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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
6.8
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
Managed File Transfer (MFT) (1st)
 

Featured Reviews

Kyle Titus - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Rohan Suryawanshi - PeerSpot reviewer
Automation simplifies file transfer and builds confidence in security
I appreciate the features of GoAnywhere MFT such as advanced workflows to automate all the transfer and reduce manual effort. The logs and reporting are very helpful for checking all the compliances. The encryption is quite good. The main feature which is very useful is connectors to connect it with cloud services such as AWS, Azure, GCP. The automation in GoAnywhere MFT really helps us because it reduced the manual work significantly. We can transfer hundreds of files with zero manual interventions. The audit trails also help during the compliance audits. It has given stakeholders more confidence in the security of file transfer. It also helped developers to securely transfer the files. Overall, the impact was very good and positive in our business and personal improvements.

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 solution has helped with collaboration in our organization."
"The solution offers good data recovery."
"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."
"I have seen a lot of return on investment because the built-in automations make the workflow fast and reduce our time significantly, allowing us to focus on other administrative roles rather than routine tasks."
"This solution has improved my organization significantly."
"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."
"Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT offers robust security as its most valuable feature."
"The automation capabilities are amazing. They help to reduce manual transfer tasks and handle the daily repetitive tasks that we do. It also ensures overall efficiency."
"GoAnywhere MFT meets all these needs, which is why we decided to use it."
"The security and vendor management features are helpful in terms of providing access to data."
 

Cons

"Its cost needs improvement. In addition, there could be a universal client that works on all desktops."
"Could be more automated, particularly for file transfers."
"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."
"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."
"We can improve GoAnywhere MFT's API documentation and automation logs, which will make it more user-friendly and help people comprehend it much more effectively, reducing friction."
"At present, HelpSystems GoAnywhere MFT integrates with an antivirus solution, but it's a bit kludgy."
"Without knowledge, it can be challenging to manage as it uses XML files for configurations and has tricky variables. While it's not particularly intuitive for new users, it becomes easy once mastered."
"The security side, particularly when dealing with keys and certificates, could be in a different suite rather than built directly into the main interface."
"The technical support response time has room for improvement."
"The technical support has room for improvement."
"It would be helpful to have a way to actually have a job run without notifying the email addresses you have set up and without posting to the actual FTP... when you need to make a small change to a job that is deployed to production, and test that change, you have to go back and reset everything. It's not really a great way to test."
 

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."
"I get the invoices, and its price is fine and appropriate. It is well priced. Even if it was double the price, we'd use it. For us, it is indispensable. We're not going to go anywhere else. There are no additional costs. Its licensing is good. There is just one charge that we get. That's it."
"The cost was definitely within reason and it has definitely been worth the cost, based on how much we can automate. It has exceeded my expectations."
"The product's pricing is reasonable."
"GoAnywhere's price is justified by its features and the time it saves me."
"The pricing of GoAnywhere MFT is affordable compared to other similar products. It's not expensive, according to me. What influenced my purchase decision was the fact that the product was quite affordable."
"For what we pay to GoAnywhere every year, we are getting a fantastic deal. From a dollar perspective, it provides very good value."
"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."
"To have a solution like this for the price we're paying makes it cheap. Considering the time that it has saved us, and considering the development that we don't need to do, such as connectors and handling servers, the price is really affordable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
27%
Computer Software Company
12%
Insurance Company
7%
Healthcare Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Healthcare Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business47
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise38
 

Questions from the Community

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What do you like most about Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?
GoDrive eliminates the need to use the exchange server for file sharing.
What needs improvement with Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?
We keep asking them to implement a feature for our upcoming project, which would benefit all other companies using the product. One area for improvement in GoAnywhere MFT is that they don't have a ...
 

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, IBM, Progress Software and others in Managed File Transfer (MFT). Updated: October 2025.
872,778 professionals have used our research since 2012.