Aspera Managed File Transfer vs GoAnywhere MFT comparison

IBM and Fortra are both solutions in the Managed File Transfer (MFT) category. IBM is ranked #12 with an average rating of 9.0, while Fortra is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.7. IBM holds a 3.1% mindshare in MFT, compared to Fortra’s 10.1% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of Fortra users who would recommend it.

Aspera Managed File Transfer

Read 4 Aspera Managed File Transfer reviews

791 Views
767 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

GoAnywhere MFT

Read 62 GoAnywhere MFT reviews

2,812 Views
2,615 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Aspera Managed File Transfer

GoAnywhere MFT

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 8, 2025

Aspera Managed File Transfer and GoAnywhere MFT are formidable competitors in the secure data exchange sector for enterprises. Aspera has the upper hand in terms of speed, benefiting data-heavy industries, while GoAnywhere excels in protocol support and seamless integration, making it a cost-effective solution for diverse systems.

Features: Aspera Managed File Transfer facilitates high-speed transfers, maximizing available bandwidth, and provides robust security features like encryption and authentication. It is known for handling large data efficiently and operating effectively in bandwidth-limited environments. GoAnywhere MFT offers comprehensive protocol support, advanced workflow automation, and intuitive user interfaces, reducing the complexity of managing file transfers while integrating well with various systems. Its flexibility in automating file exchanges across diverse platforms stands out as a significant advantage.

Room for Improvement: Aspera Managed File Transfer can be challenging to deploy due to its complexity and requires technical expertise, potentially leading to increased initial costs. It could benefit from more straightforward integration options with other systems. Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT could enhance its interface even further to lower the learning curve for new users. Expanding real-time data monitoring capabilities and improving some notification aspects would strengthen its overall offering. Additionally, enhancing customization options for complex workflows could make the tool more attractive to advanced users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Aspera's deployment can be scalable yet demanding, involving complicated setups requiring proficient support, thus extending deployment times. In contrast, GoAnywhere provides straightforward cloud or on-premise deployment options, supported by excellent customer service and documentation, which eases transitions and operational use. Its user-friendly setup process ensures a smooth user onboarding experience.

Pricing and ROI: Aspera Managed File Transfer involves higher initial setup costs, which can be justified for businesses focused on high-speed data handling, offering significant ROI for data-intensive operations. GoAnywhere MFT comes with a lower entry cost and provides substantial ROI through its robust automation and multi-protocol support, making it an attractive choice for organizations seeking efficient yet economical solutions without sacrificing functionality.

To learn more, read our detailed Aspera Managed File Transfer vs. GoAnywhere MFT Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Aspera Managed File Transfer vs. GoAnywhere MFT

July 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Aspera Managed File Transfer

Ranking in Managed File Transfer (MFT)

12th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

GoAnywhere MFT

Ranking in Managed File Transfer (MFT)

1st

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Managed File Transfer (MFT) category, the mindshare of Aspera Managed File Transfer is 3.1%, up from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of GoAnywhere MFT is 10.1%, up from 6.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Managed File Transfer (MFT)

Featured Reviews

Michele Illiano

Head of Division at Innovery

Beneficial quick protocol, powerful, but limited use cases

Aspera Managed File Transfer should be packaged into another solution. Explaining to customers you need to have multiple solutions from multiple vendors for their use cases can get complicated for them to understand. The best way to propose a suite is to have an integrated suite where the customer could choose to license part of it. This solution could be one solution not two choices between 10 or 12 different solutions. The main feature of Aspera Managed File Transfer is the communication protocol, which is fast. There are a lot of different clients that are offering features related to these fast protocols. It's possible to create one unique suite that can handle this base protocol. It will be quite easy to propose to the customers.

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Vidyasagar Gupta

File Transfer Analyst at IG Group

Enables secure and efficient file transfers with customizable automations

The biggest improvement I've seen since using GoAnywhere MFT for three to four years is in security; control over our network security is the biggest factor to consider, and the solution automatically identifies and blocks attempts to attack our system. Additionally, the transfer speed is impressive; even if files are in GBs, it doesn't take much time to transfer, increasing our organization's efficiency significantly. In my opinion, the best feature of GoAnywhere MFT is its user-friendly UI; it's very simple to use compared to other managed file transfer tools such as MOVEit and Axway, which are a bit more complicated. While we don't use any connectors for services such as Salesforce, SharePoint Online, or MS365, GoAnywhere MFT does have the capability of connecting to these systems either through SFTP, HTTPS protocols, or API-based connections. The way it works here is different; we set up a resource-based connection to connect to various services such as SAP or Salesforce. The range of connectors that GoAnywhere MFT provides out of the box is quite extensive; it covers everything from legacy tools that support AS2 connections to the latest services such as AWS and Azure Blobs. I'm very satisfied with the connectivity options available in GoAnywhere MFT; they include everything you can think of, and as long as the system you want to connect to accepts connections, we can connect using AS2, AS4, and other cloud connectors. In relation to the agents, they are crucial for extending MFT automation to remote systems. I've noticed that in my previous organization, agents were not used as we connected via network shares, which led to occasional connectivity issues. Now, using agents increases the file transfer speed by about 20 to 30%, and they provide a more stable connection compared to legacy network shares.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"We were able to effectively nullify the China firewall since the China firewall was disrupting our data transfer."

"Aspera Managed File Transfer is an optimal solution for customers who want to transfer large files to remote sites with lower bandwidth and in less time."

"Good user interface and ability to set up multiple file transfer jobs."

"The main feature of Aspera Managed File Transfer is that it's an incredibly fast protocol, you can use all the bandwidth available. If I need to send large amounts of data this is the fastest protocol on the market. I have been using it for some minor projects and it is very powerful."

"We were able to effectively nullify the China firewall since the China firewall was disrupting our data transfer."

"File monitors are one of the most valuable features. We have about 400 file monitors running in GoAnywhere. They monitor the NAS locations where files arrive, and they kick off workflows. When a file arrives, GoAnywhere will identify that the file is there, move it to a consumption zone, then reach out to our enterprise scheduler through a REST API call."

"The most valuable features are the automatic processing of files and scheduled execution of the files."

"This solution has improved my organization significantly."

"Before, we had to write scripts and manually update them to move data around, encrypt files, or rename files. Now we just use the GUI to set the modules for transfers, encryption, renaming, and copying, allowing us to set it and schedule it to run without any user interaction."

"It enabled us to allocate staff toward other work. All the time that we would have wasted worrying about this stuff and correcting problems is put into other parts of our job. That's one of the best things about it, is that we don't waste time on these projects. We just don't have to worry about them because it lets us know if there's a problem."

"It helps me keep all my sensitive data and files secure and safe. The software's user interface is friendly and intuitive, making it easy to use and navigate without any hassle."

"The security and vendor management features are helpful in terms of providing access to data."

"The usability is valuable because I am self-taught and have not had any formal training in the product. The help feature is quite handy."

More GoAnywhere MFT pros

Cons

"Deployment is complex and it was difficult to get support."

"If you want to do a file transfer between two countries, and one is not China, then you have other more affordable options."

"The solution's pricing is high and should be reduced."

"If there is any failure in the data transfer and it can automatically detect and reinitiate it, that would be great."

"Aspera Managed File Transfer should be packaged into another solution. Explaining to customers you need to have multiple solutions from multiple vendors for their use cases can get complicated for them to understand."

"In some scenarios, when you are in a cluster environment, the load-balancing capabilities of the gateway need to be improved a little. This functionality needs some improvement."

"We did have some issues a couple of months back where we were having some unscheduled outages, and the support team worked with me closely and provided a solution that appears to have fixed the problem."

"For training, there should be some sites or resources on YouTube or Udemy. They do not have that currently."

"When a monitor invokes a project to accomplish something, that gets logged as a job. I've had a little difficulty figuring out where to look to see the monitor's activities itself, to see if the monitor is having a problem. For instance, if an account on a secure FTP server has expired, the monitor that uses that account doesn't announce to us that it's having a problem. I want to work with them on this to get it fixed."

"The support could be enhanced a little bit... If the first echelon of support could say, 'Okay, you are trying to create a variable,' and could tell you what you have to do, that would be good."

"Fortra needs to offer more use cases for GoAnywhere MFT during training."

"The technical support is slow to respond and to take action when issues arise, along with difficult-to-use user forums which complicate finding solutions on our own."

"GoAnywhere's interface could be a little more intuitive."

More GoAnywhere MFT cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It was close to $10,000 to $20,000."

"Aspera Managed File Transfer is not an inexpensive solution. I am not aware of many competitors to determine how affordable the price is overall."

"It is moderately priced. If I compare it with other products that we have been using, its price is moderate. There are approximately 30% to 40% savings."

"The pricing is not favorable when we use it for a few people."

"The pricing is decent for mid-sized and small-sized companies. It is good for startups or mid-scale companies."

"The product is not cheap, but it is not expensive."

"For what we pay to GoAnywhere every year, we are getting a fantastic deal. From a dollar perspective, it provides very good value."

"It has flexible and affordable pricing because of custom quotes. The prices depend on the modules one needs and the volume of data being transferred. Overall, they offer custom and flexible pricing with an annual subscription, where you pay for specific features and functionality required."

"It would be good for the company to explore a modular approach to selling the product so it could be cheaper and more attractive to users."

"The product's pricing is reasonable."

More GoAnywhere MFT pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

21%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Insurance Company

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Aspera Managed File Transfer?

Aspera Managed File Transfer is an optimal solution for customers who want to transfer large files to remote sites with lower bandwidth and in less time.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Aspera Managed File Transfer?

There are other products of Aspera which come as add-ons, however, we haven't purchased those, like report generation, since that was not our requirement. The features we needed were included in th...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Aspera Managed File Transfer?

We have an office in China, and we wanted to transfer data from China to the UK. We have an office in the UK as well.

See all answers

What do you like most about Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?

GoDrive eliminates the need to use the exchange server for file sharing.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?

The pricing for GoAnywhere MFT is quite fair.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?

The cloud connectivity of GoAnywhere MFT to connect to different applications such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon, or Google Cloud could improve, as it's a little bit patchy right now. They do provide ...

See all answers

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Compared 10% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Managed File Transfer (MFT)

July 2025

Download Aspera Managed File Transfer product report

Buyer's Guide

GoAnywhere MFT

August 2025

Download GoAnywhere MFT product report

Also Known As

No data available

HelpSystems GoAnywhere MFT, GoAnywhere MFT, GoAnywhere Managed File Transfer,

Overview

IBM Aspera takes a different approach to tackling the challenges of big data movement over global WANs. Rather than optimize or accelerate data transfer, Aspera eliminates underlying bottlenecks by using its proprietary fasp technology that fully utilizes available network bandwidth to maximize speed and quickly scale up with no theoretical limit. Using fasp, transfers are secure end-to-end and are largely unaffected by file size, transfer distance, or network conditions, making transfer times up to 100Xs faster than TCP-based protocols.

IBM Aspera offers SaaS, on-prem, and hybrid solutions to meet the needs of modernizing infrastructures. All solutions offer robust security and compliance, intuitive file sharing, workflow automation, central administration, and real-time visibility. Quickly and easily initiate transfers across hybrid infrastructures, including support for cloud-to-cloud transfers. IBM Aspera offers unmatched transfer speeds, end-to-end security, reliability, and exceptional bandwidth control.

IBM

GoAnywhere MFT offers user-friendly workflow features, advanced security, and seamless integrations. Its intuitive interface supports streamlined operations and rapid project creation, making it suitable for managing secure file transfers.

GoAnywhere MFT provides sophisticated automation through Advanced Workflows, enabling reduced manual tasks and improved efficiency. With centralized data exchange, file monitoring, and comprehensive security protocols, it supports scalability, encryption, and IP filtering for enhanced protection. Users appreciate its adaptability with systems including IBM and Epic, contributing to improved process management and significant time savings. While beneficial, enhancements in DNS support, user interface intuitiveness, and customer service responsiveness are potential growth areas. License costs are noted as high, with demands for better documentation, cloud service integrations, and improved scalability and load-balancing functionalities.

What are the key features of GoAnywhere MFT?

User-Friendly Workflows: Intuitive interface streamlines operations.
Advanced Security: Includes encryption, IP filters, and monitoring.
Seamless Integrations: Adapts to systems like IBM and Epic.
Automation: Simplifies processes with reduced manual tasks.
Scalability: Grows with business needs.

What are the benefits and ROI of using GoAnywhere MFT?

Improved Efficiency: Reduces workload through automation.
Time Savings: Accelerates project delivery.
Enhanced Security: Protects data with advanced protocols.
Adaptability: Supports multiple platforms and integrations.
Process Management: Simplifies and streamlines data exchange.

GoAnywhere MFT is deployed by organizations for secure file transfers across systems like financial, healthcare, and corporate sectors. It supports SFTP, FTP, and HTTPS for data exchanges and is highly effective in automating processes and managing large file movements efficiently. It integrates well with cloud platforms like Azure and accommodates environments such as Windows, Linux, and IBM iSeries.

Fortra

Sample Customers

Gwinnett County Public Schools, Evonik, Voith, BITMARCK, Oracle

McKesson City of Modesto, California Kwik Trip Northwestern University Charter Communications

Buyer's Guide

Aspera Managed File Transfer vs. GoAnywhere MFT

July 2025

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