MFT Software Tools List 2023

GoAnywhere

KEY FACTS:

Released in 2009 by Linoma Software.
Acquired by Helpsystems in 2016.
HelpSystems rebranded to Fortra in 2022
Fortra has over 3,000 members of staff and 18 offices globally.
More than 9,000 customers across the world.

PRICE RANGE: £££££

GoAnywhere

Formally Linoma GoAnywhere and acquired by Helpsystems in 2016. HelpSystems rebranded to Fortra in 2022. GoAnywhere has been on an almost vertically upward trajectory since. With more than twenty solutions in the Fortra diverse portfolio, GoAnywhere benefits from cross-pollination with other data security, document classification and automation solutions, strengthening its position further. GoAnywhere today, sits as a firm leader in the MFT marketplace, something which is hard to keep up with due to high levels of innovation and development.

ADVANTAGES

Highly customisable workflow automation engine, with a dizzying array of connectors for both on-premise and cloud applications/storage locations
This impressive engine can seemingly be configured for almost any requirement.
Support for a variety of Operating Systems, databases, redundant architectures and cloud environments, means GoAnywhere can be shaped for any customer environment and scale from smaller businesses up to enterprise.
Gateway proxy can act as both a forward and reverse proxy, supporting the needs of security teams.
Fortra have a gigantic portfolio of solutions including Tripwire, Titus and Clearswift among many others. Which gives rise to the development of deeper integrations, multi-solution packages and single-pane of glass management consoles.
GoAnywhere has quickly established itself as the leader in the MFT marketplace which comes with it an inherent attractiveness to businesses looking for “best of breed” solutions.

CONSIDERATIONS

Lack of follow-the-sun technical support both in-office hours and out-of-office hours
Compared to competitors, Fortra operate their support exclusively from the US and have a virtual operator system for 24/7 support, which out of step considering their size, number of customers and reach.
Supporting documentation, knowledge base and other materials are weaker than competitors.
No multi-tenanted cloud offering, which keeps the solution financially out-of-reach for smaller businesses.

Globalscape

KEY FACTS:

Globalscape have had a presence in the market since 1996.
Acquired by Helpsystems in 2020.
HelpSystems rebranded to Fortra in 2022
More than 15,000 customers across 100+ countries.
Globalscape have been a member of the PCI Security Standards Council since 2007.

PRICE RANGE: £££££

Globalscape

Having a presence in the file transfer marketplace since 1996, Globalscape EFT is a veteran of the MFT market, which is demonstrated by the significantly large number of companies using the solution worldwide. In 2019 Globalscape were listed as one of CIO Bulletin’s 30 most valuable companies to watch; they were not wrong. In 2020, Fortra (formally HelpSystems) acquired Globalscape, combining two of the market's biggest players under one roof. Today, Globalscape EFT enjoys continued development and the addition of features such as zero-downtime upgrade, 64-bit architecture and TLS 1.3.

ADVANTAGES

Having been in the file transfer marketplace for more than twenty-five years, Globalscape has a significantly strong reputation and brand presence. Some of which has been garnered by their FTP/SFTP client, CuteFTP.
The new zero down-time architecture is a huge win against its competitors, who all typically require some offline time as part of upgrades, even in highly available implementations. The recognition that MFT is a core tenant of most modern businesses and adapting the solution to meet those needs is a demonstration that Globalscape, despite its tenure, continues to have its finger on the pulse.
Globalscape is viewed as a bit of a workhorse. Less fancy features and more throughput, keeping high transfer environments to their SLAs.

CONSIDERATIONS

Significant confusion exists in the marketplace around the future of EFT given that Fortra already have a flagship MFT solution. This is harming its suitability for new solution sales.
EFT lacks a fully-featured web-based administration console. This may not seem like a deal-breaker in terms of capability, but impressions matter. Lack of this basic feature leads to questions about the modernity of EFT and its long-term future.
Lack of follow-the-sun technical support both in-office hours and out-of-office hours. Compared to competitors, Fortra operate their support exclusively from US and have a virtual operator system for 24/7 support, which out of step considering their size, number of customers and reach

Progress MOVEit

ProgressMOVEit_PrimaryLogo-300x89-1

KEY FACTS:

Released in 2002 by Standard Networks.
Since 2019, the MOVEit solutions have been owned by Progress Software.
MOVEit is split into two distinct solutions: MOVEit Transfer and MOVEit Transfer.
Deployed by more than 5,000 companies globally.

PRICE RANGE: £££££

ADVANTAGES

Strong focus on cloud-hosting and SaaS. MOVEit for some time has been very proactive in supporting customers who wish to host their solutions in Microsoft Azure; being present in the Azure Marketplace and supporting Azure Blobs for file storage, Azure AD for authentication and Azure SQL as its database.
A true SaaS solution in MOVEit Transfer Cloud. With subscription, per user pricing, multi-tenanted servers and high-availability.
Separation of MOVEit Transfer and Automation means that customers who require the functionality of one, do not need to deploy or have visible, components and visuals relevant to the other.
Strong and easy-to-use user interface, which stands out against its competitors.
Significant level of support which includes 24/7 delivered via multiple global offices on a follow-the-sun programme.

Axway MFT

KEY FACTS:

Axway was formed in 2000 and has offices across the globe.
By revenue they are the second largest global MFT vendor.
Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, with regional offices worldwide
More than 1,700 employees and customers in more than 18 countries.

PRICE RANGE: £££££

ADVANTAGES

Very mature Cloud offering with multi-tenant and single tenant options, currently hosted in AWS with Azure coming soon.
Enterprise pricing, can be incredibly cost effective for relatively low numbers of file transfers per month. Axway’s flexible licensing policy means customers have the ability to install as many instances as they like, only paying for the file transfers through live production systems and workflows.
Axway’s size is an advantage, allowing them to provide fully manned, 24x7 support in a follow-the-sun workflow.
CFT, the agent technology, is the most advanced in the MFT marketing place at the time of writing.
Axway’s latest reporting module, Operational Intelligence, uses AI to provide automatic notifications when your MFT system strays outside of its normal operational tolerances, moreover than just failed transfers.

Thru

KEY FACTS:

Founded: 2002.
Locations: Dallas, Texas USA; London UK.
Cloud Regions: USA, DE, AU, UK.
Cloud Managed File Transfer Products: File Sharing & Exchange and Automated File Transfer.

PRICE RANGE: £££££

Thru

Thru is a cloud MFT solution for file-based data exchange. Cloud-native by design, Thru auto-scales based on load, allowing for usage-based pricing. The no-code, web-based configuration and management application simplifies and speeds up integrations.

Thru’s hybrid architecture supports secure file exchanges with trading partners and internal applications. Thru unifies multiple integration platforms to help businesses achieve their digital transformation goals. Since 2002, Thru has been solving the most demanding and complex file transfer challenges for the enterprise.

Coviant Software

Coviant-Transparent-1

KEY FACTS:

Founded in 2004.
Headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, USA.
Greg Hoffer, former product lead at Globalscape is CEO.
Responsive support with 94% renewal rate.

PRICE RANGE: £££££

FEATURES

Intelligent File Transfer design with embedded secure file transfer logic, so anyone can quickly and intuitively design and execute file transfer tasks.
Automate file transfers using FTP, FTPS, SFTP.
Web-administration interface.
Forward/reverse proxy gateway.
Integrated cloud storage endpoints, e.g., AWS S3, MS Blob, GCP, Dropbox, Box, Sharefile etc.
Transfer files to and from a mainframe.
FIPS 140-2 validated cryptography.
Comprehensive capabilities around PGP encryption.
Remote agents enable extended file transfer workflows.
Send files via AS2.
File synchronization.
REST API.

SRT

KEY FACTS:

SRT was founded in 2001.
Well-known for their popular WebDrive and Titan SFTP solutions.
Solutions used by customers in more than 140 countries worldwide.
Based in Maryland, United States of America.

PRICE RANGE: £££££

ADVANTAGES

Strong focus on cloud-hosting in Microsoft Azure and AWS, with Cornerstone available in both Marketplaces.
Winner of multiple Cyber Security excellence awards, and attaining a high level of accolade on peer review websites.
Cornerstone punches above its weight with a comparable set of features and capabilities when compared with competitors who are significantly larger.
The entry-level Small Implementation license is well priced given it includes both Automation and File Sharing capabilities.
Integration with WebDrive is an interesting proposition for existing customers of either solution.

CONSIDERATIONS

The Base Support included with a license is sub-standard when compared with rival MFT vendor offerings. An upgrade to Business Standard is available but increases the overall solution cost.
Although recently revised, the user interface still appears unrefined and doesn’t represent the solution well.
Lack of support for SAML based authentication sources will harm its ability to evolve with business needs and fully embrace cloud-centric architecture.

IBM Sterling

IBM_logo

KEY FACTS:

IBM was founded in 1911.
IBM is considered to be the largest MFT vendor by revenue.
Headquartered in Armonk, New York, USA, with offices around the globe.
IBM has multiple MFT products including Websphere MQ, Aspera & Sterling.

PRICE RANGE: £££££

CONSIDERATIONS

Considerably behind the rest of the MFT market in functionality
Heavily embedded in processes in and around the mainframe, makes updating and/or replacing Connect:Direct unlikely and expensive.
Network Data Mover (NDM) is Sterlings' proprietary protocol, which is incompatible with other open standard MFT solutions.
Significant concern by existing users of IBM Services to support their platforms, due to the spin off of them to Kyndryl.

Maytech

KEY FACTS:

Founded: 2006.
Offices in the US, UK and Ukraine.
500,000+ individual user accounts within 60 industries across 35 countries.
99% of support tickets answered within 45 minutes.

PRICE RANGE: £££££

Quatrix by Maytech

Having been in the MFT marketplace for a lesser time than most of its contemporaries, Quatrix by Maytech could be thought of as a minnow among giants. However, its offer of a cloud-native, simple and secure file transfer solution makes it an equal competitor at best and a plucky challenger at worst.

Easy to set up, Quatrix is designed for hybrid and multi-cloud environments; with a secure agent for on premises and private networks, and dozens of out of the box cloud connectors

ADVANTAGES

Maytech are very much the modern technology vendor, with Quatrix being cloud-native using a Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription pricing model. Growth is based on the number of user accounts, which can scale up and down based on need.
A truly flexible solution, Quatrix is available as a SaaS solution or as a dedicated instance on Google Cloud, AWS or Azure. Including a China edition for data residency purposes.
A rapidly growing capability set which is seemingly added to on a Monthly basis, on some occasions. New features are free of charge, a testament to Quatrix’s commitment to its customers.
Seriously impressive support statistics of 99% support tickets being answered within 45 minutes. Something we were sceptical of - but have verified.

CONSIDERATIONS

While development is taking place at a rapid pace and Quatrix – depending on the use case – can very much stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the larger players in the market, it does remain a small player with limited features.
We would like to see role-based administration making its way into the solution. At the moment Administrator is a binary - all or nothing – option.
User classes or templates to prevent having to set the same parameters for each new user would be welcome. Quatrix supports SSO via SAMLv2, which could be extended to read group membership and apply subsequent parameters. All helping Quatrix to be more attractive to customers with larger user sets.

Primeur

4ed0321-small-Primeur_Logo_-_Color

KEY FACTS:

Founded in 1986 by a former IBM engingeer.
Headquartered in Milan, Italy.
350+ employees.
Multi-disciplined in data, including transfer, shaping and governance.

PRICE RANGE: £££££

Primeur

The stealthy but mighty Primeur may not be a name you have heard of, but rest assured that much of the Fortune 500 have. From humble beginnings in 1986 as the brainchild of an Italian IBM engineer, Primeur launched its first MFT solution, THEMA, in 1988. Through much of the 90’s Primeur stayed close to IBM through innovative integration until the release of SPAZIO MFT in 2010. Over the next decade SPAZIO would become one of the most commonly used data transfer tools in banking and insurance, riding on its connectivity with IBM MQ.

In modern times, SPAZIO has evolved into DATA ONE – a suite of solutions divided up into transfer, transformation, reporting and governance. In particular, Primeur makes use of COA® (Contract Oriented Architecture®), an innovative methodology of splitting data transfers into input, mediation and output contracts which can be re-used and called in any end-to-end flow via an event manager. All of this is managed using a well-put-together drag-and-drop UI tool.

ADVANTAGES

Excellent UI and Marketing team make Primeur the most modern looking of any enterprise MFT solution.
Integration with Axway and IBM technologies makes it a powerful force in the world of banking and finance.
Its DATA WATCHER reporting tool can inject logs from other MFT solutions such as GoAnywhere and MOVEit.
A well thought-out contract based architecture makes complex workflows and easily repeatable and simplifies subsequent changes or edits.

CONSIDERATIONS

While Primeur have longevity and experience in the market, they have always failed to make it big outside of their home region.
DATA ONE requires a number of connected servers to achieve the same result that some other MFT solutions can achieve in one, pushing up the overall cost.
While the Contract Oriented Architecture is innovative and has been listed as an advantage, this complexity can also be a disadvantage to those looking for simplification.
Changes in solution name and rebranding over time has dented their ability to establish any real recognition.

Kiteworks

KEY FACTS:

Founded in 1999, in Singapore.
Headquartered in Palo Alto, California.
200+ employees.
Used by more than 3,800 organisations globally.

PRICE RANGE: £££££

Kiteworks

The phoenix of our industry, which others are keen to learn lessons from in recent times, is Kiteworks – formally known as Accellion. Although this isn’t a review of content collaboration solutions, it would be remiss of us to ignore the fact that Kiteworks offers both EFSS and MFT (Managed File Transfer). With the former being represented by its well-known and visually pleasing Secure File Sharing platform, the solution by which most would probably recognise the Kiteworks brand.

Kiteworks is not just a one-trick pony however. Under the banner of its PCN (Private Content Network), which provides a consolidated platform for secure sharing, email security and web forms, is a strong MFT workflow automation toolkit. Complete with SLA (Service Level Agreements) management, reporting, drag-and-drop workflow creation and even access to a user-led community for custom scripting. Through investment and laser-like focus, Kiteworks appear to be on a noticeable trajectory upwards, disrupting some its more “continually present” rivals.

ADVANTAGES

Focus on UI (User Interface) and aesthetics has always and continues to make it one of the more visually appealing solutions.
Impressively deep automated workflow creation tool alongside a community script sharing programme which makes even the most complicated workflows, easy to author.
Strong leadership and laser-like focus on market growth, with a sensible and pragmatic approach to its challenges in the past.
An interesting concept in their PCN which attempts to provide control and therefore security to a number of traditionally unmanaged or poorly managed communication channels, including email, API and file transfer.

CONSIDERATIONS

It’s difficult not to take into account the past. Kiteworks comes with a past which they have admirably chosen to embrace. While they undoubtedly have come out of it a stronger and more secure solution, how easy is it to convince prospective customers of this?
While their community script sharing feature is great. We have some concerns about there being a lack of validation of the code being submitted due to it being built on an open-source platform.
While Accellion had tenure in this industry, the reset button has some-what been pressed with Kiteworks. This is an increasingly crowded and competitive marketing which they may struggle to make a strong enough presence in.

FEATURES

PCN architecture for consolidated data and file transfer management.
Drag-and-drop automated MFT workflow creator.
Built on a secure hardened virtual appliance.
Scalable through clustering.
Check status, re-run transfers and manage through tagging all on a comprehensive dashboard.
Integrations with Dropbox, Google Drive, SharePoint Online and more.
Vault-to-Vault secure transfers where Kiteworks is used by both trading partners.
Scan files with your CDR (Content Disarm and Reconstruction) such as OPSWAT MetaDefender.

What is Managed File Transfer (MFT)?

In today’s business environment the majority of operations involve the movement of data. This is most often the transfer of files. Examples include processing retrieved orders from e-commerce stores, uploading customer data into a SaaS CRM or transferring documents between colleagues, computers and applications.

Managed File Transfer (MFT) solutions allow file transfers to take place in a centralised, controlled, secure fashion – inside and outside an organisation – between systems and / or users. Files are transferred more quickly and securely, enhancing productivity and providing visibility. It is a powerful business enabler that reduces costs and risk. MFT is commonly installed to replace legacy or homegrown scripts, improving efficiency and agility through automation, and opening the door to new digital transformation, cloud and big data initiatives.

Traditionally, solutions are on-premise software installations, enabling tight integration with internal systems. However, hybrid configurations are increasingly common as organisations look to leverage the private cloud infrastructure for operational efficiencies. Now cloud-first solutions are growing in maturity, providing full control over data and workflows without the infrastructure management.

Find out more about Managed File Transfer.

Protocols Used to Transfer Data

Whether you’re sharing data in an email or with secure MFT software, your computer follows the rules set by a variety of universal protocols. Common protocols include:

FTP: file transfer protocol. FTP was the first transfer protocol, being built without inherent security. Authentication and data including passwords are sent in clear-text, leaving the protocol open to snooping. Despite this, FTP remains in high usage today, largely due to legacy applications.
FTPS or FTP/S: file transfer protocol over SSL. FTPS adds two layers of encryption (SSL/TLS) to the traditional FTP approach, which protects data in transit. It also uses certificates or passwords to authorize access to the data.
SFTP: SSH file transfer protocol. SFTP is often mistaken for being the “secure” version of FTP. It is instead, a file transfer mechanism via SSH. Despite being slower than its rival FTPS, SFTP is seen as superior due to its lack of requirement for SSL/TLS certificates and therefore lack of certificate management. Slower, yet more efficient.
HTTP: hypertext transfer protocol. HTTP is the foundation of internet as we know it through our familiar web browsers. Few realise that HTTP is in fact a file transfer protocol and that when you view a web page, you are actually connecting to a web server and reading a file that is then translated visually into your web browser.
HTTPS: hypertext transfer protocol secure. HTTPS is an extension to HTTP, adding security in transmission between client and server. The method of encryption in previous years has been one of various version of SSL (Secure Socket Layer), however today this has been largely replaced by TLS (Transport Layer Security).
ASx: Applicability Statement. Not a protocol but often listed in the categories of file transfer protocols above. AS1, AS2, AS3 and AS4 are transportation specifications which describe how data is to be transferred between parties, using mechanisms encryption, digital signing and message delivery notifications. AS1 and AS2 make use of S/SMIME for encryption and use SMTP and HTTP as transport protocols respectively. AS3 is more focussed on message formatting and can make use of FTP, SFTP or HTTPS for transport. Finally, AS4 being the more modern of the four uses XML and SOAP over HTTPS.
OFTP2: ODETTE File Transfer Protocol is the most widely used protocol in Europe for the exchange of EDI messages. OFTP2 offers many features enabling the reliable transmission of all types of data, such as large CAD files or smaller EDI transmissions of commercial data, such as compression, checkpoint restart and always-on connections.

Oracle MFT

Oracle doesn’t actually have a Managed File Transfer solution, only having a relatively simple ‘FTP Server’ which sits in front of their Fusion Middleware platform. Pro2col understands that Oracle only offered the FTP Server as a strategy to protect their Middleware revenues, not having one would have resulted in a potential for customers to start looking elsewhere.

Citrix ShareFile

ShareFile is a great product, but an MFT solution it is not, falling squarely into the alternative category of ‘Enterprise File Sync & Share’ software. Pro2col used ShareFile for six years and resold it to a few of our customers, for document collaboration – not MFT. Other product comparisons have incorrectly categorised it as MFT on one website, which begs the question, if they’re including it what do they know about the MFT category?

SolarWinds Serv-U MFT

SolarWinds only offers two of the three basics – the proxy and the server – meaning that by our definition, and that of Gartner, it isn’t a managed file transfer solution at all. We also have concerns about the support and recent issues resulting in corrupted passwords following a simple update. You can read our full review of SolarWinds Serv-U MFT.

Broadcom NetMaster Network Management

Is listed in on a software review site as an MFT tool. Acquired from Computer Associates it’s actually called CA NetMaster File Transfer Management and is not a managed file transfer solution. It has very limited useful functionality in today’s modern enterprise, only providing a visibility layer for file transfers on the mainframe.

TIBCO Managed File Transfer

Proginet Corporation was acquired by TIBCO in 2010; CyberFusion Integration Suite (CIS) became TIBCO MFT. An early player in the MFT space, unfortunately CIS has had no new feature updates since 2020 and updates prior to this date are limited. In summary, TIBCO MFT appears to tick a lot of boxes that modern enterprises require for their file movement and integration but the continued lack of innovation results in this being categorised as being ‘managed into decline’. You can read our full review of TIBCO MFT here.

Robot-FTP

SMA Technologies announced the acquisition of Serengeti Systems, the developer of Robo-FTP in December 2021 with the intention of adding the MFT functionality to its OpCon Workload Automation tool. Since then, in reviewing the product Change Log Robo-FTP has been in maintenance mode, with limited feature enhancements since April 2021.

IBM Aspera

Aspera, acquired by IBM in 2014, has a portfolio of market leading file transfer products for moving data at speed using its proprietary protocol, FASP. However, with no support for open standard protocols such as SFTP, it is typically used for siloed use cases where both end points can be controlled. Aspera is not a replacement for traditional MFT solutions, rather a product to handle large data sets in challenging network conditions.

Biscom Secure FT

Another vendor Pro2col has worked with in the past, Biscom Secure FT is a rock-solid secure email solution, with a plugin for MS Outlook and a SaaS version too. Biscom has none of the automation capabilities that MFT solutions are traditionally known for. Biscom are best known for their industry-leading on-premises and cloud fax solution.

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The Ultimate Managed File Transfer (MFT) Software Guide

What Are The Top MFT Software Tools to Consider in 2023?

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Featured In Our Comparison

Features of Managed File Transfer (MFT) Software

Ease-of-Use

Security

Extensive File Type Support

Data Analytics

Workflow Automation

Visibility

The Official 2023 List

GoAnywhere

GoAnywhere

ADVANTAGES

CONSIDERATIONS

FEATURES

Globalscape

Globalscape

ADVANTAGES

CONSIDERATIONS

FEATURES

Progress MOVEit

Progress MOVEit

ADVANTAGES

CONSIDERATIONS

FEATURES

Axway MFT

Axway MFT

ADVANTAGES

CONSIDERATIONS

FEATURES

Thru

Thru

ADVANTAGES

CONSIDERATIONS

FEATURES

Coviant Software

Coviant Software

ADVANTAGES

CONSIDERATIONS

FEATURES

SRT

Titan MFT

ADVANTAGES

CONSIDERATIONS

FEATURES

IBM Sterling

IBM Sterling

ADVANTAGES

CONSIDERATIONS

FEATURES

Maytech

Quatrix by Maytech

ADVANTAGES

CONSIDERATIONS

FEATURES

Primeur

Primeur

ADVANTAGES

CONSIDERATIONS

FEATURES

Kiteworks

Kiteworks

ADVANTAGES

CONSIDERATIONS

FEATURES

More MFT Vendors Coming Soon

Learn About Managed File Transfer (MFT)

What is Managed File Transfer (MFT)?

Protocols Used to Transfer Data

MFT Software Tools To Treat with Caution

Attunity

Oracle MFT

Citrix ShareFile

SolarWinds Serv-U MFT

Broadcom NetMaster Network Management

TIBCO Managed File Transfer

OpenText Hightail

Robot-FTP