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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
88
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.
AB
DevOps 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

"The solution offers good data recovery."
"The solution has helped with collaboration in our organization."
"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."
"I like the versatility GoAnywhere provides, allowing transfers through HTTPS and different protocols. It can also transfer through a server and a client."
"The standout feature of GoAnywhere MFT is the centralized dashboard for monitoring all file transfers, which saves time and gives me a sense of reliability."
"Overall, GoAnywhere MFT has positively impacted my organization by reducing manual effort through automation, strengthening data security with encrypted and secure transfer protocols, and simplifying compliance with centralized audit logs for adherence to my compliance requirements."
"Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT offers robust security as its most valuable feature."
"The best features of GoAnywhere MFT are its automated process capabilities; it is scalable, reliable, and requires minimal time to receive files from external to internal systems, and it is more secure compared to other tools."
"Using the automated features helps me save time, and Secure Forms enable end-users to fill out and submit information through a secure platform that keeps our data protected."
"Its speed is the most valuable because every integration used to take months with old SOA tools, integration buses, and that type of stuff. Now, we do integrations in a matter of days. Security is another valuable thing because every step in the workflow has an audit trace, which is great. This also brings a lot of confidence in automating business process workflows through this type of solution."
"What I appreciate most about GoAnywhere MFT is the SFTP file transfer capability, which is a secure file transfer protocol; it also includes a file encryption module, scheduling, and email notification features, which are very useful."
 

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."
"What I can suggest right now about GoAnywhere MFT is the integration of AI for chat support, as I am still trying to find my way around the app."
"If the hostname has a dash in it then it does not work."
"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."
"The process of adding a vendor is very easy. You just point and click. You create your job, schedule, and project, and off you go. You just need to know what the processes do when you add in a new job that runs daily and so on. For us, it is not a problem, but maybe the documentation on that could be a little more straightforward. We, however, have no problems figuring that out. It is pretty straightforward for us."
"The security could be upgraded to address novel cyberattacks. I'm not sure whether the product's security is being updated periodically."
"One area for improvement in GoAnywhere MFT is that they don't have a real debugger. You have to manually walk through your projects."
"The technical support response time has room for improvement."
"Everything works fine, but I feel that the user interface can be improved, especially the layout. They can make the dashboards more customizable."
 

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 very attractive. In terms of the capacity of the product and functionality, it is a good price."
"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."
"The pricing is decent for mid-sized and small-sized companies. It is good for startups or mid-scale companies."
"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."
"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."
"Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT is an inexpensive solution."
"HelpSystems GoAnywhere MFT is very reasonably priced for the value it brings."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
22%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Insurance Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business57
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise42
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?
The pricing of GoAnywhere MFT is fair. I don't have any complaints about it. It feels really reasonable, and for the automation features that they provide, it is nice. It may feel high for basic ne...
What needs improvement with Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?
The UI/UX of GoAnywhere MFT feels somewhat cluttered. Some of the options I need are in a very cluttered space, and I need to search for them frequently. If the interface could be more simplified, ...
 

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: January 2026.
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