FTP, or file transfer protocol, is simple: Connect to a far-off computer. Send your stuff to it, or get stuff from it. The end. And though we now live amid a plethora of cloud file storage services – Dropbox, Amazon S3, Google Drive, ad infinitum – the basic idea remains the same.
But finding the right app to make those transfers happen can get tricky. Search for 'FTP' in the App Store, and you're swiftly buried beneath a pile of contenders clamoring for your cash. Keep reading to discover which ones we liked best.
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A few ground rules
Every app in this roundup supports good old reliable FTP and its more secure cousin, SFTP, usually with several intermediate flavors of security in between. And unless otherwise noted, every app here works with WebDAV, which does everything FTP can do on an HTTP-centric Web server. When an app supports cloud services beyond those basics, we'll let you know.
Free FTP apps
You can find several FTP apps for a cool zero dollars. They don't tend to be as feature-rich as the paid apps we'll discuss later, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're a poor choice.
Mac OS X's built-in FTP capabilities
Let's just say there's a reason people make, sell, and use third-party apps. Technically, you can use the Finder's Go > Connect to Server… command to log into FTP or SFTP servers. But in my tests, this ran relatively slowly, and I could download files but not upload them. Unless you're desperate, consider other options.
FileZilla (The FileZilla Project, filezilla-project.org)
FileZilla is an open-source, cross-platform app, and that means exactly what you think it does: a boxy, utilitarian, non-Mac-like interface designed by professional programmers, for professional programmers. Getting around FileZilla may be rational, but it isn't pretty.
The program works admirably fast when uploading or downloading your files, but that's about all it has in its favor. It won't remember your server passwords from one session to the next, which can be a real pain with a long, complex password. And its ridiculous update system, which downloads an entirely new copy of the app, then obliges you to copy it manually into the Applications folder every time a new version rolls out, would be less obnoxious if it didn't seem to roll out new updates every five minutes. Skip it.
Cyberduck (iterate GMBH, cyberduck.io)
This veteran contender boasts crazy fast file transfers and an impressive roster of cloud service options: Amazon S3, Google Drive, Google Cloud Storage, Azure, Backblaze, Dropbox, OneDrive, and DRACOON. It also offers the ability to synch up a local and remote directory, a powerful feature more often found in paid apps. But it loses points for a dated, unattractive interface – including when synching – and for its baffling decision to use a single-pane layout.
Rather than use two panes — one showing a folder on your local computer, the other showing the remote directory to which you've connected, so that you can easily drag and drop files between the two – Cyberduck's single pane obliges you to drag files to and from a separate Finder window, a needless bit of extra hassle.
And while the program's technically free, it'll nag you to pay up often, and charges App Store downloaders a lot more ($24) than it does folks who purchase a registration key on its own site (a minimum donation of $10). If you're going to pay for an FTP client, you have better choices than this one.
ViperFTP Lite (Naarak-Studio, viperftp.com)
This isn't one of those better choices I mentioned above. The opening screen for this junior version of a fuller-featured app features a cheesy come-on for both its paid big sibling and a selection of other low-rent apps from the same company. Any bad vibes you get from that welcome quickly multiply once you're in the app itself.
I give ViperFTP Lite credit for incorporating Amazon S3 and, uniquely, YouTube in its list of connection options. But the interface is a dud, transfers feel sluggish, and in my tests, the app once crashed entirely while trying to open a new connection.
ForkLift 2 (BinaryNights, binarynights.com)
ForkLift's creators are giving version 2 away for free on the App Store to promote their newer version 3, which we'll get to later in this roundup. But version 2's nothing to sneeze at. It offers respectable (though not amazing) transfer speeds, and a clean, Mac-like interface I found intuitive and appealing. In addition to the usual FTP and WebDAV options, ForkLift can connect to Amazon S3, AFP, and SMB servers.
You definitely get what you pay for: Neither ForkLift version will remember your server passwords or store them in the Keychain, and in ForkLift 2, Droplets — a mini-app that lets you transfer files to a specific destination just by dragging and dropping files onto it, without opening ForkLift itself – just didn't seem to work. Still, if you need a free app simply to move files to and from an FTP server, you could do a whole lot worse than this.
Paid Apps
If you actually shell out money for a file-transfer app, expect fancier features such as more connection options, droplets, and sophisticated synch abilities. But while on average, paid apps work better than free ones, some are far more worth paying for than others.
Commander One / CloudMounter ($30/$45 each, Eltima Software, mac.eltima.com)
If you imagine a typical file-transfer app as the center point on a spectrum, then Commander One would exist way over on the 'MORE' side of that line, and CloudMounter far in the opposite direction on the 'LESS.' Both let you move files to and from remote servers, but CloudMounter pares down that process to its simplest form, whereas Commander One piles on features for power users. Each is available for $30 on its own, or with a 'lifetime upgrade guarantee' for a total of $45.
You can download Commander One for free as a file manager and replacement for the Finder, with potent searching and sorting powers. Paying up for its 'Pro Pack' adds FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, Dropbox, Amazon S3, OneDrive, and Google Drive connections, among other advanced features.
But while it's written entirely in Swift for maximum Mac-friendliness, Commander One suffers from an interface that's more or less intuitive, but too crowded and boxy to appeal to most users. I also found its transfer speeds middling at best. Its file-transfer features aren't worth paying for unless you really love using the app as a file manager as well.
If you want to try before you buy, make up your mind quickly; my promised 15 days of free access to the Pro features somehow elapsed in less than five.
I mostly praised CloudMounter when I previously reviewed it, and an unobtrusive app that easily mounts remote drives directly in the Finder remains a great idea. But the more I used CloudMounter after my initial tests, the more its connection problems shifted from 'occasional' to 'frequent,' especially when I tried to access an SFTP server.
When I revisited it for this roundup, it bogged down and hung on a simple SFTP transfer that every other app handled with aplomb, and its connections tended to crawl under the best circumstances. It also lacks any of the sophisticated search or synch features other paid apps, including Commander One, offer.
And if you get it from the App Store instead of Eltima's site, you're stuck with in-app purchase options that turn it into a subscription product, charging $29.99 a year or $9.99 for three months. Despite its broad range of connection capabilities – Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, OneDrive, OpenStack Swift, Backblaze, and Box – I can no longer recommend it in its current form.
Yummy FTP Pro ($30, Yummy Software, yummysoftware.com)
Yummy FTP Pro offers a well-built but way-too-basic FTP client. Files transfer speedily, the app performs reliably, and the interface looks clean, if a tad crowded. Its synch features offer plenty of power and options, but they're not particularly intuitive. And Yummy FTP Pro can only connect to FTP, SFTP, and WebDAV.
If it were free, I'd embrace Yummy FTP Pro in a heartbeat. But even its Lite version costs $10, and at $30 for Pro, you have better options for your money.
A note to App Store users: The version of Yummy FTP Pro available here is older than the one on Yummy Software's site, and sells for $15.
ForkLift 3 ($30, BinaryNights, binarynights.com)
ForkLift 2's big sibling soared over my initial low expectations, with features and overall quality that seriously contend for first place in this roundup. I liked the crisp, logical, Finder-like interface, which tries to keep options and icons to a minimum.
Its respectable suite of file systems include Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, Dropbox (through the Finder, if you've already installed the Dropbox app), Google Drive, Rackspace CloudFiles, and – unlike most other apps here – SMB, AFP, and NFS. If you install the free, open-source Mac FUSE software, you can even mount any of these remote drives in the Finder.
A nifty little menubar icon enables remote mounting, along with a cool 'synclet' feature that lets you drag files directly into a pop-up window to upload them without opening the app – no Droplet icon or other shenanigans necessary.
ForkLift also quietly doubles as a file manager – one that looks and feels a lot friendlier to average users than Commander One does. Unique among the apps discussed here, ForkLift 3 can preview and play video files and edit text and HTML files directly within the app. It can even compare the contents of two files or images (though depending on which method you use, you may need to install Apple's Xcode developer tools to enable that).
ForkLift 3 may fall just short of my top choice here, but it's an excellent app nonetheless, and a terrific value for the money.
Transmit ($45, Panic Software, panic.com)
The big kahuna of Mac file transfer apps does nearly everything you've read about above, with a level of polish and user-friendliness that justify a price tag half again as high as any other app on this list.
I liked its clean, simple interface – though I'll confess that it took me longer than expected to figure out how everything worked. Connecting to a server caused me no trouble, but I struggled to determine just where and how I could add a connection to my Favorites, or turn it into a Droplet.
But that minor headache was the only one Transmit gave me. Every other facet of this app has been honed until it gleams. Transmit boasts tons of features yet never seems overwhelming, in part thanks to Panic's excellent, searchable, plain-English text files.
The app brims with clever features such as DockSend; specify a folder in the Finder and a remote server directory, and when you drag any file from that Finder folder to Transmit's icon in the Dock, it'll automatically get whisked to the right remote destination. Those transfers happen at hellacious speeds, too. And its list of compatible cloud services can't be beat: Amazon S3, Amazon Drive, Backblaze, Box, DreamObjects, Dropbox, Google Drive, Azure, OneDrive/For Business, OpenStack Swift, and Rackspace Cloud Files.
The designers seem to have thought long and hard about how actual humans would use Transmit. For example, the app doesn't just tell you that you'll need to install FUSE to enable desktop mounting of remote disks; it links you to a crystal-clear set of instructions on Panic's site that will walk you through the whole process.
And I absolutely loved Transmit's super-intuitive synch interface, which doesn't just offer abundant options, but also summarizes your choices in plain English sentences before you commit to them – a courtesy that saved me from making at least one thunderously dumb mistake in my testing.
In short, Transmit earns its sterling reputation, and then some.
Note to App Store users: Transmit 5 is available here as a free download with a $25 annual subscription price. Visit Panic's site for a one-time $45 purchase.
The winner's circle
Among paid apps, Transmit stands head and shoulders above the rest. If you're in a cash crunch, though, ForkLift 3 offers most of Transmit's finer points at two-thirds of its cost. And if you just need a free, simple way to move files from point A to point B, ForkLift 2 beats all contenders in its class.
Got a file-transfer favorite we overlooked here? Connect with us and upload your thoughts in the comments below.
The Mac lineup
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“War, huh, what is it good for?” – Edwin Star, War from the album War and Peace
Well… apparently, it’s good for good times. War games are all over the map. So, to honor our ever-present source of joy and soul-crushing doom, Mac Gamer HQ presents you with a four-star general overview of the best war games for Mac.
As always, we’re going for different styles and genres, as well as different price points and system requirements. We aim to help you discover great new games and perhaps one of these will be perfect for you:
Want even more good games for Mac? These are the 100 Top Mac games you can play today.
No round-up of the best Mac war games for Mac would be complete without touching on the big franchises that have left their mark on Mac gaming, so I’ll start with two of the major ones. These are perfect for those of you who enjoy crushing your enemies under the heel of your polished and well-kept boots.The condition of man… is a condition of war of everyone against everyone – Thomas Hobbes
War is all-encompassing and to give you the taste of blood you crave, the Total War series relies on a dual-engine approach. First, there’s a real-time war theater which allows you to command your troops’ every move on the battlefield. It lets you deploy your soldiers, define your engagement strategy, groupings, pace, and more. In between battles, there’s a turn-based strategy interface (think a very stripped down version of Sid Meier’s Civilization series) that lets you construct the whole of your war machine. Different games in the Total War franchise take you from before the birth of Christ to the end of the Napoleonic period and all over the globe.MacGamer HQ’s head-honcho Ric is a fan of the franchise’s take on feudal japan, Total War: Shogun 2, but I’m definitely fond of the most recent release, Total War: Attila. Attila takes you to the end of the western Roman empire and puts you in control of one of the Mediterranean or Germanic tribes that carved up former Roman territory, and their enemy’s hides in the process. The game features a skirmish mode, historical battles mode (which lets you relive some epic battlefield confrontations of the period) and a campaign mode. Campaign mode features a dynasty interface that allows you to play the court game of intrigue if you’re the type that likes your war in intimate settings. You can purchase additional campaigns and culture packs if your favorite war-mongering pack of blood-thirsty maniacs isn’t in the base game.
The Wargame series, from Eugen Systems, is a real-time strategy (RTS) wargame that gives you control of Cold War Era militaries across the globe. One of the biggest selling points is Eugen’s effort to bring you as close to the real battlefield as possible, accurately reproducing hundreds of military vehicles, troops, and weapons. The campaign modes have grown with each release and the multiplayer modes are worth hundreds of hours of replay value. A unique aspect of the game is the satellite camera mode which, on its own, is little more than a cool video effect but, in reality, demonstrates the scale of the game’s battlefields.Wargame: European Escalation, gives the player the chance to control one of the Cold War militaries in Thatcher-era Europe. The game’s sequel, Wargame: Airland Battle, takes you right back to the battlefield in a conflict between NATO and Warsaw Pact forces. But if you had to buy just one, the series’ latest, Wargame: Red Dragon, brings you near the end of the Cold War and adds a variety of the Asian communist states, expanding the theater of war to a truly global scale.
The RTS genre is dominated by war games, but the variety of styles still leaves Mac players with plenty of options for demolishing their foes.The two most powerful warriors are patience and time – Leo Tolstoy
Another Mac Gamer HQ favorite, Company of Heroes 2 is the sequel to the original Company of Heroes, released over a decade ago. The sequel takes you directly onto the Eastern Front of WWII for a close-up look at the vagaries of the war you’re waging. The Essence 3.0 engine provides a beautifully rendered war theater that utilizes a variety of in-game systems to enhance the realism of the battlefield and encourage victory by skill rather than firepower. The destructible environments never cease to amaze me and the many ways the enemy can be countered with the right units is equally impressive.Best Ftp Mac Games For Windows 7
The three released DLC packs introduce more armies for single and multiplayer modes (including action on the Western Front), each of which carries their own strengths and flaws. You can pick up the CoH2: Master Collection for a tidy $39.99 and choose how you want to win and on which map to reign supreme.
Paradox Interactive is well known for its grand-strategy simulations. Each of their titles features an adjustable real-time clock allowing you to watch your decisions play out in a matter of minutes or extending the results of your strategic decisions to hours and days. Their games can bring you from the start of the crusades through the end of the WWII; the company’s most recent offering, Stellaris, will even take you hundreds of years into the future for galaxy-wide statecraft. Each game has it’s own idiosyncrasies and loyalists, but they’ll all give you your fix if grand strategy is your thing.Hearts of Iron 4 is the company’s most war-oriented, giving you god-like command over pretty much any country that existed in the WWII period. An almost ridiculously complex technology system lets you guide your country’s development as you like, while diplomacy systems let you conduct trade, form and break alliances and treaties, and appoint advisors to help you turn the world from a divided battleground into one of your making. The military system provides you with the chance to specialize your battalions. Pause the game, set your plans, bump up the game-clock speed, and unpause and you can watch your grand vision bring the war to a close on your terms, or bring your country to ruin.
It would be hard to find a gamer in the world that isn’t at least aware of Blizzard’s Starcraft 2. The game extends a nearly decade and a half’s long campaign of real-time space war with an RTS system that serves as a cross between the resource acquisition of traditional 4x turn-based strategy games such as the Civilization series and the RTS battlefield play of the Total War series.Starcraft 2 gives you control over one of three races, each with its own strengths and weaknesses, to craft a mobile war machine from, almost literally, the ground up. Nearly every aspect of your fighting force, from securing resources to front-line battle commands, is under your control and while the battlefield is yours for the taking, it’s also everyone else’s.
While Blizzard controversially released each race’s story as its own game, as opposed to the original which had all three in one package, Wings of Liberty, Legacy of the Void and Heart of the Swarm can now all be bought and played separately. With a variety of playable races, Starcraft 2 can easily satisfy any urge to dominate your fellow man … or alien.
Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt. – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
XCOM 2 follows the events of the first XCOM release of the new era, placing you in command of an XCOM team living on the run in a world controlled by the alien forces. The open-ended campaign mode lets you pick and choose what to do, and where and when to do it as you regain control of Earth.The tactical combat system provides turn-by-turn control over 5 classes of warriors that you can tailor to your own strategy. The technology system of the previous game remains, in expanded form, giving you control over how you’ll exterminate your alien overlords. A greater cast of friends, foes, NPC’s, and increased diversity in weapons and gear complete the game’s customization options, giving you total control over your forces in both the campaign and multiplayer mode. With XCOM 2, you are humanity’s last stand, again, after the first last stand against alien invasion forces failed.
Easily one of the most highly regarded series’ on Mac, The Banner Saga takes you into a fantasy Viking world for an RPG epic story. A turn-based tactical battle system gives you control of 25 customizable characters, each of 2 different races and 7 different classes, in both the campaign story mode and multiplayer skirmish modes. The narrative is an important aspect of this series and each of your choices over the course of the game affects the rest of your experience in an open-ended story-mode that requires strategic decisions on the battlefield but also outside.The 2-D graphics call to mind the old-school style of Dragon’s Lair with beautifully animated battlefields and story animations. The campaign mode is currently 2 games deep, with a third episode in development, and since decisions made in the first game carry over to the second, I recommend you start with part one and play through the second.
No look at the top war games would be complete without a look at the First Person Shooters (FPS) that put you right onto the front lines in the muck and the mire of warfare. The three discussed here are just a sample of the FPS war games available for Mac gamers.I’m better when it’s breathing. – Chris, American Sniper
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In truth, it’s hard to find anything to say about the Call of Duty series. After all, who isn’t familiar with Call of Duty’s trademark fast gameplay and shoot everything that moves style. But of all the versions available for Mac gamers, Modern Warfare 3 is the one Mac Gamer HQ head honcho Ric recommends. MW3 is on Steam, features cross-platform multiplayer, a spec ops co-op mode and survival modes. Call of Duty games all have fun campaigns with production values worthy of a Michael Bay film. Yet Multiplayer is where they all shine and MW 3’s cross-platform multiplayer makes it the best Mac alternative.The entire MW series (CoD4MW+MW2+MW3) is also available on Steam in one bundle that puts all of Modern Warfare in your hands, along with DLC, for a reasonably tidy sum. There’s really not a lot to say about it. It’s Call of Duty, but on Mac hardware. Just aim, run, and shoot people in the face.
Arma 3 puts you in control of a variety of battlefield soldiers and mechanical vehicles of destruction. The single-player story mode puts you in the boots of Ben Kerry for a 3 episode campaign. Single player training and scenarios help you beef up your battle-chops before you enter the sandbox multiplayer mode featuring both official and unofficial community-made maps and scenarios. Unique to the Arma 3 multiplayer mode is the Zeus mode, which gives players god-like influence over other players and the contingencies of the battlefield. A content editor also gives you the chance to design your own maps and scenarios for both the community and yourself. The Mac version of the game is currently inThe Mac version of the game is currently in experimental beta mode so you might want to hold off on buying the game until it receives official support. Then again, if you really can’t wait, you can buy the Windows version and then hype your friends on the Mac beta to help the process along.
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A personal favorite of Ric’s and mine, this 3rd-person shooter from Yager Development studios takes you into the darker psychological recesses of war. Taking control of Special Operations Force’s Captain Martin Walker, you lead his three-person team through a single-player campaign in post-apocalyptic Dubai in search of mysterious Colonel John Konrad. I won’t spoil the story for you, but let me just say that it’s different and unique. Call of Duty and Battlefield should both take notice.The gameplay is good too, featuring some exploration but mostly taking cover and shooting (similar to Gears of Wars games). You’ll find yourself short of ammo, time, and patience often enough that you might end up needing a new controller in this game that, for myself, calls to mind the 1999 film Fight Club, but instead of not being about war, it’s about war. Post-script spoiler alert.
This final entry comes from 11-bit studios and is easily one of the most intriguingly heartfelt approaches to the war genre in gaming history.Our nation exists because of the people! We exist because of them. – Cidolfas Orlandu, Final Fantasy Tactics
Another personal favorite of Ric’s and mine, this scavenger-hunt game is about choices when choices are too few. Putting you in control of three civilians trapped in a building in a war-torn town, your goal is to keep these people alive amidst sniper fire that keeps you inside during the day, and among thieves and other civilians just trying to survive at night.Only the dead have seen the end of war – attribution questionable
Resource management, scavenging missions, and housekeeping are central to the survival of your group. Decisions on how your players behave toward remaining survivors affect the morale and health of your characters in the randomly generated world brought to life in a beautifully animated tale of survival and loss in a devastated world.
This is far from an all-encompassing list, but any of these games should provide hours of good times. MacOS war games come in all shades, styles, and sizes and there’s no end in sight to the destruction you’ll reap upon your adversaries. That being said, keep count of your ammo, your eyes on your scopes, and your wits about you and don’t forget to be at least reasonably respectful to your fellow gamers. As Einstein was fond of saying: Say what you want about me and how I play the game, you’ve at least gotta admit that I’m the guy with the rocket launcher.I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. – Albert Einstein
Disclaimer: Some of the links above are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission (this is how we pay the bills). This commission comes at no additional cost to you.
Please understand that I only mention games because I believe they’re interesting, good, and/or fun. Never because I received a free copy or to earn a small commission.
This article comes from Thomas Trono.