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_FTP_clients

@Steve I think WS_FTP was one of the first FTP clients I ever used back in the 90's. It was included with Demon's turnpike dialup program. Was OK at the time but a bit basic.

I've just given CuteFTP a try after not using it for many years, and it is good to see development has continued nicely with version 8 having some nice features. It supports multiple ftp connections using tabbed browsing. However it doesn't have a directory tree navigator so again it doesn't quite have all of the features I'm after. Close but not quite. Also how it works is a bit eccentric and not that logical.

[Harrison]

I've now tested:

BulletProof FTP client - This one is from the same people who make BulletProof FTP server, which I use for FTP servers. It isn't free, and is quite a basic FTP client. It doesn't allow multiple connections, or tabs, and it has now directory tree navigation. However it is the fastest FTP client I've found and it loads up the image directories from CA's FTP really quickly, so is great for navigating and uploading files.

ALFTP - Now this is a very strange program. It is free and seems to have a few features. However it isn't easy to work out how to get it to work. If you access an ftp server it says it is connected but doesn't retrieve any directory listings. Shame it doesn't work too well as it does have directlry tree navigation.

[Harrison]

My conclusion therefore is that there are not any other FTP clients as good as SmartFTP. A bit annoying now that it is no longer free! The FTP client built into DOpus is a good alternative as it offers full directory navigation as it connects to the ftp servers using the same interface as its local file browser. So if you wanted the best then DOpus is probably it. But again it isn't free.

CuteFTP is quite close on features except for the lack of directory tree navigation, and a free verson is available, but for all of the features the Pro version is again commercial.

All of the completely free FTP clients are quite basic compared to the commercial offerings. FlashFXP is probably the best out of these that I've so far found.

[Teho]

I forgot to mention regarding DOpus' FTP functions; the standard DOpus install is missing some features. You can get an optional Advanced FTP upgrade for it, but it looks like that just adds some security protocols. I didn't get it when I got my license, so don't know if there's more to it than that.