I’m just starting to learn how to host a website, and every tutorial mentions FileZilla. It looks a bit intimidating with all the panels and logs – is it worth learning, or are there simpler, more modern tools I should start with instead?
My experience using FileZilla after a few years
I’ve used FileZilla on and off for website uploads and moving backups to servers. It’s a free FTP client that has been around for a long time and a lot of people still use it. If you search for FTP software, it usually comes up first.
For simple transfers it works fine. Connect to a server, drag files over, done. It supports FTP, SFTP, and FTPS, and it runs on pretty much any system. The fact that it’s free is probably a big reason so many people stick with it.
That said, its reputation hasn’t always been clean. Some installer versions from third-party sites included extra bundled software, which made some users wary. Because of that I only download it from the official site now. There are also fake download pages out there, so it pays to double check where you’re getting it from.
If someone already installed a bundled version, running a scan with something like Malwarebytes makes sense just to be safe.
One more thing I learned the hard way: don’t use plain FTP unless you have to. SFTP or FTPS is the safer choice since they encrypt the connection. FileZilla allows it, but you have to choose it yourself.
What I liked
- Free with no subscription
- Long history and lots of guides online
- Works fine for routine FTP transfers
- Supports FTP, SFTP, and FTPS
- Drag-and-drop and transfer queue are easy to understand
For basic use, I never needed to read much documentation. It’s simple enough.
Where it started to wear on me
The biggest problem for me was slow transfers and random hanging during bigger jobs.
I’ve had cases where I was uploading a large backup and the speed suddenly dropped to almost nothing. Then the transfer just sat there. No clear error, no clear message, just stuck. Sometimes the window would stop responding for a while and then continue, other times it would just time out.
This seemed to happen more when:
- Uploading larger files
- Moving lots of small files at once
- Working on a weaker connection
- Reconnecting after a short drop
What bothered me most wasn’t just the slowdown, it was the lack of clear feedback. You end up staring at the queue wondering if it’s frozen or just slow. After dealing with that a few times I started splitting transfers into smaller batches just to avoid the risk.
The other issue is security defaults. If someone new just connects with FTP, their data is not encrypted. The program doesn’t really guide you toward SFTP or FTPS. You have to already know to switch.
None of this makes it unusable, but if you move files often, these small frustrations build up.
What I ended up trying instead
I also tried Commander One since I mostly work on a Mac.
It supports FTP, SFTP, and FTPS just like FileZilla, so nothing is missing there. What I noticed pretty quickly was that transfers felt more predictable. I didn’t run into the same freezing or long unexplained pauses during bigger transfers.
It also handles queues across multiple servers in a cleaner way, which helped when I had several connections open. With FileZilla I sometimes felt like I had to babysit transfers. Here I could just line things up and let them run.
Another difference is that it works as a full file manager, not just an FTP tool. So instead of switching between apps, I could manage local files and remote ones in the same place. It also includes things FileZilla doesn’t have like file encryption, advanced search, a built-in Terminal, a process viewer, and hidden file support.
It can also connect to MTP, Android, and iOS devices, which ended up being useful since I sometimes move files from my phone to my Mac.
The trade-off is simple: FileZilla is free, Commander One is paid. So it depends how often you use FTP and whether the extra features matter to you.
Final thoughts
FileZilla earned its place as a go-to free FTP tool and it still works fine for simple, occasional transfers. I still think it makes sense if you only use FTP once in a while.
But if you rely on it regularly, the slowdowns and rough edges start to add up. After using both, I found Commander One easier to live with for daily work, even with the price.
1 Like
Short answer from my side: FileZilla is “fine but dated”, and using it daily for backups annoyed me enough that I moved on.
Here is how it behaved for me in real use on client sites and my own stuff.
- Safety and installer
On Windows, the real risk is not the app code, it is the installer source.
• Only download from the official site. Avoid mirrors and “download portals”.
• In the installer, read every screen. Decline any bundled offer.
• If someone already installed a sketchy build, I run Malwarebytes once and move on.
I do not see FileZilla itself as malware. The problem is distribution and bundling decisions.
- Protocols and security
FileZilla supports FTP, SFTP, and FTPS. Technically solid.
The weak part is defaults and nudging.
• It lets you use plain FTP without a clear in-your-face warning.
• New users often follow host docs, type in FTP, and send passwords in clear text.
• You need to go to Site Manager and explicitly pick SFTP or FTP with TLS.
If you use FileZilla, do this from day one:
• Use SFTP whenever your host supports it.
• Disable plain FTP in your hosting panel if possible.
• Use key based auth for SFTP if your host allows it.
Do that, and the protocol side is fine.
- Performance and reliability
Here I disagree a bit with @mikeappsreviewer. On my machines, pure transfer speed was usually okay. The problem was consistency.
Patterns I saw over and over:
• Multi gig archives over SFTP would start strong then slow to a crawl.
• Huge trees with thousands of small files took forever.
• On flaky hotel or 4G links, the queue froze or felt stuck.
• The UI sometimes looked alive but nothing moved.
You can band aid it:
• Increase simultaneous transfers in Settings, but not too high or weaker servers choke.
• Raise timeouts slightly.
• For large backups, push single archive files, not entire folder structures.
• For WordPress deployments, use a deploy tool or rsync over SSH, not raw FTP.
Even with tweaks, I did not trust it for unattended long jobs.
For your use case, “regular uploads and backups”, that trust part matters.
- Features and day to day use
Good parts:
• Free, no account, works on Windows, macOS, Linux.
• Simple two pane UI, so you learn it fast.
• Lots of old tutorials and answers online.
Annoyances:
• Config UI feels stuck in 2010.
• Queue feedback is vague on complex jobs.
• No real “file manager” features on the local side.
• No built in encryption for local archives before upload.
If you connect, drag a few files, and disconnect, it is fine. Once you treat it as a daily work tool, the small cuts add up.
- What I use now
On macOS I switched to Commander One and it fits “web dev + backups” much better.
Why it works better for this type of workflow:
• Acts as a dual pane file manager plus FTP client in one.
• Handles SFTP and FTPS with more stable behavior on long transfers.
• Lets you manage local files, archives, and remote servers in the same window.
• Better status and logs when something slows or fails, so you know what to fix.
For regular backups and site deploys, that clarity saves time. If a 20 GB backup upload chokes at 60 percent, I want clear info, not guesswork.
On Windows, different story, you might look at tools like WinSCP or a commercial SFTP client, but that is outside this thread.
- What I would do in your place
For a new website, with regular uploads and backups:
• Use SFTP only. Turn off plain FTP in hosting if they let you.
• Pick one “main” tool and test it with your real workload, not a tiny dummy file.
• Run at least one multi gig backup upload test and one “thousands of files” test.
• See how the client behaves when you pause your network, or your Wi Fi blips.
If you want free and simple, FileZilla is still acceptable if you:
• Download it from the official page.
• Force SFTP for every site profile.
• Use it mostly for small update batches.
If backups are large and frequent, I would skip straight to something like Commander One on Mac, or an equivalent on Windows, and avoid the frustration.
Short version: FileZilla is “good enough but kinda stuck in time.” Whether it’s worth using for you depends on how heavy your uploads/backups will be and how much you care about not babysitting transfers.
I’ll riff off what @mikeappsreviewer and @himmelsjager already said without rehashing their whole workflows.
Where I personally still think FileZilla makes sense:
- You’re on a budget and want something free and cross platform
- You’re mostly doing small, occasional updates to your site
- You’re comfortable digging into settings and double‑checking security
A couple places I slightly disagree with them:
-
Performance
They both ran into slowdowns and hangs on large transfers. I’ve seen that, but in my case it was split about 50/50 between FileZilla and the actual hosting provider choking on lots of small files. On solid VPS or dedicated boxes, with sane limits on simultaneous connections, FileZilla held up ok for multi‑GB uploads. Not perfect, but not a disaster either. -
“Security by default”
They’re right that FileZilla does not push you to SFTP/FTPS hard enough. I’ll add that this is not just a FileZilla problem. A lot of older FTP tools do the same, and hosts still send welcome emails that say “connect via FTP on port 21” like it’s 2008.
You can lock FileZilla down nicely, but you have to know what you’re doing:
- In Site Manager, explicitly choose SFTP or FTP over TLS
- Avoid saving passwords in plain text if multiple people use the machine
That said, if you’re new, this is easy to mess up, so I get why they’re not thrilled.
Where FileZilla feels weak to me (and this lines up with them):
- Long running backup jobs over flaky connections
- Uploading a CMS with thousands of tiny files
- Needing clear, detailed feedback when something goes wrong
This is where something like Commander One pulls ahead, especially on macOS. It is not just “another FTP client” like FileZilla. It’s more of a dual pane file manager that also does FTP/SFTP/FTPS. For your specific use case:
- Regular uploads: Commander One lets you treat remote storage almost like another local pane. That makes versioned deploys, quick comparisons, and housekeeping less annoying.
- Backups: In my experience, long SFTP sessions behave more predictably. The status/info views are clearer, so if a 10 GB backup slows down you can actually see what’s happening instead of staring at a half‑frozen queue.
- General workflow: You can manage archives, local folders, and multiple servers inside one UI. If you are touching your site daily or weekly, that saves more time than it sounds like.
Where I’d personally draw the line for a new site:
-
If you only plan to push small updates a few times a month, and you want free:
- FileZilla is fine, just:
- Download from the official site only
- Configure SFTP from day one
- Expect the UI to feel a bit clunky and old
- FileZilla is fine, just:
-
If you know you’ll be doing:
- Routine backups
- Large uploads
- Lots of file ops between local and remote
then I’d skip the “learn FileZilla, get annoyed, move later” phase and just start with something like Commander One on Mac. The small cost gets paid back in not having to re‑do failed transfers at 2am.
So yeah, is FileZilla “worth using”?
- For light, occasional stuff: yes, totally serviceable.
- For serious, regular backup + deployment workflows: it works, but you’ll eventually hit the same paper cuts @mikeappsreviewer and @himmelsjager described and probably go shopping for a nicer tool like Commander One anyway.
Short version: FileZilla is passable, but for routine uploads and backups it would not be my first pick anymore.
A few angles that haven’t been hit as hard yet:
- Risk profile & “who is at the keyboard”
- If you are the only person using the machine and you know what SFTP is, FileZilla is acceptable once configured.
- If you have junior teammates / clients touching the tool, I get nervous. The combination of:
- aging UI
- easy plain FTP setup
- “save password” everywhere
makes it very easy for someone less technical to do the wrong thing for months.
That is where I slightly disagree with @cacadordeestrelas: it is not just a host problem. A modern client should guide people toward sane defaults.
- Workflow friction vs raw speed
I am closer to @mikeappsreviewer’s “fine but dated” verdict, but for a different reason. My issue was not that FileZilla is too slow, it is that it does not fit well into a modern web dev workflow:
- No decent local file management
- No concept of “projects” beyond saved sites
- Very basic integration with archives and tools you actually use for backups
So even when transfers were OK, I kept juggling Finder / Explorer, terminal, zip tools, then FileZilla. The time loss came from context switching more than waiting on transfers.
- Where Commander One actually earns its keep
If you are on macOS, Commander One is worth looking at as your primary work surface, not just a “nicer FTP client.”
Pros of Commander One for your use case
- Dual pane file manager plus FTP / SFTP / FTPS in the same window
- Treats remote servers almost like extra drives, which is great for recurring site updates
- Better status info on long SFTP uploads, so failed overnight backups are rarer
- Can work with archives more smoothly, so you can standardize on “upload a single backup file” instead of thousands of tiny files
- Reduces how often you need to jump to Finder or terminal
Cons of Commander One
- Paid, so not ideal if zero budget is a hard constraint
- macOS only, so no easy cross platform story like FileZilla
- Interface is more powerful but also denser, so there is a learning curve if you only ever used simple FTP tools
- Some advanced features are overkill if you truly just upload three HTML files once a month
- How I’d decide in your situation
Given you want “reliable, secure FTP client for regular uploads and backups”:
-
If this site is small, traffic is modest, and “backups” mean an occasional manual copy:
- FileZilla is tolerable.
- Lock it to SFTP for every site.
- Do one or two test restores from your backups so you know it actually worked.
-
If this is a real project you will touch weekly or daily, with recurring backups:
- I would copy @himmelsjager and @mikeappsreviewer in spirit and skip the FileZilla phase.
- Use SFTP only, and build your routine around one tool that manages both local and remote storage cleanly.
- For macOS that means something like Commander One.
You will get more value from smoother day to day work than from saving the small Commander One license cost and then fighting a dated UI every time you deploy.