Many of our customers use Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) for their business file transfers. While SFTP is certainly a good choice for organizations looking to securely transfer multiple files or large files directly to their intended recipient, it’s not the only solution suited for that purpose. In this post, we’ll review seven secure FTP alternatives and discuss their advantages and disadvantages compared to what many consider the de-facto standard for secure, multi-file and large file transfers.
Before we proceed, let’s discuss some of the major reasons why businesses use SFTP servers. This will help us lay down the foundation for why we picked the alternatives mentioned in the succeeding sections.
Why do businesses use SFTP servers?
Despite the growing adoption of cloud-based file-sharing services, many businesses still use SFTP servers. It’s not that these businesses completely ignore cloud file sharing. Rather, many of these businesses use both types of solutions. However, SFTP servers are typically deployed for specific use cases.
For instance, when you want files transferred directly to an on-premises server, a cloud-based solution may not be suitable. But why would you want to do that?
Well, one possible reason could be that the server in question might be integrated with your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system or other business applications running on the same internal network. Automated workflows work more efficiently when participant applications are deployed in close proximity to one another.
Recommended read: You Know It’s Time To Implement Server To Server File Transfer When.
Another reason could be that you need to adhere to corporate data security or data privacy policies that prohibit certain types of data from being routed through third parties. In that case, the use of cloud-based file-sharing solutions would violate those policies.
You might be thinking, “Can’t we use File Transfer Protocol (FTP) for these use cases?” You can. However, since we’re talking about business scenarios, you’ll probably want your file transfers to be secure. For instance, you might want connecting parties to undergo strong, two-factor authentication before granting them access to your server. In addition, you might want your file transfer sessions protected with data-in-transit encryption.
An SFTP server provides the necessary functionality needed to carry out secure file transfers, whereas an FTP server does not.
Alright, now that we’ve clarified what kind of use cases are suited for SFTP, let’s inspect each of our seven proposed alternatives.
1. Secure Copy Protocol (SCP)
In case you didn’t know, the acronym "SFTP” also stands for SSH File Transfer Protocol. That’s because SFTP is actually a component of the open-source cryptographic network protocol, Secure Shell (SSH). SFTP is an SSH subsystem designed for transferring files. However, it’s not the only one. SCP also runs on SSH and, like SFTP, has data transfer capabilities.
Moreover, because SCP runs on SSH, it inherits the security controls of SSH — just like SFTP. That means SCP also supports data-in-motion encryption, password-based authentication, SSH public key authentication and data integrity.
That said, SCP lacks some file management features that are found in SFTP. For instance, unlike in SFTP, you can’t display directory listings, create directories, delete directories and so on in SCP. The absence of these features is one of the main reasons why SCP isn’t as widely used as SFTP.
2. Odette File Transfer Protocol (OFTP)
OFTP is primarily used for server-to-server data exchanges. Besides having basic security mechanisms such as authentication, data-in-transit encryption and data integrity, OFTP also has its own electronic receipt functionality. When you send electronic business documents to a trading partner via OFTP, that trading partner is required to send you back a digitally signed electronic receipt upon receiving those documents. This ensures non-repudiation, a critical mechanism in business-to-business (B2B) transactions.
The array of security controls baked into OFTP makes the protocol a suitable file transfer solution for electronic data interchange (EDI). In fact, OFTP is quite popular in Europe, where it’s widely used in the automotive industry. That said, it’s not as popular in other parts of the world.
3. Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning Secure (WebDAVS)
Although capable of facilitating file transfers just like the other solutions on this list, WebDAVS also comes with other unique functionality. It provides file-locking and revision-tracking features. Moreover, it allows users to edit hosted files online. For this reason, many organizations use WebDAVS primarily for file sharing and collaboration. So why is it on our list?
As hinted earlier, WebDAVS can also be used to transfer files. Users can, for instance, connect to a WebDAVS server, create a folder, upload files to that folder, download files and so on. Everything you can do with SFTP from a user-initiated file transfer and file management standpoint, you can also do using WebDAVS. WebDAV is actually an extension of HTTP, so let’s talk about HTTPS next.
4. Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS)
HTTPS is the secure version of HTTP. It derives security features like data-in-transit encryption, digital certificate-based authentication and data integrity, from Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS). Although more commonly used for delivering secure websites to web browsers, HTTPS is also fully capable of supporting file transfers.
One of the biggest advantages of using HTTPS for transferring files is that you can use any popular web browser for these tasks, unlike using SFTP and the other file transfer solutions included on this list. You can easily carry out secure web-based file transfers through Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Brave or Edge. Since users are already familiar with the web browser user interface and since HTTPS traffic is normally allowed in corporate firewalls, you won’t have difficulty onboarding new users to your HTTPS file transfer service.
5. Applicability Statement 2 (AS2)
Protocols like WebDAVS and HTTPS are great for user-initiated file transfers. However, if you intend to implement fully automated EDI/B2B data exchanges, protocols like OFTP and AS2 are better suited for that purpose. Like OFTP, AS2 also supports an array of secure file transfer features, plus electronic receipt functionality.
In fact, if you’re doing business in the United States and other places around the globe, you’ll be able to interoperate with more trading partners if you use AS2 instead of OFTP. As mentioned earlier, OFTP is only commonly used in Europe. AS2 is widely used by EDI adopters in many industries across the globe.
6. FTP Secure (FTPS)
Of all the protocols on this list, FTPS is arguably the closest to SFTP in terms of functionality. Both are general-purpose file transfer protocols that are highly capable of supporting secure, large and bulk file transfers. FTPS is the secure version of the FTP protocol. Like HTTPS, it derives most of its security features from SSL/TLS.
Because FTP is an upgraded version of FTP, it inherits all of the capabilities of FTP minus the security deficiencies. That said, it’s worth noting that FTPS also inherits FTP’s multi-port properties, which pose firewall configuration challenges. For more information about those firewall challenges and how to address them, read our blog post on setting up an FTPS server behind a firewall.
Each of the SFTP alternatives mentioned above has similar qualities to SFTP. But the important questions are: Are those qualities enough to meet your business needs? Do all your trading partners use the same file transfer protocols? Are their security controls enough to meet your regulatory compliance requirements? Can you easily incorporate your file transfer server with your business process automation initiatives? Can they be easily integrated with the rest of your IT infrastructure?
If you answered “No” to any of those questions, or if you can’t answer “Yes” with utmost certainty to all those questions, you probably need to look into the following option.
7. Managed File Transfer (MFT)
MFT is an advanced file transfer solution that supports all of the features you’ll find in SFTP software and then some. Here are some of the reasons why you might want to consider an MFT solution as an alternative to an SFTP platform.
Supports SFTP and all other protocols mentioned above
Reputable MFT solutions like JSCAPE MFT by Redwood support all major file transfer protocols, including all of the protocols we mentioned earlier. That means you can have SFTP clients, FTPS clients, WebDAV clients, HTTPS clients and so on, connecting to a single MFT server. Similarly, you can transact with SFTP servers, AS2 servers, OFTP servers and other file transfer servers at the same time.
Has a broader set of security features than SFTP
In addition to all the security controls mentioned earlier, MFT solutions are equipped with a wider array of data security features. For instance, besides basic authentication, you can enforce additional permission and access control mechanisms that restrict file access specifically to authorized users.
You can easily choose longer key lengths like 2048 or 4096-bit keys as well as stronger cryptographic algorithms like AES-256 to meet more stringent security policies. You can apply data-at-rest encryption to protect files stored in your storage devices. You can implement high availability mechanisms that preserve file transfer service availability and performance. And so on and so forth.
The wide selection of security features in MFT solutions make it easier for you to achieve compliance with data security laws and regulations like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Allows no-code/low-code automation
All of the solutions listed in this post don’t have built-in automation capabilities. Thus, if you want to automate your file transfer workflows, you’ll have to add complex scripts to your file transfer systems. And if you don’t have any in-house talent capable of writing automation scripts, you’ll have to hire scripting experts to do the job for you.
MFT solutions, on the other hand, already come with automation capabilities. JSCAPE MFT, for instance, already offers no-code/low-code automation features that allow you to configure automated file transfer workflows without writing complicated scripts or a single line of code for that matter.
Here are some examples that illustrate some of the tasks you can easily automate using JSCAPE MFT. They’re so easy you can assign your junior IT admin to implement these automation tasks for you.
- How To Automate An SFTP File Transfer
- Set Up Automated File Transfers with a Microsoft Windows SMB Share
- How To Automatically PGP-Encrypt A File Upon Upload Using Triggers
- How To Use Google Storage As The File Storage System of Your MFT Server
- How To Automatically Transfer Files From SFTP To Azure Blob Storage
- How To Pull Files Automatically From A Remote Linux Host With No File Transfer Service
Supports an array of integration options
Many file transfer servers don’t work in isolation. In most cases, they contribute to business processes that involve other applications in your IT infrastructure. To streamline your business processes, you’ll usually want to integrate your file transfer server with those other applications. Unfortunately, traditional solutions like SFTP servers don’t have built-in capabilities that simplify integration.
MFT solutions, on the other hand, have built-in integration features like connectors and an API that enable you to easily integrate them with a variety of IT systems. For example, JSCAPE MFT can readily connect with:
Cloud storage providers:
- Azure File Service
- Azure Data Lake
- Azure Blob Service
- Amazon S3
- Box
- Dropbox
- Google Cloud Storage
- IBM Cloud
- Microsoft OneDrive
Network services:
- FTP
- FTPS
- REST
- IMAP
- POP3
- TFTP
- SFTP
- SMB
Other IT services:
- ActiveBatch by Redwood
- CyberArk
- Splunk HTTP Even Collector
- Tidal by Redwood
- SharePoint
And many more.
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