Comparison of FTP server software packages

Graphical

Name	License	Platform	Details
Cerberus FTP Server	Proprietary	Windows only	FTP, FTPS, SFTP, SCP, HTTPS web client, IPv6, SOAP-based web services API, Windows Active Directory / LDAP authentication, HTTP / HTTPS remote administration, public key and client certificate authentication
CompleteFTP	trialware	Windows only	FTP, FTPS, SFTP, SCP, HTTP, HTTPS, Windows Active Directory authentication, SQL authentication, SAML Single Sign-On authentication, groups, virtual file-system, process/e-mail events, data at rest encryption, protocol conversion for back-end servers, SSH tunnelling, file-sharing (via client app), web-app hosting via server-side Javascript, remote administration, public key and client certificate authentication, Plugin API (.NET/Javascript), fail-over, load-balancing, dockable dashboard
CrushFTP Server	trialware	macOS, Windows (all), Linux (all), *BSD, Solaris, IBM.	FTP, FTPS, SFTP, SCP, HTTP, HTTPS, WebDAV(SSL), AS2, AS3, Plugin API, Active Directory / LDAP authentication, RADIUS authentication, SQL authentication, SAML SSO Authentication, CrushBalance load balancer, Web UI administration, Groups, Layered Inheritance, Events / Alerts, Protocol Conversion (incoming FTP/FTPS/SFTP/HTTP(s) protocols converted to a back end FTP(ES)/SFTP/HTTP(s)/S3/WebDAV server.), SSH Tunneling, HTTP(S) Tunneling, CrushTask, client certificate authentication, ad-hoc file sharing, keywords search, PGP in stream encryption / decryption, bandwidth acceleration (CrushTunnel), file revisions and synchronization, DMZ front end server mode can also cluster with load balance (supports proxy protocol v1 and v2), DDOS protection, High Availability Virtual IP, data replication and session replication, Job scheduling and monitoring, user config via API, scriptable command line file transfer client. Supports cloud storage via S3, Azure, [Citrix] file storage, Hadoop and Google Drive for file data.
FileZilla Server	free software	Windows macOS	FTP, FTPS, supports autoban, speedlimits, IP Filter, Groups, Shared folders, compression
Microsoft Internet Information Services	Proprietary	Windows only	FTP, FTPS, WebDAV and WebDAV over SSL (FTPS is supported in IIS 7 and later)
Sysax Multi Server	proprietary, Free Personal Edition	Windows (All Editions)	Secure FTP Server that also supports Secure Shell Access and Web browser based secure file transfer. Protocols supported include FTP, FTPS, SFTP, HTTP, HTTPS, Telnet, and Secure Shell. Features include web UI administration, server event triggers and scripting, and authentication using Windows, ODBC, or Active Directory. Certified for Windows Vista.
War FTP Daemon	free software	Windows 9X/2000/XP/2003	One of the original FTP servers made for the windows platform and still available.

Console/terminal-based

Name	FOSS	Platform	Details
CrushFTP Server	No, proprietary	macOS, Windows, Linux, *BSD, Solaris, etc.	FTP, FTPS, SFTP, SCP, HTTP, HTTPS, WebDAV and WebDAV over SSL, AS2, AS3, Plugin API, Windows Active Directory / LDAP authentication, SQL authentication, GUI remote administration, Events / Alerts, X.509 user auth for HTTPS/FTPS/FTPES, MD5 hash calculations on all file transfers, Protocol Conversion (incoming FTP/FTPS/SFTP/HTTP/HTTPS protocols converted to a back end FTP/SFTP server.), SSH Tunneling, HTTP(S) Tunneling, CrushTask, Headless (Web browser management, or you can edit XML files directly, or issue terminal commands to add users, manage groups, inheritance, permissions, query server statistics, etc.) Supports cloud storage via S3, Azure, Citrix file storage, Hadoop and Google Drive for file data. Support for CrushBalance load balancer, or others via proxy protocol v1 and v2.
glFTPd	No, proprietary	Linux, BSD, macOS	Virtual users and groups, private paths, bandwidth throttling, upload/download ratio support, on the fly CRC calculating of files being uploaded, script support on almost all commands and operations, online user management, built-in statistics viewable using site commands, FTPS and ACL support. Supports FXP.
ProFTPD	Yes, GPL	Unix-like (Linux, BSD, macOS, and more[1]), Windows with Cygwin	Feature rich and popular FTP daemon for Unix-like platforms. Many third party Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) available. SFTP can be supported via add-on module.[2]
Pure-FTPd	Yes, BSD License	Linux, BSD, macOS, and more	Supports FXP.
vsftpd	Yes, GPLv2	Linux, BSD, and more	FTP, FTPS, FTPES. Supports X.509 client cert auth. deny / enable lists for user access. Logging data can be compatible with wu-ftpd format. vsftpd is default FTP daemon in Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Slackware (along with ProFTPD), NimbleX and RHEL. Others like Debian require an additional installation. GPLv2 license with exception for linking with OpenSSL.
WU-FTPD	No, proprietary	Linux, BSD, Solaris, macOS and more	Main website seems offline, but continues development in the newer CC series

Summary board

Graphical UI based FTP Servers

		Cerberus	Complete	CrushFTP Server	FileZilla	IIS	Multi Server
License type		proprietary	proprietary	proprietary	FLOSS/GPL2	proprietary	proprietary
OS	Linux	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
	macOS	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
	Unix	No	No	Yes	No	No	No
	Windows	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
User Interface	CLI	?	Yes	Yes	?	Yes, via PowerShell[3]	?
	GUI integrated	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
	GUI(s) separately	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	?
	Web-based GUI	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	?
Services	FTP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	SFTP	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
	FTPS	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	SCP	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
	WebDAV	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
	HTTP/HTTPS	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
	AS2	No	No	Yes	No	No	No
Authentication	LDAP	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
	Active Directory	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
	Local	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Database	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
High Availability	Failover Cluster (active/passive)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
	Load Balancing (active/active)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	?
Automation	Event-handling	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	?
	Scripting	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	?
		Cerberus	Complete	CrushFTP Server	FileZilla	IIS	Multi Server

Terminal/Console based FTP Servers

		CrushFTP	ProFTPD	Pure-FTPd	vsftpd
License type		proprietary	FLOSS/GPL	BSD	FLOSS/GPL2
OS	Linux	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	macOS	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Unix	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Windows	Yes	No	No	No
User Interface	CLI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	GUI integrated	Yes	No	No	No
	GUI(s) separately	Yes	Yes	No	No
	Web-based GUI	Yes	No	No	No
Services	FTP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	SFTP	Yes	Yes	No	No
	FTPS	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	SCP	Yes	No	No	No
	WebDAV	Yes	No	No	No
	HTTP/HTTPS	Yes	No	No	No
	AS2	Yes	No	No	No
Authentication	LDAP	Yes	Yes	Yes	?
	Active Directory	Yes	No	No	No
	Local	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Database	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
High Availability	Failover Cluster (active/passive)	Yes	No	No	No
	Load Balancing (active/active)	Yes	No	No	No
Automation	Event-handling	Yes	Yes	?	?
	Scripting	Yes	Yes	No	No
		CrushFTP	ProFTPD	Pure-FTPd	vsftpd

See also

• File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
• Comparison of FTP client software
• FTPS (FTP over SSL/TLS)
• FTP over SSH
• SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)
• Comparison of SSH servers
• Comparison of SSH clients