This article was published 14 years ago, therefore the contents of this post may be out of date.

Transferring files to and from computers but particularly transferring files to a  web servers is usually achieved by going through a system called File Transfer Protocol or FTP to be short.

A FTP application needs to connect to a remote server and allow you to perform file operations of copying, moving, editing and deleting with both a local and remote files. There are a huge range of FTP applications for Macs and within this post you 8 FTP applications that you might have heard from through different resources like forums or other blogs etc.

1. Filezilla – $ FREE

FileZilla Client is a free, open source FTP client. It supports FTP, SFTP, and FTPS (FTP over SSL/TLS). The client is available under many platforms, binaries for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X are provided.  FileZilla Server is a FTP server supported by the same project. It supports FTP and FTP over SSL/TLS.

Some Features

  • Easy to use
  • IPv6 support
  • Available in many languages
  • Supports resume and transfer of large files >4GB
  • Tabbed user interface
  • Powerful Site Manager and transfer queue
  • Bookmarks
  • Drag & drop support
  • Filename filters
  • Directory comparison
  • Network configuration wizard
  • Remote file editing
  • Keep-alive

2. Cyberduck – $ FREE

Cyberduck is an open source FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, Cloud Files, Google Docs and Amazon S3 browser for your apple mac.

Cyberduck’s features are an easy to use interface with quickly accessible bookmarks. The outline view of the browser allows to browse large folder structures efficiently and you can quickly preview files with Quick Look. To edit files, a seamless integration with any external editor application makes it easy to change content quickly. Both Amazon CloudFront and Cloud Files from Rackspace can be easily configured to distribute your content in the cloud.

3. Fork Lift – $29.95US/$35.40AUD

Forklift is a powerful file manager and ferociously fast FTP client clothed in a clean and versatile UI that offers the combination of absolute simplicity and raw power expected from a well-executed Mac software. ForkLift will connect to any remote server FTP, SFTP, Amazon S3, WebDAV, the SMB, NIS and AFP shares on your local network, or your Bluetooth mobile phone- pretty much anything you can plug into or hook up to a Mac. *prices are depended on your currency conversion of US dollar.

Some Features

  • Stunning Speed – ForkLift owes it’s superior speed to the ability of carrying individual transfer jobs over multiple concurrent connections. On sturdier servers your transfers will run up to 10 times faster!
  • Compress Files – Use ForkLift to create compressed archives of your files in 7zip, tar.gz, tar.bz2, zip, and password protected zip formats.
  • Connect To Anything – Really. FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, Amazon S3, iDisk, shared network SMB, AFP and NIS volumes, Bluetooth devices. Anything I left out? Oh yes, the amazing, amazing speed!
  • Application Deleter – ForkLift comes with a full-featured application deleter to remove even the last morsels of the applications you want to uninstall. Keeps your system clean and tidy.

4. Transmit – $34 USD

You need to transfer files. Maybe to a FTP or SFTP server, or the cloud via Amazon S3, or using WebDAV. You maintain a website, do backups, or upload photos. You need Transmit, the #1 Mac OS X FTP client.¹ Now, in Transmit 4, we took everything good about Transmit, and added a dollop of unbelievably great. Transmit is probably the best known FTP client for the Mac.

Some Features

  • Transmit Twin-Turbo Engine
  • Friendly File Sync
  • One-Click SFTP Key Import
  • Multi-Touch Navigation
  • Multi-Connection Transfer
  • Bandwidth Limiting

5. Yummy FTP – $28US

Yummy FTP is a FTP and SFTP client application for the Apple Macintosh, built as native Mac OS X software from the ground up, with the goal of providing a reliable, powerful, yet easy to use file transfer utility.

Some Features

  • Connectivity – FTP, FTPS (SSL/TLS) and SFTP (SSH)
  • Accelerated Transfers – Highly tuned, multi-connection FTP engine for super fast transfers
  • Automatic Failure Recovery – Flaky connection? Unreliable server? Yummy FTP will always finish the job
  • FTP Aliases – Upload to servers using drag and drop to an alias icon in the Finder™
  • FTP Watchers – Define watched local folders to automatically upload to specified servers
  • Synchronization – Comprehensive bi-directional file/folder mirroring, including previews

6. Fetch FTP – $29US (1 User License)

Fetch is a reliable, full-featured file transfer client for the Apple Macintosh whose user interface emphasizes simplicity and ease of use. Fetch supports FTP and SFTP, the most popular file transfer protocols on the Internet for compatibility with thousands of Internet service providers, web hosting companies, publishers, pre-press companies, and more. Multiple Users License are available.

Some Feature

  • Automatic resuming of stalled or failed uploads and downloads, for rock-solid reliability
  • Resuming downloads
  • Automatic Passive Mode, for more reliable transfers through firewalls
  • Compatibility with virtually all FTP servers, including VMS, VM/CMS, OS/2, Chyron, etc
  • Upload and copy files between servers using Copy and Paste
  • Automatic support for Zip, StuffIt, Gzip and other common file formats
  • Animated progress indicator in the Fetch Dock icon
  • Bonjour (Rendezvous) support
  • Unicode file names

7. Captain FTP – $29.00 US

Publishing web sites can be a time-consuming affair, to reduce the workload Captain FTP has been equpped with Sync Browsing. If the local and remote directory structure match, users can browse the locally folders and the remote folder will automatically follow the local folder.

Some Features

  • Download, Upload File Sharing WebDAV
  • Virtual Folders with DockSend
  • Compatible with all FTP/SSL-FTP/SFTP servers
  • Mulitiple Connections
  • Email Notification
  • Growl Notification SFTP, SSL Key Authentication SFTP Passphrase

8. Flow – $25US

Flow: Elegant, intuitive and powerful file transfer.

On the Mac, you’ve become accustomed to software that’s not just powerful, but elegant too. Armed with the belief that file-transfer should be no exception, we made Flow. Flow brings the best of the Mac to your server’s files and folders. Put simply, Flow makes working remotely every bit as intuitive and natural as working locally with the Finder.

Some Features

  • Connect to FTP, SFTP, Amazon S3, WebDAV, and MobileMe iDisk
  • Edit Directly – With Flow, you can edit files directly on your server, using the built-in editor, or an editing application of your choice.
  • Copy and View URLs
  • Look Without Opening – takes advantage of QuickLook to view the contents of files without even opening them.
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8 FTP Applications For Your Apple Mac