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AWS Transfer for SFTP [EOL] vs GoAnywhere MFT comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 8, 2025

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

AWS Transfer for SFTP [EOL]
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
GoAnywhere MFT
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
94
Ranking in other categories
Managed File Transfer (MFT) (1st)
 

Featured Reviews

Kyle Titus - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Technology Officer at Revio
Always works, handles all types of load, and allows us to have S3 files as storage
Its cost needs improvement. In addition, there could be a universal client that works on all desktops. There could be client software that you use to connect to the server. Generally, AWS doesn't provide one for you, so you have to use either your CLI, maybe your SSH CLI, or use some kind of desktop solution. I had to find a desktop app from a third party to run this. Our clients also do the same everywhere else, so it would be nice if the SFTP Gateway solution came with a client that anyone could download on their Mac, Windows, or any other machine.
Anuj Bhagwat - PeerSpot reviewer
Dev Ops Engineer at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Has enabled secure, centralized file sharing while saving significant time and resources
The best features in GoAnywhere MFT are that it's fast, reliable, and secure. First, the improvement is that we have resolved one of our security points with compliance. So that compliance point we resolved. And also it's a centralized file sharing system. All the users are able to access the file. There is no one-to-one sharing. It's improved about 80 to 85%. It saves about 80 to 90% resources. In terms of time, we can say 90 to 95% time is also saved because it avoids the one-to-one sharing and simply a user can put one centralized directory and all the users are able to access this solution and access the file. So it's 95%.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Being able to have the S3 files as storage is most valuable. We can use S3 as storage instead of an SFTP server or a machine."
"The most valuable feature for us is data persistence, because it basically gives you a snapshot history and the solution also offers good data recovery."
"The solution offers good data recovery."
"The solution has helped with collaboration in our organization."
"If it's dealing with SFTP or any kind of secure transfer, we don't hear about it; it's good and everything works."
"It has become very important to us over these four years, as it is key in our workflow and our workload automation strategy."
"Whenever a customer has to create a case, they create a case directly through our support portal."
"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."
"The most valuable feature is customer data transfers for traditional SFTP. Some of our biggest customers are on the platform, and it works out very well for us as a big selling point."
"GoAnywhere MFT has saved me time in connecting securely with third parties that I need to collaborate with."
"The best features in GoAnywhere MFT are that it's fast, reliable, and secure; it saves about 80 to 90% resources and 90 to 95% time because it avoids one-to-one sharing with a centralized directory accessible to all users."
"This is a very good product for managing file transfers."
 

Cons

"The tool's UI should be pretty easy and straightforward. I would also like to see a simple audit report of the SFTP guest account that shows the amount of data transfers and security kind enabled."
"Could be more automated, particularly for file transfers."
"SFTP would be better if it was more automated, particularly for file transfers."
"Its cost needs improvement. In addition, there could be a universal client that works on all desktops."
"Sometimes, during the transfer of multiple files, some files may get lost, and we have no clear way of identifying which have moved successfully since the log feature does not provide this information clearly."
"One of the main important improvements I need for GoAnywhere MFT is a better real-time monitoring dashboard and an improved user interface."
"In GoAnywhere MFT, there are memory-related issues that need improvement. Sometimes it shows varying memory usage from 500 GB to 2 GB, and these issues can persist for multiple days."
"The UI of GoAnywhere MFT can be a bit complex initially, and setup required some learning; however, once configured, it works well."
"I want to highlight the user interface as an area for improvement in GoAnywhere MFT, as it is slightly difficult to understand."
"Writing variables is sometimes difficult. It would be helpful if they provided additional basic training for administrators who manage this product."
"I'd improve the UI and the file-sharing aspect because the UI needs lots of improvement because it's very confusing and it's good for the technical person, but any non-tech person who is going to use that, they get confused."
"We are a little concerned because the maximum number of open connections allowed is 200, and we are pretty much maxed out... if they expanded the number of open connections allowed, we would be better off."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's $249 per month per instance. It's not great; it's pretty pricey. We've got multiple users on that one instance. If we had to build it by hand, we would win on cost there, but obviously, there is effort and time. In terms of the additional costs, they do have some specific pricing, but for our use case, we don't end up going over $249. They do specify in their pricing what they're charging for."
"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."
"Pricing is based on a one-time license."
"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."
"Its pricing is fair. It is not the most expensive, and it is not the cheapest. For what we get in our environment, the pricing model works pretty well."
"I find it to be very fair. It is very good."
"For what we pay to GoAnywhere every year, we are getting a fantastic deal. From a dollar perspective, it provides very good value."
"The cost is fine. It is probably the best software that I've had for the money that we spend for it. I am not aware of any costs in addition to the standard licensing fees. I don't pay for it. IT pays for it."
"When it comes to secure systems that we have used, the price point can get a whole lot higher. You might end up saving in the short term with other solutions, but are you getting a secure product? Do you feel confident in that? Will you be able to get any support afterward? From my experience, based on the price point and the service that we got, it was a good value for our money."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
12%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business74
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise44
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What do you like most about Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?
GoDrive eliminates the need to use the exchange server for file sharing.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?
Though I was not involved in the pricing and license cost, it is fairly industry standard.
What needs improvement with Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?
It takes a little time to understand all of the workflow, and it has a bit of a learning curve, even with the easy interface. When we were trying to set up the software at the start, it took us a f...
 

Also Known As

No data available
HelpSystems GoAnywhere MFT, GoAnywhere MFT, GoAnywhere Managed File Transfer,
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Myriota, FINRA, Celgene, Kontor New Media, Belong, ThinkCX, BluTV
McKesson City of Modesto, California Kwik Trip Northwestern University Charter Communications
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortra, BMC, IBM and others in Managed File Transfer (MFT). Updated: March 2026.
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