Comparison of Free FTP Clients

By Ollie Armstrong Thursday, 29th April 2010

FTP clients are an essential program for any web developer.  They provide a means to connect and transfer data to and from a server.  There are many different FTP clients for all platforms, but this guide intends to compare the three most popular free, cross platform clients and determine our favourite.

FireFTP

FireFTP is a very popular Firefox addon with over 15 million total downloads.  Because it is a Firefox addon, it is compatible with any operating system that Firefox runs on, including Windows and OS X.  Its also the default browser for most Linux distributions.

FireFTP is very simple to install and configure.  It is installed as a regular Firefox addon which means you can install it in moments.  This does mean that Firefox needs to be restarted after the install, which could be irritating depending on how many windows you have open.

Once it is installed, usage is just as easy.  The addon puts a menu item in the Tools menu of Firefox so it is accessible all the time without needing to switch to a dedicated FTP client.  Clicking the FireFTP menu item opens up the FTP client in a new tab of your active Firefox window, and you get a simple, yet advanced directory browser.  It has a pretty standard view as far as FTP clients go, two panes of directory browser - one for local and one for remote - and an output box at the bottom.

Setting up FireFTP is pretty simple, as long as you know your FTP account settings.  You just click the Create an account button in the top left of the window and it opens up the account settings window.  Although there seems to be a bug where if you click the down arrow on this button to select a different option, it opens up the account settings window anyway.  Minor annoyance but irrelevant if you don't want to use the quick connect feature.  Once you have saved the settings, the account appears in the drop down box, and when you have an account configured the button bug seems to sort itself out.

FireFTP has most of the features that you would expect of a full FTP client, but with the major disadvantage there is no support for drag and drop between the two directory panes or between the operating system's file manager are FireFTP.

Summed up, FireFTP is a good solid FTP client with the convenience that its always close to hand while developing but lacks the main feature of drag and drop which I expect.  You can download FireFTP here.

CrossFTP (Free)

CrossFTP is an FTP client that is written in Java, so CrossFTP is supported by Windows, OS X, Linux and Solaris.  It is very high on features, but that does mean that getting around the menus can be a bit confusing.  There is also an option when downloading to get a 'portable' edition, which includes an executable for Windows, and .app for OS X and an Java web page for any other system with Java.  This would be very useful if you only want one client and need it for multiple systems.  When the program is first run, you get the option to either use the free version, demo the paid version or buy the paid version.  I have been using the free version.

Setting up an FTP account was trial and error for me.  While browsing around the menu bars I was looking for an Accounts option, but I couldn't find any of the like.  I did eventually decide to click the globe with a lightning bolt, and I was finally at an accounts window.  Actually setting this up was clumsy and not instinctive.  You have to create a category on the left, select the category, click on new site and then enter in the details.  Also there wasn't a quick connect option that I found appropriate.  The quick connect option they include seems to do exactly the same as a regular account - accept save it into a Quick History category.

Apart from the slightly difficult account set up process, actually transferring some files was easy.  Drag and drop is supported, or you can use right click - either will transfer the files.  I did notice that a number of features were blocked off only for pro access.  These were features I would expect as standard in a free program, such as synchronising, searching and a move to option.  File transfer speeds seem to be pretty good, a little bit faster than FireFTP.

All in all, CrossFTP is a decent client that runs on the majority of set ups, good if you don't mind paying for the extra features but bad if you prefer a totally free open source program.  For me - disappointing.  You can grab yourself a copy of CrossFTP here.

FileZilla

FileZilla is the big name in FTP clients.  It is open source, and runs on OS X, Linux and Windows.

The interface is incredibly obvious.  Everything is where you expect it and the most common commands are all on the item bar at the top.  The main screen is separated into four main panels - one for the log, two for directory browsers (local and remote) and a file queue.  These four panels are all that I need for common use but they can be customized in the settings for different layouts.

Setting up FileZilla is a breeze.  A quick connect option is available and its immediately accessible.  The settings available for quick connect are host server, username, password and port.  The majority of users will be fine using this.  Quick connect also has a history which remembers the last few servers you connect to.  Very easy and convenient.  They have also included a site manager, to be used for setting up more advanced configurations – although I haven’t the need for any of those.

The transfer of files was just as easy as connecting.  There are many different ways to transfer files between local and remote, catering for everybody's style.  Drag and drop, right clicking and manual transfer were all supported, although I couldn't find an option for syncing local and remote.  Speeds were also fantastic.

Bringing it all together, FileZilla is the best open source, cross platform FTP solution.  I found everything I needed, file transfers were quick and setup was painless and easy.  The only feature I would like to see in FileZilla is syncing between local and remote folders, but that wasn't too important for me.  Download FileZilla here.

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