FTP Clients - Recap
Having written 10 blog posts in my series about FTP clients, I decided that it might be a good idea to recap some of the information that I have presented thus far. With that in mind, here is a quick recap of the entire series to date:
- Part 1: Web Browser Support
- Part 2: Explicit FTPS versus Implicit FTPS
- Part 3: Creating a Global Listener FTP Site
- Part 4: FileZilla
- Part 5: MOVEit Freely Command-Line Secure FTP Client
- Part 6: Core FTP LE
- Part 7: Kermit FTP Client
- Part 8: SmartFTP Client
- Part 9: Expression Web 4
- Part 10: FTP Voyager
What I'd like to do in the rest of this blog is recap the scorecard information for the FTP clients that I've looked at. With one exception: I'm going to skip the information that I included about the FTP experience for various web browsers, which I discussed in Part 1 of this blog series, but only because web browsers aren't supposed to be first-class FTP clients.
That being said, I'm presenting the information for the remaining FTP clients that I have reviewed in alphabetical order, which is not necessarily by order of preference. ;-]
Core FTP LE 2.1
Original Blog Post: FTP Clients - Part 6: Core FTP LE
| Client Name | Directory Browsing | Explicit FTPS | Implicit FTPS | Virtual Hosts | True HOSTs | Site Manager | Extensibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core FTP LE 2.1 | Rich | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial1 | Yes | No |
Footnotes:
- Core FTP can support true FTP HOSTs by configuring pre-login commands in the Site Manager.
Expression Web 4
Original Blog Post: FTP Clients - Part 9: Expression Web 4
| Client Name | Directory Browsing | Explicit FTPS | Implicit FTPS | Virtual Hosts | True HOSTs | Site Manager | Extensibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expression Web 4 | Rich | Yes | Yes | Yes1 | No2 | Partial3 | Yes |
Footnotes:
- EW4 supports virtual hosts, but some earlier versions of Expression Web did not.
- EW4 has no way to send a HOST command, so true FTP HOSTs are not supported.
- EW4 has only basic Site Manager functionality; it lacks most of the features that are available in many of the GUI-based FTP clients.
FileZilla 3.1.6
Original Blog Post: FTP Clients - Part 4: FileZilla
| Client Name | Directory Browsing | Explicit FTPS | Implicit FTPS | Virtual Hosts | True HOSTs | Site Manager | Extensibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FileZilla 3.1.61 | Rich | Yes | Yes | Yes | No2 | Yes | Yes3 |
Footnotes:
- My original post was for FileZilla 3.1.6; I have upgraded to 3.5.1 since then, but there are no changes as far as the information in my blog was concerned.
- FileZilla has no way to send a HOST command, so true FTP HOSTs are not supported.
- FileZilla is an Open Source project, so you can modify the source and recompile the application; see https://filezilla-project.org/ for more information.
FTP Voyager
Original Blog Post: FTP Clients - Part 10: FTP Voyager
| Client Name | Directory Browsing | Explicit FTPS | Implicit FTPS | Virtual Hosts | True HOSTs | Site Manager | Extensibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FTP Voyager | Rich | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes1 | Yes | Yes |
Footnotes:
- FTP Voyager fully supports the FTP HOST command, and is enabled by default for new connections.
Kermit FTP Client 2.1.3
Original Blog Post: FTP Clients - Part 7: Kermit FTP Client
| Client Name | Directory Browsing | Explicit FTPS | Implicit FTPS | Virtual Hosts | True HOSTs | Site Manager | Extensibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kermit FTP Client 2.1.3 | No | Yes | No | Yes | Partial1 | Yes | Yes |
Footnotes:
- True FTP HOSTs can be implemented by using Kermit's "ftp quote HOST ftp.example.com" syntax.
MOVEit Freely 5.0.0.0
Original Blog Post: FTP Clients - Part 5: MOVEit Freely Command-Line Secure FTP Client
| Client Name | Directory Browsing | Explicit FTPS | Implicit FTPS | Virtual Hosts | True HOSTs | Site Manager | Extensibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MOVEit Freely 5.0.0.0 | n/a | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial1 | No | No |
Footnotes:
- True FTP HOSTs can be implemented by using MOVEit Freely's "quote HOST ftp.example.com" syntax.
SmartFTP Ultimate 4.0
Original Blog Post: FTP Clients - Part 8: SmartFTP Client
| Client Name | Directory Browsing | Explicit FTPS | Implicit FTPS | Virtual Hosts | True HOSTs | Site Manager | Extensibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SmartFTP Ultimate 4.0 | Rich | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes1 | Yes | Yes |
Footnotes:
- SmartFTP fully supports the FTP HOST command, but you need to configure the SmartFTP Client to send the FEAT command before logging in.
That wraps it up for my recap of the FTP clients that I've reviewed so far; but rest assured, I have a few more FTP clients that I'm waiting to review.
;-]