- We'll go over the the Top SSH clients for Windows in the following list and show all the different options and flexibility they have. It all depends on what you need, but going with one or the other will certainly give you a good head start. Here's the Best SSH Clients for Windows of 2020: 1.
- It is one of the best SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) and File Transfer Protocol (FTP), and Secure copy (SCP) client for Microsoft Windows. Moreover, the application’s primary function is that it provides a file manager and file synchronization.
- Commercial clients: Tectia SSH is a commercially supported SSH client for enterprises, with 24x7 support. More information on Tectia SSH. Together with our customers, our mission is to secure their digital business on on-premises, cloud, and hybrid ecosystems cost-efficiently, at scale, and without disruptions to their operations or business.
- OpenSSH, Butterfly, and SecureCRT® for Linux are probably your best bets out of the 16 options considered. 'Standard implementation that documentation for all other tools assumes you have installed already' is the primary reason people pick OpenSSH over the competition. This page is powered by a knowledgeable community that helps you make an informed decision.
WinSCP 5.17 is a major application update. New features and enhancements include: Improvements to sessions and workspace management, so that WinSCP can now easily restore tabs that were open when it was last closed. Hardware-accelerated AES. Extension Archive and Download to archive remote files and download the archive.
Most organizations run Linux servers for their enterprise databases and applications. However the developers and admins might have Windows laptops. In those cases, you might be using PuTTY (or related tools like PuttyCM) to ssh from Windows to Linux.
You might also want to transfer files from Windows to Linux and vice versa. You can use any one of the free SFTP clients mentioned in this article.
Even if you are already using some SFTP client, check-out these tools, you might end-up liking one of these sFTP clients better than your current one.
Did we miss any of your favorite SFTP or SCP client?
1. WinSCP
WinSCP Supports SFTP, SCP and FTP. This is the best and efficient SFTP and SCP graphical tool for Windows. Following are few features of WinSCP.
- Its integrated well with Windows using the drag and drop feature. From Windows Explorer, you can right mouse click on a file, select “Send To”, and transfer the file to remote Linux server.
- Apart from GUI, WinSCP also provides a command line interface to transfer files.
- If you frequently connect to multiple servers, you can store those session information (ip-address, username) in WinSCP. Storing the password is not recommended.
- You can automate the file transfer by writing scripts in WinSCP.
- WinSCP can monitor a local directory for changes and automatically sync with the remote directory.
- WinSCP is open source.
2. PSCP and PSFTP (from PuTTY)
PuTTY is used to SSH from Windows to Linux. Apart from the SSH client, PuTTY also has both SCP and SFTP client. It is called PSCP and PSFTP. Just like PuTTY, these are very light weight, easy to use, reliable, and open source.
Please note that PSCP and PSFTP are just command-line tools without any GUI.
Note: If you are using PuTTY, don’t forget to check-out these PuTTY tips, and 12 powerful PuTTY Add-ons.
3. Filezilla
FileZilla is a GUI tool that supports FTP, FTPS and SFTP. Following are some of the features.
- It is cross platform and works on Windows, Linux and Mac OS.
- Filezilla is open source.
- Supports IPv6.
- You can drag and drop files.
- Edit remote files directly from Filezilla.
- Compare local and remote directory contents.
4. FireFTP
FireFTP is a FTP addon for Firefox, which can also do SFTP.
To use SFTP in FireFTP, from Firefox browser, click on Tools -> FireFTP -> From the drop-down list, select either “Quick Connect” or “Create an Account” -> In the “Main” tab, enter the ip-address, uid, and pwd for the Linux server -> Click on “Connection” Tab -> Click on “Security” drop-down list and select “SFTP” from here, as shown below.
5. CoreFTP LE
CoreFTP is a commercial product that has both Pro and Free version. The free version pretty much has every feature that you would need for your typical SFTP file transfer needs.
- Drag and drop support.
- You can stop and resume the file transfer.
- File transfer bandwidth can be controlled
- command line mode is available
6. Swish – SFTP from Windows Explorer
This is very different from all other SFTP clients. This integrates directly to your Windows Explorer. You can just browse remote files from your Windows Explorer directly, and drag and drop files to transfer it.
Please note that this is still in “alpha” stage.
Once you’ve installed it, do the following to create a remote SFTP connection from the Windows Explorer:
- On Windows XP -> My Computer -> Click on Swish Icon -> Tools menu bar -> Add SFTP Connection.
- On Windows 7 -> Click on “Computer” in your Windows Explorer -> Click on Swish Icon -> Click on “Add SFTP Connection”.
7. BitKinex
BitKinex is a freeware SFTP Clienit. Following are some of the features.
- Uses multipart and multithreaded file transfer for speed.
- Support FTP, FTPS, SFTP, HTTP, HTTPS and WebDAV protocols.
- Supports server-to-server file transfer.
- Command line interface to transfer files
What is your favorite SFTP or SCP clients for Windows? Please leave a comment and let us know.
PuTTY is a free terminal emulation tool that’s been available for 20 years. Originally released for Microsoft Windows, this versatile remote administration tool can be used to access workstations, servers, network devices etc using various protocols such as secure shell connection (SSH), Telnet, Rlogin etc.
While it continues to be popular for accessing network devices and Linux servers mainly with SSH, PuTTY does have its limitations because it’s designed to handle one session at a time.
Many other SSH clients and terminal emulators are available today that have been developed to improve on PuTTY.
In this guide, we’ll cover the 10 best alternatives to PuTTY available online and how they set themselves apart from this venerable app.
Table of Contents
1. Bitvise SSH Client
Bitvise’s SSH Client is a free Windows tool that complements the Bitvise SSH Server, but it also functions as a standalone application.
The Bitvise SSH Server is free for up to 30 days. The SSH client works on Windows OS and is free for ever.
It’s a modern terminal emulator that provides a GUI as well as command-line interface to support SFTP, SSH, SCP and tunnelling connections.
It also implements sophisticated tunnelling features. If you’re looking for features like dynamic port forwarding and support for proxy servers, Bitvise SSH Client includes them along with the security of encryption technology.
Bitvise also build common tasks like Remote Desktop forwarding into the GUI to streamline the connection process.
2. Xshell
Xshell is a tool developed by Netsarang as part of their suite of PC X apps designed to streamline the interface between UNIX, Linux, and Windows computers.
Xshell is the SSH client portion of that suite, and it’s designed with complex management tasks in mind.
A session manager helps you handle multiple connections, and Xshell’s tabbed GUI interface makes it easy to switch between them.
Xshell’s draft & send interface makes writing complex scripts more convenient, too. If security is important, Xshell supports state-of-the-art encryption schemes like GSSAPI and PKCS#11.
This is a commercial SSH client tool and a single-user license costs $99.
3. KiTTY
If you think PuTTY is a great emulator that’s lacking modern automation features, KiTTY may be an alternative to consider.
KiTTY is a fork of PuTTY that adds features to make it more efficient for handling multiple sessions and logging into accounts with saved credentials.
It helps with managing multiple sessions by adding a filter interface that saves them in folders.
A session launcher is added that can launch one or more sessions using the details you’ve saved.
KiTTY also saves time with automated commands, providing an interface for saving common commands with a User Command menu.
4. Solar-PuTTY
Solar-PuTTY is Solarwinds’s answer to the need for an SSH client that automates today’s complex network admin tasks.
It’s one of their free tools that adds a better interface and productivity features compared to PuTTY.
A tabbed interface makes multiple sessions more practical, and logging into accounts is automated with saved credentials.
Solar-PuTTY makes finding a particular session from dozens of session profiles simpler by integrating with Windows Search.
Finally, if you reuse the same command scripts, Solar-PuTTY can save and invoke them for you.
5. MobaXterm
MobaTek is another company that has developed a free tool to replace PuTTY with modern interface and management features.
The free edition supports up to 12 sessions and two SSH tunnels at a time. It has a tabbed interface that makes multiple sessions easier to manage like other modern terminal emulators.
MobaXterm supports X server, remote desktop protocols like RDP and Xdmcp, and popular remote terminal protocols like SSH, telnet, and Mosh. If you need to handle more sessions or want to store over four macros at a time, you can opt for the professional edition.
What I like also in this tool is that it contains all utilities in a single portable executable file which does not require installation. You will have all tools such as SSH client, RDP client, VNC, FTP/SFTP client etc all in one unified environment.
6. mRemoteNG
PuTTY isn’t the only terminal emulator out there in the wild: mRemoteNG is a modern fork of another older SSH client called mRemote.
mRemoteNG, which stands for Multi-Remote Next Generation, makes multiple remote sessions manageable with a tabbed interface.
It’s also flexible, supporting most types of remote sessions you might need like RDP, VNC, SSH, HTTPS, telnet, and more. It’s also an open source project that anyone can fork and contribute new features.
7. SmarTTY
SmarTTY is another free SSH client offered by SysProgs that includes better session management features than PuTTY.
SmarTTY supports many of the multi-session features you can find with other clients like a tabbed interface and support for the most common session protocols.
This client excels at adding advanced features like auto-completion and package management to its interface. This focus makes it a good option for developers and administrators who need to compose and send complex scripts over remote connections.
8. SuperPuTTY
SuperPuTTY is a window manager developed by Jim Radford to make it possible to embed PuTTY terminals into Windows forms and applications.
As such, it’s not an SSH client but a tool for quickly and effectively create multiple tabbed windows and use an already installed PuTTY terminal emulator. You must have PuTTY present on the system before using SuperPuTTY.
With SuperPuTTY, you can quickly develop an in-house multi-tabbed PuTTY-based client. You can also build an interface for local terminal sessions using MinTTY.
The package includes pre-built file, view, tools, and help menus ready to be included in a multi-session PuTTY Windows app.
9. ExtraPuTTY
ExtraPuTTY is another fork of PuTTY that adds more advanced features to support multiple sessions and automated scripting.
ExtraPuTTY adds menu bar and status bar to the classic PuTTY window to create a more functional graphical interface, and it provides keyboard shortcuts to common commands.
If you need to create command scripts, this app allows you to define macros that string commands together.
ExtraPuTTY also supports automatic logon scripts with saved credentials. The PuTTY Session Manager is helpful if you need to juggle dozens of different sessions as a network administrator.
With this tool you can integrate and use the most common remote administration protocols such as SSH, FTP, SFTP SCP etc.
10. ZOC Terminal
If you’re looking for a terminal emulator that supports both Windows and MacOS, Emtec has a client that provides modern terminal session features for both platforms.
It’s a terminal emulator that can handle SSH, telnet, and serial cable connections to network devices and mainframes. With a host of supported protocols, Emtec bills ZOC as the Swiss Army Knife of terminal clients for good reason.