Filezilla Review: Our Rating 9/10

FileZilla is open source software distributed free of charge under the terms of the GNU General Public License. Filezilla is one of the most used FTP programs on the web simply because it is free and is capable of most FTP operations. Filezilla can be installed on, Mac, Windows and Linux with language support for almost any language.

Key Features

Features	Supported	Rating 1-5
Cost	Free
Fast Transfer Speed	Transferred 200Mb* file over decent Wifi connection* Wifi Download took approximately 7m10s averaging 490kbps Upload took approximately 9m15s averaging 385kbps Verdict : File transfer are fast and depend on your ISP speed and the speed available from your hoster	5
Ease of Upload/download	Filezillas drag and drop approach makes transferring files as simple as if you were using your Windows explorer interface	5
Multiple Protocols	Supports FTP, SFTP, FTPS	5
Site Managing	Comprehensive site manager allows for configuration of multiple FTP connections each with their own individual settings	5
Direct media file upload	Can upload any files that are on your PC.	5
Search Capabilities	Very comprehensive search where you can specify a search on your PC or your FTPsite	5
File sharing capabilities	Not supported – All transfers are done via FTP, no direct to email or media sharing options.	0
Resume Support	All downloads and uploads appear in the Transfer que so it is very easy to resume or pause downloads	5
Log	Yes it is not enabled by default but you can create a logfile in the Settings menu	4
OS Support	Windows, Mac and Linux	5
Overall rating	Filezilla does FTP very well, it is well supported and has many users as a result. It was easy to set up, easy to use and the transfers were fast.	4.4/5

Additional features

Inbuilt Editor for text, CSV and HTML files	You can edit files from your FTP site but it is very limited and will not open in the program it was created in
Multiple concurrent sites	If you open another connection it will open another tab on your client to run at the same time
Text encoding	Full support for text encoding, it can be set to auto or you can specify ASCII, UTF-8, UTF-16 and others
FTP account bookmark for site as well as default remote directory that you are logged into	The bookmark menu allows you to create bookmarks for FTP sites or even connect directly into a folder on your FTP site
Additional rating	The extra features add value and speed to everyday use of this FTP client and seeing as it was already free is definitely worth using and supporting.

Features

Upon opening FileZilla your first step would be to access the Site manager from the File menu and set up your FTP client with the usual hostname, username and password. Once you have logged into your FTP server you can see all your files displayed in a manner similar to the Windows File Explorer most people are familiar with.

Filezilla has the ability to connect to multiple sites with multiple different protocols which makes it quick and to transfer multiple files between multiple sites, simply by switching tabs. The bookmark option from the command ribbon makes it even easier to switch between sites and effectively removes the need for multiple FTP clients. A connection log is visible a the top of the viewing panes and you can have log files created through the option menu which makes it easy to track your files and activity.

The customizable viewing panels make it more straight forward to keep track of each site and to upload using drag and drop. Adding and removing files and folders is accomplished with dragging and dropping the files over and adding and deleting is accomplished with the usual right click.

Filezilla supports FTP, FTPS and sFTP with the ability to specify which protocol you wish to use as well as choosing active or passive mode. You can easily transfer or download files from your FTP server, create folders and add and delete files directly from the client.

There are many support sites and the built in help documentation is actually quite helpful. The Auto binary ASCII detect feature makes it easy to transfer files between multiple operating systems without losing any of your data and you can further customize file type classification.

Criticism

Filezilla does not have many advanced features as some other well known FTP programs such as a sync option or the ability to easily edit different types of files. There have been complaints of Malware being installed along with the Filezilla client but I found the installer gives you the option to decline the optional software (which does not affect your installation).

There has also been a minor uproar that Filezilla announced they would now store FTP usernames and passwords in a plain text file on your PC as of version 3.0 and onwards. This vulnerability can be exploited if someone gains access to your local machine but your FTP transfers would still be as secure as the protocol you selected.

Summary

Filezilla is a free program that anyone can use without much of a learning curve. It is easy to set up and since there are so many users that means there are many support websites. This is a solid go to FTP program for anyone looking a complete and easy to use File Transfer Protocol program.