FileZilla Pro and SmartFTP are two of the most established commercial FTP clients on the market, and both target the same professional Windows audience that needs reliable transfers across FTP/SFTP and modern cloud storage. The headline differences come down to four things: platform reach (FileZilla Pro runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, while SmartFTP is Windows-only), edition complexity (FileZilla Pro ships as a single SKU with everything included, while SmartFTP splits cloud and advanced features across four paid tiers), throughput (FileZilla Pro is consistently faster across SFTP, S3, Google Drive and OneDrive in our benchmarks), and price (FileZilla Pro costs roughly a third of SmartFTP’s Professional edition for a comparable feature surface).
Protocol and Feature Support
The protocol footprint is where SmartFTP’s edition matrix shows up most clearly. FileZilla Pro exposes every supported protocol in a single product, while SmartFTP’s cloud connectors live in the Enterprise and Ultimate editions only.
| Protocol / Feature | FileZilla Pro | SmartFTP |
|---|---|---|
| FTP / FTPS | Yes | Yes (all editions) |
| SFTP (over SSH) | Yes | Yes (all editions) |
| WebDAV / WebDAVS | Yes | Yes (all editions) |
| Amazon S3 / S3-compatible | Yes | Enterprise & Ultimate only |
| Google Cloud Storage | Yes | Enterprise & Ultimate only |
| Microsoft Azure Blob | Yes | No |
| Backblaze B2 | Yes | Enterprise & Ultimate only |
| Box | Yes | Enterprise & Ultimate only |
| Dropbox | Yes | No |
| Google Drive | Yes | Ultimate only |
| Microsoft OneDrive | Yes | Ultimate only |
| OpenStack Swift | Yes | No |
| Windows / macOS / Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows only |
| FXP server-to-server transfer | Yes | Yes |
| Folder synchronization | Yes | Professional and above |
| Scheduling / automation | Queue + command-line | Advanced scheduler (Pro and above) |
| Built-in terminal emulator | No | Ultimate only |
| HIPAA / FIPS compliance claims | No formal certification | HIPAA 5010, FIPS 140-2/140-3, 186-4 |
| Multi-user support | Single user (per-seat license) | Enterprise edition |
Performance Benchmarks
Throughput tests across the four most-used protocols show a consistent advantage for FileZilla Pro. The gap is widest on Google Drive, where FileZilla Pro is roughly twice as fast as SmartFTP, and stays meaningful — between 25% and 50% — on SFTP, Amazon S3 and Microsoft OneDrive.
| Protocol | FileZilla Pro | SmartFTP |
|---|---|---|
| SFTP | 14 Mb/s | 11 Mb/s |
| Amazon S3 | 11 Mb/s | 9 Mb/s |
| Google Drive | 20 Mb/s | 10 Mb/s |
| Microsoft OneDrive | 9 Mb/s | 6 Mb/s |
Pricing and Licensing
FileZilla Pro is sold as a single perpetual license at USD 19.99 on the Mac App Store and the Microsoft Store, with one year of free updates included. There is no edition split — every protocol and connector listed in the table above is available in the box, on every supported operating system, for the same price.
SmartFTP uses a four-tier edition model and offers each edition either as a perpetual license (with one year of updates) or as a yearly subscription. Indicative perpetual prices in 2026 are roughly USD 36.95 (Home), USD 69.95 (Professional), USD 144.95 (Enterprise), with the Ultimate tier sitting above Enterprise. Cloud storage providers and the terminal emulator only become available once you reach the Enterprise or Ultimate tier — meaning a buyer who needs S3, Box and Google Drive will pay an order of magnitude more than a FileZilla Pro buyer for the same protocol coverage. For up-to-date SmartFTP pricing and the exact feature split, see the SmartFTP editions page.
Pros and Cons
Summary and Final Recommendation
If your team works exclusively on Windows, needs HIPAA or FIPS compliance posture, and is willing to pay for SmartFTP’s Enterprise or Ultimate edition, SmartFTP remains a credible choice with a deeper power-user feature set in areas like scheduling and terminal access. For everyone else — Mac and Linux users, mixed-OS teams, and anyone who needs S3, Azure, Backblaze B2, Box, OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox without paying for a top-tier edition — FileZilla Pro delivers the same core protocol coverage in a single cross-platform product, runs measurably faster on every protocol we benchmarked, and costs roughly a third of the price.