Choosing an FTP Client

There are many FTP clients available, from free downloads to programs costing more than $100. FTP is also included in most web design applications such as Adobe Dreamweaver. This page describes some of the most popular FTP options.

Free FTP Clients

Internet Explorer
Not many people know that recent versions of Internet Explorer include all the FTP functionality to need to make simple file transfers — This is the easiest way to get started. If you know your login details you can start uploading within a matter of seconds. However, if you plan to do any serious or regular transferring, you will probably become frustrated quite quickly. Internet Explorer does what you need it to but it's very clunky and awkward compared to specialist FTP clients.
Instructions: Using Internet Explorer for FTP
Website: www.microsoft.com/windows/ie

FileZilla
I have not used this client but it comes well-recommended by many webmasters. Definitely worth a look.
Website: filezilla.sourceforge.net

Nvu (pronounced N-view)
A free open-source WYSIWYG web page editor with built-in FTP functionality, available for Windows, Mac and Linux. This is more than an FTP client — it allows you to edit, manage and upload your website. I have not tried this application myself so I can't vouch for it, but does seem to enjoy some support. It is advertised as a rival to FrontPage and Dreamweaver — I can believe it would challenge Frontpage but I doubt whether it compares to Dreamweaver. However it looks promising.
Website: www.nvu.com

Paid FTP Clients

CuteFTP
This is what I use, alongside Dreamweaver. CuteFTP is primarily a professional FTP client but it also includes a non-WYSIWYG file editor and a few other tools. It handles queues and interrupted transfers very well, which are two of the main issues for FTP tasks.
Website: www.cuteftp.com

WS_FTP
This is another very popular FTP client. I used to use it myself and was very pleased with it. I can't actually remember why I stopped using it.
Website: www.ipswitch.com

Dreamweaver
This is much more than an FTP client, it's a professional web design package. It is expensive and much more than you would need for simple FTP transfers. I have mentioned it because if you are looking for a top-level editor and FTP client in one package, this is it.
Website: www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver

Next Page: Connecting via FTP