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GoAnywhere MFT vs SolarWinds Serv-U File Transfer Protocol Server 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

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
SolarWinds Serv-U File Tran...
Ranking in Managed File Transfer (MFT)
20th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
4.1
Number of Reviews
1
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 GoAnywhere MFT is 10.2%, up from 7.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Serv-U File Transfer Protocol Server is 1.1%, up from 0.7% 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%
SolarWinds Serv-U File Transfer Protocol Server1.1%
Other88.7%
Managed File Transfer (MFT)
 

Featured Reviews

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%.
reviewer2292672 - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead Analyst at a integrator with 51-200 employees
The solution can be used for internal file transfer, but its technical support and third-party integrations should be improved
I am comparing SolarWinds Serv-U File Transfer Protocol Server, WS_FTP, and Wing FTP for my current company. We use the solution for multiple purposes, and it should be user-friendly when integrating something. We cannot always depend on the support team to come and fix the issues. Overall, I rate SolarWinds Serv-U File Transfer Protocol Server a seven out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features are the automatic processing of files and scheduled execution of the files."
"We like that GoAnywhere helps to centralize the exchange of data among our systems, employees, and customers."
"The most valuable feature is the Advanced Workflows."
"When we were doing the demo, we took one project from the old system and got it running in GoAnywhere in less than 30 minutes. That says a lot. I've written queries and understand code, so I'm not a novice. Still, I think that's pretty impressive for a software product to be able to deliver a functional use case in half an hour."
"The best features of GoAnywhere MFT are its powerful customization capabilities that allow us to dictate the process and add in custom processes, which was a limitation with other MFTs we used."
"If it's dealing with SFTP or any kind of secure transfer, we don't hear about it. It's good. Everything works."
"The security and vendor management features are helpful in terms of providing access to data."
"Another nice feature is that you can invoke a native program from GoAnywhere. That helps you because you don't have to get fancy with agents. If a native program runs on the server that GoAnywhere is running on, like sed or perl, you can use it,"
"We use SolarWinds Serv-U File Transfer Protocol Server for internal file transfer."
 

Cons

"The application uses resources such as network connections to shared directories or SFTP connections. I would appreciate seeing utilization metrics for these resources."
"It would be helpful to have a way to actually have a job run without notifying the email addresses you have set up and without posting to the actual FTP... when you need to make a small change to a job that is deployed to production, and test that change, you have to go back and reset everything. It's not really a great way to test."
"One area for improvement in GoAnywhere MFT is that they don't have a real debugger. You have to manually walk through your projects. If you build a big scripting project, you have no way at the beginning to step through; you can't skip straight to a line, nor can you put a breakpoint and say, 'stop here' as in any normal debugging process."
"I am unable to accomplish this with the predefined functions provided by GoAnywhere MFT, which is why I use shell scripting."
"The UI can feel somewhat heavy when we perform advanced troubleshooting for complex workflows."
"The solution's support for the Unix platform and AS2 should be improved."
"A drawback is that it is not as feature-rich compared to its competitor Sterling, which we used before."
"A drawback is that it is not as feature-rich compared to its competitor Sterling, which we used before. It has fewer features, though it is more intuitive."
"The solution’s technical support should be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing can be expensive and it depends upon which features you want to buy."
"Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT carries a higher price tag than other MFT solutions."
"The cost is fine. It is probably the best software that I've had for the money that we spend for it. I am not aware of any costs in addition to the standard licensing fees. I don't pay for it. IT pays for it."
"It is very attractive. In terms of the capacity of the product and functionality, it is a good price."
"The cost of GoAnywhere versus the value it brings to our data transfer operations is reasonable... The cost is relatively expensive but, back to the car analogy, that's to be expected with a Ferrari."
"GoAnywhere's price is justified by its features and the time it saves me."
"It is moderately priced. If I compare it with other products that we have been using, its price is moderate. There are approximately 30% to 40% savings."
"HelpSystems GoAnywhere MFT is very reasonably priced for the value it brings."
"The pricing of the solution is INR 3,00,000."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business57
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise43
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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, ...
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Also Known As

HelpSystems GoAnywhere MFT, GoAnywhere MFT, GoAnywhere Managed File Transfer,
Serv-U File Transfer Protocol Server, Serv-U FTP Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

McKesson City of Modesto, California Kwik Trip Northwestern University Charter Communications
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortra, BMC, IBM and others in Managed File Transfer (MFT). Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.