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ActiveBatch by Redwood vs GoAnywhere MFT comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 21, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.8
ActiveBatch enhances ROI with automation, improving efficiency, reducing costs, and supporting remote work, increasing revenue and accuracy.
Sentiment score
5.0
GoAnywhere MFT increases efficiency and ROI by automating tasks, enhancing security, and supporting compliance, optimizing resources without extra costs.
We require fewer team members to handle operations due to its robust automation.
Application Administrator Lead at Bluestem
GoAnywhere can perform the work of three people, leading to a decrease in manpower needs for automation and file transfer.
Tech Consultant at BTPL
There is a drastic improvement in time; at least a 50% to 60% improvement in terms of effort.
IT Engineer at Cohesity
In terms of percentage, for the amount of volume we are doing with GoAnywhere MFT and its functionality, I would estimate it has provided about a 50% return in four years.
Manager Managed File Transfer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
ActiveBatch by Redwood is praised for responsive support, though complex issues sometimes need customer advocates for resolution.
Sentiment score
6.3
GoAnywhere MFT customer service is praised for expertise and professionalism, despite some users highlighting occasional response time delays.
We often need to escalate issues to level two or three for solutions related to long-standing problems.
Application Administrator Lead at Bluestem
It's not a situation where you raise a ticket and wait for 48 hours to get a response; it's immediate.
Product Marketing Manager at OJCommerce, LLC
They not only help you resolve issues but also ensure that you feel comfortable managing them in the future.
Technology Lead at Infosys
We can also email them, so through live chat I asked my questions and they cleared them, providing good technical support.
Software Engineer Intern at a university with 11-50 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
ActiveBatch by Redwood offers robust scalability, efficiently handling thousands of jobs and growing teams without bandwidth issues or disruptions.
Sentiment score
6.7
GoAnywhere MFT offers scalable architecture and high availability, accommodating enterprise growth with support for high transaction volumes.
ActiveBatch by Redwood's scalability is excellent; it experiences minimal failures and outages.
Application Administrator Lead at Bluestem
The scalability is ten out of ten because it works effectively even with many users, large files, and a lot of data moving at once.
Customer Service Manager at techmastiff
I would rate the scalability of GoAnywhere MFT as a ten.
Manager Managed File Transfer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Stability is excellent, downtime is rare, and even large files can be transferred completely without any problem.
Senior Software Engineer at Opcito Technologies
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
ActiveBatch by Redwood is reliable, efficiently reducing manual tasks, with minimal downtime often due to external factors.
Sentiment score
7.0
GoAnywhere MFT provides stable performance with minimal downtime, high reliability, quick bug resolutions, and handles large file transfers efficiently.
The stability of the application itself is excellent.
Observability & Monitoring Engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Stability is excellent, downtime is rare, and even large files can be transferred completely without any problem.
Senior Software Engineer at Opcito Technologies
It works very well, especially when kept up to date.
System Administrator at a retailer with 501-1,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

ActiveBatch needs a more intuitive interface, enhanced integration, better support, and customization for improved usability and efficiency.
Suggestions for GoAnywhere MFT include UI updates, faster support, enhanced security, better documentation, AI integration, and workflow improvements.
On the web console, users encounter daily activity issues where the job instances do not appear or update correctly, and they cannot view the latest logs.
Application Administrator Lead at Bluestem
I believe ActiveBatch by Redwood could be improved because the UI could be modernized.
Manager, Production Services at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
That's the only thing that could help if the application could log what caused the error for us to prevent it.
Tech Support II at a insurance company with 5,001-10,000 employees
We had to reach out to GoAnywhere support, and they were quick to provide support within a day, so we were able to complete that use case.
IT Engineer at Cohesity
when the application runs on a server and encounters problems, it doesn't provide detailed information on the server issues, which could help users troubleshoot better.
File Transfer Analyst at IG Group
 

Setup Cost

ActiveBatch offers cost-effective pricing with reliable support, though additional fees and subscription transitions may increase costs.
GoAnywhere MFT offers flexible, customizable pricing, seen as affordable and cost-effective compared to competitors, with optional add-ons.
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for ActiveBatch by Redwood has been great
Application Administrator Lead at Bluestem
Azure is significantly more expensive.
Enterprise Application Analyst at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
There are approximately 30% to 40% savings.
IT Engineer at Cohesity
It is cost-efficient.
Software Engineering Manager at State Street
 

Valuable Features

ActiveBatch by Redwood enhances workflow automation with ease of use, extensive integrations, and robust alerting for efficient process execution.
GoAnywhere MFT simplifies secure, automated file transfers with robust features, integrations, and user-friendly design, enhancing efficiency and security.
The addition of AI has made troubleshooting and supporting users through ActiveBatch by Redwood quicker for me.
Application Administrator Lead at Bluestem
The best feature that ActiveBatch by Redwood offers is the user interface.
Manager, Production Services at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
It provides multiple cipher options for HTTPS and SFTP protocols, utilizing AES-based algorithms for secure communication and data transfer.
Tech Consultant at BTPL
I can produce reports for security and have full control over secure protocols allowed on the system, making it easy to comply with security standards such as Sarbanes-Oxley.
Enterprise Application Analyst at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Before, we had to write scripts and manually update them to move data around, encrypt files, or rename files. Now we just use the GUI to set the modules for transfers, encryption, renaming, and copying, allowing us to set it and schedule it to run without any user interaction.
Tech Support II at a insurance company with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

ActiveBatch by Redwood
Ranking in Managed File Transfer (MFT)
14th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
37
Ranking in other categories
Process Automation (28th), Workload Automation (14th)
GoAnywhere MFT
Ranking in Managed File Transfer (MFT)
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
88
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Managed File Transfer (MFT) category, the mindshare of ActiveBatch by Redwood is 2.5%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of GoAnywhere MFT is 10.2%, up from 7.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Managed File Transfer (MFT) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
GoAnywhere MFT10.2%
ActiveBatch by Redwood2.5%
Other87.3%
Managed File Transfer (MFT)
 

Featured Reviews

AS
Application Administrator Lead at Bluestem
Manages thousands of jobs daily and reduces downtime through secondary node support
The current feedback I receive from my end users regarding ActiveBatch by Redwood highlights issues with the tabs or panes during job modification. When the next user monitors it, they need to close the pane or job and reopen it to see the changes reflected. If the end user makes an update, it will not be visible unless they start from the beginning again. Implementing a refresh button would be helpful for real-time updates when the end user needs to see changes immediately. We currently face issues with the web console of ActiveBatch by Redwood. When users operate through an RDP session, every user has their own ActiveBatch by Redwood application. However, on the web console, users encounter daily activity issues where the job instances do not appear or update correctly, and they cannot view the latest logs. This issue is only present on the web console, as the application itself works without any problems. ActiveBatch by Redwood can be improved by adding more features, as we are not currently handling cloud-based applications like S3 buckets and Azure. Connecting to these cloud platforms would be a helpful enhancement.
AB
DevOps Engineer at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Has enabled secure, centralized file sharing while saving significant time and resources
The best features in GoAnywhere MFT are that it's fast, reliable, and secure. First, the improvement is that we have resolved one of our security points with compliance. So that compliance point we resolved. And also it's a centralized file sharing system. All the users are able to access the file. There is no one-to-one sharing. It's improved about 80 to 85%. It saves about 80 to 90% resources. In terms of time, we can say 90 to 95% time is also saved because it avoids the one-to-one sharing and simply a user can put one centralized directory and all the users are able to access this solution and access the file. So it's 95%.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Managed File Transfer (MFT) solutions are best for your needs.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Insurance Company
8%
Performing Arts
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise47
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business57
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise43
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ActiveBatch Workload Automation?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for ActiveBatch by Redwood has been great; we recently renewed our license, and it was a smooth process without any issues.
What needs improvement with ActiveBatch Workload Automation?
I believe ActiveBatch by Redwood could be improved because the UI could be modernized.
What is your primary use case for ActiveBatch Workload Automation?
My main use case for ActiveBatch by Redwood is file processing. I use ActiveBatch by Redwood for file processing for debit card transactions.
What do you like most about Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?
GoDrive eliminates the need to use the exchange server for file sharing.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?
The pricing of GoAnywhere MFT is fair. I don't have any complaints about it. It feels really reasonable, and for the automation features that they provide, it is nice. It may feel high for basic ne...
What needs improvement with Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?
The UI/UX of GoAnywhere MFT feels somewhat cluttered. Some of the options I need are in a very cluttered space, and I need to search for them frequently. If the interface could be more simplified, ...
 

Also Known As

ActiveBatch
HelpSystems GoAnywhere MFT, GoAnywhere MFT, GoAnywhere Managed File Transfer,
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Informatica, D&H, ACES, PrimeSource, Sub-Zero Group, SThree, Lamar Advertising, Subway, Xcel Energy, Ignite Technologies, Whataburger, Jyske Bank, Omaha Children's Hospital
McKesson City of Modesto, California Kwik Trip Northwestern University Charter Communications
Find out what your peers are saying about ActiveBatch by Redwood vs. GoAnywhere MFT and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.