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GoAnywhere MFT vs MetaDefender Managed File Transfer (MFT) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 22, 2026

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

GoAnywhere MFT
Ranking in Managed File Transfer (MFT)
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
119
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
MetaDefender Managed File T...
Ranking in Managed File Transfer (MFT)
27th
Average Rating
0.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.9
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

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%.
Jasmit Singh Juneja - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO & Technology Specialist at Karman Infotech Private Limited
Secure file exchange between internal IT and OT networks has protected sensitive data and meets compliance needs
Threat Detection helps with data security and functions the same as Multi-Scanning. MetaDefender Managed File Transfer is integrated with the same platform, providing improved threat detection. MetaDefender Managed File Transfer includes encryption for data protection by storing data in an encrypted format so that no one can access it without proper authorization. Data Sanitization capability helps manage threats and is one of the features for detecting zero-day threats. For known threats, multi-scanning handles threat detection, so together it is a complete package for detecting both known and unknown threats. Reporting and auditing help maintain compliance in the company and provide functionality for PII, PCI, and GDPR management. When handling large file volumes, there is an impact on performance. Since it works on HTTPS and HTTP, performance will be reduced for large volumes, though not significantly. The biggest benefit from MetaDefender Managed File Transfer is secure data exchange from an unsecure network to a secure network or from external users to internal users. Because it scans and sanitizes files, there is very little chance of malware entering the organization during file sharing.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The automation of GoAnywhere MFT is the best thing about it, and the interface of this software is also really easy to use for me and my teammates, which really helps us transfer files within our organization securely and automates the whole process for us, making it really easy."
"After implementing GoAnywhere MFT, we saw clear improvements in efficiency and reliability, with time saved around a 60 to 70 percent reduction in manual file transfer."
"GoDrive eliminates the need to use the exchange server for file sharing."
"The most valuable feature is the Advanced Workflows."
"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 encryption feature is very impressive in GoAnywhere MFT, and the encryption provided by the company is much stronger than other file transferring software."
"By centralizing everything in GoAnywhere, we're able to eliminate 100 or so custom programs and scripts, and if I had to quantify it, I would estimate that it cuts our workload by about 80 hours a week."
"I have not seen any lagging, crashing, downtime, or any sort of instability with GoAnywhere MFT."
"The biggest benefit from MetaDefender Managed File Transfer is secure data exchange from an unsecure network to a secure network or from external users to internal users."
 

Cons

"When we restart the agent on each server, it tries to go out to the internet and it takes about a 13-minute timeout before it can move forward. Why is there a 13-minute timeout value when trying to go to the internet? ...If they could limit that timeout or give us a way to modify it so we could have a faster timeout, that would help us at least knock out a half-hour's worth of outage."
"We do have to occasionally restart GoAnywhere because a job gets stuck or we are having connectivity issues."
"In terms of scalability, I would rate it around five, as it needs further scaling. The interface built should be more stable, as performance varies across different browsers and deployed versions."
"When looking for the exact way to find and troubleshoot different errors, the log can be very difficult to understand because there is a lot of information."
"I have problems with customer support with GoAnywhere MFT, especially the technical support team, and I also have issues with the interface."
"The UI of GoAnywhere MFT could be more modern, and some advanced workflow configuration and troubleshooting steps could be made easier for administrators."
"Overall, GoAnywhere MFT is good for our organization, but sometimes we receive complaints from clients about lag, particularly when transferring larger files."
"The security features must be updated regularly."
"An improvement would be in reporting. For an enterprise, reporting is not that great."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is not favorable when we use it for a few people."
"Compared to other tools it's less expensive."
"For what we pay to GoAnywhere every year, we are getting a fantastic deal. From a dollar perspective, it provides very good value."
"Licensing can be expensive and it depends upon which features you want to buy."
"Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT is an inexpensive solution."
"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."
"The cost of GoAnywhere versus the value it brings to our data transfer operations is reasonable... The cost is relatively expensive but, back to the car analogy, that's to be expected with a Ferrari."
"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."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business116
Midsize Enterprise34
Large Enterprise58
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?
Our experience with GoAnywhere MFT's pricing, setup cost, and licensing structure has been highly positive because it is completely module-based. Instead of hitting us with a rigid, monolithic ente...
What needs improvement with Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?
Regarding the reporting about the logs, sometimes there is too much information. When looking for the exact way to find and troubleshoot different errors, the log can be very difficult to understan...
What is your primary use case for Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?
My usual use cases for GoAnywhere MFT are for automatic processes with SFTP.
What needs improvement with MetaDefender Managed File Transfer?
An improvement would be in reporting. For an enterprise, reporting is not that great. It should have more flexibility in terms of configuration so that organizations can utilize the product more ef...
What is your primary use case for MetaDefender Managed File Transfer?
The clients are using the product for secure file exchange between the internal organization as well as to external users. One of the major use cases is data exchange from an IT network to the OT n...
What advice do you have for others considering MetaDefender Managed File Transfer?
I am a delivery lead in the company and work with the whole stack of the vendor's products, including MetaDefender Managed File Transfer. Regarding pricing, the solution is reasonably priced. I wou...
 

Also Known As

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

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

McKesson City of Modesto, California Kwik Trip Northwestern University Charter Communications
Information Not Available
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