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GoAnywhere MFT vs SolarWinds Serv-U File Transfer Protocol Server comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 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

GoAnywhere MFT
Ranking in Managed File Transfer (MFT)
2nd
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SolarWinds Serv-U File Tran...
Ranking in Managed File Transfer (MFT)
19th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
4.1
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Managed File Transfer (MFT) category, the mindshare of GoAnywhere MFT is 8.6%, up from 5.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Serv-U File Transfer Protocol Server is 0.7%, down from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Managed File Transfer (MFT)
 

Featured Reviews

Earl Diem - PeerSpot reviewer
Key to our workflow and our workload automation strategy, helping us trade and consume files
File monitors are one of the most valuable features. We have about 400 file monitors running in GoAnywhere. They monitor the NAS locations where files arrive, and they kick off workflows. When a file arrives, GoAnywhere will identify that the file is there, move it to a consumption zone, then reach out to our enterprise scheduler through a REST API call. The solution helps centralize the exchange of data between systems, employees, customers, and trading partners. It's very central and that's pretty important. We generally move about 3,000 files a day, between our partners and internal workflows. My team really likes the intuitiveness of GoAnywhere's user interface. For example, my automation team has a file coming in from a bank, a file that needs to be unzipped, reformatted, re-zipped up, and then put into another folder where another team is going to consume it. Because of all the progressive elaboration—the project started a year ago—the format of the file is not the same. We addressed it with GoAnywhere instead of having the producer of the file change the format. That's how flexible it is for us. And looking at the comprehensiveness of GoAnywhere's workflow features, we use it pretty extensively for working with files. Stonebranch is our enterprise automation platform, but we don't really do any file work with Stonebranch. We chose to use GoAnywhere, our MFT tool, to move and manipulate files. The solution also connects to popular ICAP servers and that's pretty important to our security guys when it comes to preventing malware and other malicious content from entering our organization. The connection to popular ICAP servers, so that content is inspected for sensitive information like credit cards, is pretty important. We're a financial institution and a lot of the data we work with has PAN data and card numbers in it, coming in from partners.
reviewer2292672 - PeerSpot reviewer
The solution can be used for internal file transfer, but its technical support and third-party integrations should be improved
I am comparing SolarWinds Serv-U File Transfer Protocol Server, WS_FTP, and Wing FTP for my current company. We use the solution for multiple purposes, and it should be user-friendly when integrating something. We cannot always depend on the support team to come and fix the issues. Overall, I rate SolarWinds Serv-U File Transfer Protocol Server a seven out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Scheduling is valuable. You can schedule a transfer for any time you want. It can be hourly, daily, monthly, or yearly. You can transfer the file on AWS, Azure, or SharePoint."
"Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT offers robust security as its most valuable feature."
"The solution is easy to use, easy to set up, and the support is good."
"It was very stable compared to other solutions we have used, so I would not complain regarding this."
"The security and vendor management features are helpful in terms of providing access to data."
"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."
"I like the organization of resources, specifically listing out all of our FTPs and having a name and description to easily organize them. I also like the scheduler. The organization and the scheduling, being able to create the folders and the jobs, have been really helpful."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to call a workflow from another workflow. That really gives you an edge by increasing reusability and speeding up development time. You can create a workflow which is a type of template and then call that workflow from any other workflow... It has sped up development time by 80 to 90 percent."
"We use SolarWinds Serv-U File Transfer Protocol Server for internal file transfer."
 

Cons

"The reporting could be more customizable."
"There is a function referred to as write CSV, to write a general text file. In this scenario of creating a simple text file, I ran into a situation where, if the product saw a quote or a double-quote in the data, it started wrapping all the text fields in double-quotes. The request I put in asks them to provide a feature that leaves my data alone and does not interpret anything."
"Improvement in support or product relies on being ingenious, supportive, and listening to its customer base."
"There's one persnickety issue about NAS permissions. That is a problem we have run into with GoAnywhere. I would like to see more focus on compatibility with/enforcement of user roles and access permissions across NAS, among other things. We have filed a couple of tickets on that in the past."
"The solution's built-in functions could be better; I want to see easier file transfers and management."
"The solution's support for the Unix platform and AS2 should be improved."
"For training, there should be some sites or resources on YouTube or Udemy. They do not have that currently."
"The support desk has room for improvement. I keep opening tickets and they keep telling me that they're closed, but they're not resolved."
"The solution’s technical support should be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I find it to be very fair. It is very good."
"GoAnywhere's price is justified by its features and the time it saves me."
"Licensing can be expensive and it depends upon which features you want to buy."
"HelpSystems GoAnywhere MFT is very reasonably priced for the value it brings."
"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 pricing is decent for mid-sized and small-sized companies. It is good for startups or mid-scale companies."
"For what we pay to GoAnywhere every year, we are getting a fantastic deal. From a dollar perspective, it provides very good value."
"Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT carries a higher price tag than other MFT solutions."
"The pricing of the solution is INR 3,00,000."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Healthcare Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
15%
Energy/Utilities Company
13%
Media Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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 is decent for mid-sized and small-sized companies. It is good for startups or mid-scale companies.
What needs improvement with Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?
A drawback is that it is not as feature-rich compared to its competitor Sterling, which we used before. It has fewer features, though it is more intuitive. This was the compromise we had to make du...
What do you like most about SolarWinds Serv-U File Transfer Protocol Server?
We use SolarWinds Serv-U File Transfer Protocol Server for internal file transfer.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Serv-U File Transfer Protocol Server?
The pricing of the solution is INR 3,00,000. The pricing of the solution should come down.
What needs improvement with SolarWinds Serv-U File Transfer Protocol Server?
The solution’s technical support should be improved. The solution's initial setup and third-party integrations could be improved.
 

Also Known As

HelpSystems GoAnywhere MFT, GoAnywhere MFT, GoAnywhere Managed File Transfer,
Serv-U File Transfer Protocol Server, Serv-U FTP Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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