Join us as we review the best of the best (and the not quite so spectacular) FTP programs of modern computing (e.g. the past six minutes). We’re brutal (hardly). We’re decisive (are we ever?) We’re… um. Reviewing stuff. Hyperbole is in no short supply.
Rated from “good” (5) to “best” (1).
Prices range from free, to… well. $29.95, to be exact.
Full gallery after the jump.
5 – OneButton FTP – Sadly development on this amazingly simple & easy to use application has stopped entirely, but it works, is very nippy – and whilst doesn’t have as wide a feature array as some of the other FTP clients, is perfectly suited to beginners. Best bit? It’s free.
4 – Classic FTP – Weighing in (the Mac version at least), at a (not so) whopping 944-kilobytes, Classic FTP is clean, free, functional – and very little more.
That said, the software works on PCs, and even Windows pocket PCs. Course, not the iPhone, which is a bit of a bummer – but functionally enough on the Mac to earn it a 3 out of 5 rating, marks being dropped only because the user-interface is darker than the standard-one of a Mac (the app being reviewed on Leopard as opposed to Tiger).
Classic FTP is not as quick as some of the more up-to-date offerings either and can lag whilst connecting to bigger, more populated servers. Also, you’ll be glad to hear, free.
3 – Flow – The new kid on the block, and the first of two paid FTP apps I’ll look at today, Flow isn’t all that bad. Heck – from the website, and given the feature lineup, you’d think it’d be the very best. Folder browsing is more responsive than any of the free offerings – and about par with Transmit. Upload/download speeds were unmatched.
The bugger? In our tests, files could get “mislaid”. Copy a folder with 1,000 files from one place to another – and one of three things would happen… It’d do what it was meant to do, super-duper fast. It’d copy 1,000 files, super-duper fast, only some of them would be blank (Wha?!!?). It’d copy 990-odd files, and hell knows where the rest went (super-duper fast, I should add).
In the same vein however, the same can be said for Transmit, strangely enough – the other paid app we review (conspiracy, anyone?) Cases are, however, in both cases, isolated. Handling of folder permissions wasn’t overly impressive, either. Despite the criticisms – the fancy features and über interface of Flow put it in a solid third place.
Bonus connectivity: Amazon S3 (FTW!)
2 – Cyberduck – Freeware? Hella. The BEST freeware FTP app, for Mac at least? We think so. Okay. I think so. Everyone else in the office uses PCs (I do too – don’t go thinking I’m a fanboy now… tut, tut). But anyhow, Cyberduck brings together most of the functionality found in paid apps such as Transmit and Flow, including (and the only free solution covered here that does) support for Amazon S3.
“So, great!”, you say. “Where’s the catch?” There isn’t one as such. Particularly when you consider how stable Cyberduck is in file transfers. Sure, it is slightly slower than others. But it’s faster than the other two free FTP apps covered and more stable than any of the others. Up until recently, in fact – it was my number one choice, only to be superseded by…
1 – Transmit – Payware? Yup. Awesome? Undoubtedly. The price isn’t as bad as you might first assume, either. Faster than Cyberduck, and as reliable as Flow – which frankly isn’t bad, despite how we might have portrayed the newcomer app (reliability faltering in Transmit being slightly better – only when backing up thousands of PHP files within sub-folders… e.g. a large WP plugin repository, as we discovered setting up the Wilki.me website).
So what’s actually good about Transmit – and especially, what’s good enough to make it the “number one” FTP choice for myself, and thousands of others on Mac?
The ability to edit HTML files within transmit, for one. It takes a second or two to download, and rather than wait another 5 or 10 (or longer if you’re not on a souped-up ninja of a desktop), the program opens instantly and lets you make that “quick edit” you need to. You can still open it in any app of your choosing – but this makes for convenience. Big time.
PLEASE NOTE: Their website claim of “open any file in any app, instantly” isn’t true. We noticed you couldn’t open EXEs in Photoshop. Go figure, huh?
The upload queuing system isn’t great, but it’s a lot better than most. When dragging and dropping multiple large folders with files inside, it’ll tend to upload an entire folder in each thread/connection, rather than spread the load evenly. This can be annoying and result in files transferring five or six times slower than they need to (or faster if you tweak the bandwidth settings in the preferences panel).
One of my favourite features? Push-To-Dock notification of when a transfer is taking place, either an upload or a download – and when it finishes. Easy access to the need-to-know information.
However, my actual favourite feature rests in the optional tabbed-navigation. Open up one domain in one tab, a totally separate one in another – and drag and drop files between them. It couldn’t be simpler, and makes for a seemless transfer (besides when it screws the files up, very occasionally, but still often enough to be noticeable and annoying, particularly when you need every *single* one of those files… e.g. in a PHP script)
Bonus connectivity: Amazon S3 (See the recurring theme here?)
Final Conclusion
If you want the most reliable FTP app, go Cyberduck. If you want a lightweight, unobtrusive application – go OneButton FTP or Classic FTP. If you want… I almost consider it an “experimental” app with some funky-funky features, head for Flow. If you want a good all-rounder, with fast uploading, downloading and responsive browsing, we recommend Transmit.
If you got beef, you leave a comment, we war it out and see who’s mashed potato, really. Make a good point and we’ll give you free gravy.
On that note, adios amigos (till next time!)
One Response
Well I’ll use the free ones for now.