Best FTP Client for Mac: Top List 2023

What is FTP?

FTP (stands for File Transfer Protocol) is a network communication protocol for transferring files between a server and a computer over the internet. It is a fast and convenient way to exchange data with the server. To connect to the server, the user needs to know the FTP server address, as well as authorization data (login and password).

There are several standard protocols that are used on the internet, such as HTTP, DHCP, SMTP, etc. But what are the benefits of using FTP? First, it allows you to send large files, meaning you can easily and quickly send gigabytes of data at once. FTP also gives you control over your transfers. For example, you can resume an interrupted transfer, and schedule a transfer.

FTP has multiple use cases:

• Uploading and downloading files. FTP is mainly used to upload files to a server, download files from a server to a client computer. When it comes to transferring a large number of files, FTP is the best solution.
• Backup. You can use FTP for remote backup of data and files.
• Website management. FTP enables you to manage website content on a server through your computer. You can cut, move, add, delete, rename or paste files on your website without any hassle.
• Collaboration. FTP makes it easy to collaborate on projects, allowing multiple users to access and modify files on a remote server.
• WordPress management. FTP allows you to directly manage your WordPress files without visiting WordPress dashboard. You can install and deactivate plugins and themes, as well as manage core WordPress files.

There are several types of FTP:

• Anonymous FTP.
• Password-protected FTP.
• FTP Secure (FTPS).
• FTP over explicit SSL/TLS (FTPES).
• Secure FTP (SFTP).

What Criteria to Consider When Choosing the Top FTP Client for Mac

All FTP clients are very similar in some ways but sometimes in one of them, you find a small function that is missing in another one that makes it much more useful and convenient for you and so you find your best FTP for Mac software. So let’s consider the following criteria when choosing:

• Compatibility with the operating system you are using, especially the version of your OS, as some FTP clients work better with particular OSes and their versions.
• Easy to use interface. Having a good interface is paramount. Everyone, including beginners, should be able to find their way around the software easily and not be confused with it.
• Support for various transmission protocols. Since security is such an important topic and the standard FTP protocol is insecure, any client should allow you to use encrypted methods to connect to the server.
• Support for encryption. Since FTP protocol does not have any means of data protection it is worth paying attention to the clients that have support for data encryption.
• Support for large files transfer. The best FTP app for Mac is the one that does not have any limits in size for files uploading or downloading. Besides that, a great plus would be a fast speed for performing these actions.

Besides that, you should pay attention to general characteristics, namely:

• Stability.
• The convenience of use.
• Design.
• Simplicity and speed of installation.

As to functional characteristics, you should pay attention to:

• Ability to change/rename files directly on the server.
• Ability to quickly limit traffic.
• Ability to pause file transfer and resume.
• Ability to download many files (parallel download or queuing).
• Ability to synchronize folders.

The rest features of the apps are rather individual and are needed by a relatively smaller number of users. We cannot say that nobody needs them, just not everyone needs them.

Differences Between SFTP, FTP, FTPS and FTPES

FTP, SFTP, FTPS, and FTPES are the protocols used to transfer files over a network. While they are somewhat similar, they still have differences. Let's look at the common ones:

FTPS (FTP Secure or FTP-SSL). FTPS is an extension of the standard File Transfer Protocol. It is known to be more secure than the simple FTP protocol as FTPS adds the creation of encrypted sessions using the SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) protocol and TLS (Transport Layer Security) to the basic functionality of the FTP protocol. Actually, FTPS ensures a secure connection by encrypting both control and data channels.

FTPES (FTP Secure Explicit). FTPES is another form of FTPS. It uses the standard port 21 to create a secure TLS/SSL connection. Essentially, the user connects to the FTP server and explicitly requests the server to initiate a secure session.

SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol). SFTP is a network protocol that provides strong authentication and secure file transfers between client and server. It operates on port 22 and uses Secure Shell (SSH) encryption to protect the data being transferred.

SFTP, FTPS, FTPES and FTP are used for file transfers. They perform the same basic function but provide a different level of security. The main difference between these protocols is that SFTP, FTPS and FTPES add a layer of security and encryption while FTP doesn’t. The encryption protocols that SFTP and FTPS/FTPES are based on also differ: SFTP transfers files using SSH, while FTPS/FTPES uses SSL/TLS.

Commander One let you connect to remote servers via various protocols. It offers full support for all popular protocols, including FTP and FTPS and of course works as an SFTP client Mac.