GoAnywhere MFT vs Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct comparison

Fortra and IBM are both solutions in the Managed File Transfer (MFT) category. Fortra is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.7, while IBM is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.0. Fortra holds a 10.1% mindshare in MFT, compared to IBM’s 7.3% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Fortra users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 75% of IBM users who would recommend it.

GoAnywhere MFT

Read 63 GoAnywhere MFT reviews

2,812 Views
2,615 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Sterling Commerce Connect:D...

Read 12 Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct reviews

1,857 Views
1,857 Comparison Views

75% willing to recommend

GoAnywhere MFT

Sterling Commerce Connect:D...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 8, 2025

Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct and GoAnywhere MFT compete in the Managed File Transfer market. GoAnywhere MFT seems to have the upper hand in terms of flexibility and advanced integration capabilities.

Features: Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct offers secure point-to-point file transfers, large data handling capabilities, and strong reliability. GoAnywhere MFT provides extensive protocol support, automation features, and an intuitive management console.

Room for Improvement: Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct could enhance deployment simplicity and reduce initial setup complexity. GoAnywhere MFT may improve on offering more detailed integration documentation and expanding its protocol support for niche industry needs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct involves a more complex deployment process but benefits from strong support channels. GoAnywhere MFT offers easier cloud and on-premises deployment with user-friendly tools and excellent customer service.

Pricing and ROI: Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct generally comes with higher initial costs, impacting short-term ROI but promising long-term value. GoAnywhere MFT offers a more cost-effective entry point with flexible pricing models, potentially providing faster ROI through operational efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed GoAnywhere MFT vs. Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

GoAnywhere MFT vs. Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct

July 2025

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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

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Sterling Commerce Connect:D...

Ranking in Managed File Transfer (MFT)

8th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Managed File Transfer (MFT) category, the mindshare of GoAnywhere MFT is 10.1%, up from 6.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct is 7.3%, down from 8.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Managed File Transfer (MFT)

Featured Reviews

Vidyasagar Gupta

File Transfer Analyst at IG Group

Enables secure and efficient file transfers with customizable automations

The biggest improvement I've seen since using GoAnywhere MFT for three to four years is in security; control over our network security is the biggest factor to consider, and the solution automatically identifies and blocks attempts to attack our system. Additionally, the transfer speed is impressive; even if files are in GBs, it doesn't take much time to transfer, increasing our organization's efficiency significantly. In my opinion, the best feature of GoAnywhere MFT is its user-friendly UI; it's very simple to use compared to other managed file transfer tools such as MOVEit and Axway, which are a bit more complicated. While we don't use any connectors for services such as Salesforce, SharePoint Online, or MS365, GoAnywhere MFT does have the capability of connecting to these systems either through SFTP, HTTPS protocols, or API-based connections. The way it works here is different; we set up a resource-based connection to connect to various services such as SAP or Salesforce. The range of connectors that GoAnywhere MFT provides out of the box is quite extensive; it covers everything from legacy tools that support AS2 connections to the latest services such as AWS and Azure Blobs. I'm very satisfied with the connectivity options available in GoAnywhere MFT; they include everything you can think of, and as long as the system you want to connect to accepts connections, we can connect using AS2, AS4, and other cloud connectors. In relation to the agents, they are crucial for extending MFT automation to remote systems. I've noticed that in my previous organization, agents were not used as we connected via network shares, which led to occasional connectivity issues. Now, using agents increases the file transfer speed by about 20 to 30%, and they provide a more stable connection compared to legacy network shares.

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Caio Nascimento

Senior Consultant at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees

Transform encrypted files with enhanced flexibility and very robust

The package that IBM delivers does not come with many premade tools or templates. This means we have to create a lot of things by ourselves, which requires more work. We have a team of four to five people just to develop map-based programs. Additionally, the initial setup could be simpler and better.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"If it's dealing with SFTP or any kind of secure transfer, we don't hear about it. It's good. Everything works."

"When users say, 'I'm building spreadsheets that I would like to be uploaded on a regular basis into the IBM i,' we are able to accommodate that request within a matter of hours rather than the days it would take to create programs to do that. That is very useful. It has eliminated several dozens of scripts for us."

"All of it is valuable, but the most valuable would be the ability to release medical records without having a limitation for size and not having to deal with the fax machine."

"When we first started using it, SecureMail, or the ability to securely send mail to end users, as a single file or as a package of files, was very helpful for sending large packets of files. We could not send that through traditional email."

"Transactions transfer in close to real time. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time because of the volume that we have, but the transactions transfer in seconds to the external platform."

"The best features of GoAnywhere MFT are its automated process capabilities; it is scalable, reliable, and requires minimal time to receive files from external to internal systems, and it is more secure compared to other tools."

"The whole application of GoAnywhere MFT is excellent."

"File monitors are one of the most valuable features. We have about 400 file monitors running in GoAnywhere. They monitor the NAS locations where files arrive, and they kick off workflows. When a file arrives, GoAnywhere will identify that the file is there, move it to a consumption zone, then reach out to our enterprise scheduler through a REST API call."

More GoAnywhere MFT pros

"The Security Plus feature of this solution is excellent, and allows you to send encrypted files very securely to remote destinations."

"The solution's file transfer speed is quite high."

"Offers secure file transfers with a fast and efficient protocol for very large files."

"Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct is a solution that is on the market for a very long time. There is an integrator that has been developed and evolves every year. On the roadmap, there is always a new integration. For example, it's one of the solutions in the market that out of the box can handle EBICS protocol. The file processing is done very well. By default, there are a lot of configurations that can be customized."

"Connect Direct offers Check Point functionality to ensure data integrity during transfers."

"Automation is the most valuable feature."

"The product has been very stable."

"Connect Direct offers Check Point functionality to ensure data integrity during transfers."

More Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct pros

Cons

"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."

"In terms of the integration mechanism that we use for the API, it has limitations regarding network congestion, causing logs to drop whenever the API throws an error."

"In some scenarios, when you are in a cluster environment, the load-balancing capabilities of the gateway need to be improved a little. This functionality needs some improvement."

"The reporting could be more customizable."

"When we restart the agent on each server, it tries to go out to the internet and it takes about a 13-minute timeout before it can move forward. Why is there a 13-minute timeout value when trying to go to the internet? ...If they could limit that timeout or give us a way to modify it so we could have a faster timeout, that would help us at least knock out a half-hour's worth of outage."

"The customer support is a bit slow from their end. The time lag they take to respond to our queries is more than expected, so I would give a solid seven out of ten for the customer support."

"Everything works fine, but I feel that the user interface can be improved, especially the layout. They can make the dashboards more customizable."

"Upgrading was a challenge and I ran into some problems along the way."

More GoAnywhere MFT cons

"Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct could improve by adding some of the functionality that some other vendors have. For example, GoAnywhere has call agents, which are small clients that can be installed on the endpoints and can be handled by the central point on the server. If I want to do this with the IBM solution, I have to sell a lot of account addresses. The price could be unprofitable for the customer. There is some small functionality that could be implemented and could be easily done to improve this solution."

"The user interface could be more user-friendly."

"This solution cannot be deployed on a root_squash NFS, which limits superuser privileges."

"I do not have any notes for improvement."

"Technical support is the number one concern."

"The initial setup could be simpler and better."

"They have File Agent, which is an additional utility and a component of Connect:Direct, for automated file transmission. In that utility, there is some issue with the file name. There is a limitation on the file name, and that is being fixed by IBM."

"Sometimes we face issues and can't figure out the cause of failures."

More Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It has flexible and affordable pricing because of custom quotes. The prices depend on the modules one needs and the volume of data being transferred. Overall, they offer custom and flexible pricing with an annual subscription, where you pay for specific features and functionality required."

"The pricing of GoAnywhere MFT is affordable compared to other similar products. It's not expensive, according to me. What influenced my purchase decision was the fact that the product was quite affordable."

"The pricing is decent for mid-sized and small-sized companies. It is good for startups or mid-scale companies."

"The pricing for GoAnywhere MFT seems reasonable when compared to other similar services, especially cloud services. Azure is significantly more expensive."

"It would be good for the company to explore a modular approach to selling the product so it could be cheaper and more attractive to users."

"The pricing is not favorable when we use it for a few people."

"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."

"Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT is an inexpensive solution."

More GoAnywhere MFT pricing and cost advice

"The solution's licensing cost is too high."

"Annual licensing fee."

"The price and licensing of Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct is expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

38%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?

The pricing for GoAnywhere MFT is quite fair.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?

The cloud connectivity of GoAnywhere MFT to connect to different applications such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon, or Google Cloud could improve, as it's a little bit patchy right now. They do provide ...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct?

Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct is an expensive platform.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct?

I do not find anything that needs improvement in Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct as a product. I have been supporting this solution, and it serves billions of customers well. Capgemini, in collabo...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct?

The primary use case of Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct is to transmit data. It offers two modes of transfers: SFTP, which is straightforward, and FTPS, which provides secure file transfer. A sign...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 14% of the time

IBM Sterling File Gateway vs GoAnywhere MFT

Compared 12% of the time

MOVEit vs GoAnywhere MFT

Compared 10% of the time

TIBCO Managed File Transfer vs GoAnywhere MFT

Compared 5% of the time

Automic Automation vs GoAnywhere MFT

Compared 3% of the time

More GoAnywhere MFT Competitors

Kiteworks vs Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct

Compared 34% of the time

IBM Sterling File Gateway vs Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct

Compared 24% of the time

BMC Control-M Managed File Transfer vs Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct

Compared 8% of the time

Axway AMPLIFY Managed File Transfer vs Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct

Compared 5% of the time

Aspera On Demand vs Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct

Compared 4% of the time

More Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

GoAnywhere MFT

August 2025

Download GoAnywhere MFT product report

Buyer's Guide

Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct

July 2025

Download Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct product report

Also Known As

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

No data available

Overview

GoAnywhere MFT offers user-friendly workflow features, advanced security, and seamless integrations. Its intuitive interface supports streamlined operations and rapid project creation, making it suitable for managing secure file transfers.

GoAnywhere MFT provides sophisticated automation through Advanced Workflows, enabling reduced manual tasks and improved efficiency. With centralized data exchange, file monitoring, and comprehensive security protocols, it supports scalability, encryption, and IP filtering for enhanced protection. Users appreciate its adaptability with systems including IBM and Epic, contributing to improved process management and significant time savings. While beneficial, enhancements in DNS support, user interface intuitiveness, and customer service responsiveness are potential growth areas. License costs are noted as high, with demands for better documentation, cloud service integrations, and improved scalability and load-balancing functionalities.

What are the key features of GoAnywhere MFT?

User-Friendly Workflows: Intuitive interface streamlines operations.
Advanced Security: Includes encryption, IP filters, and monitoring.
Seamless Integrations: Adapts to systems like IBM and Epic.
Automation: Simplifies processes with reduced manual tasks.
Scalability: Grows with business needs.

What are the benefits and ROI of using GoAnywhere MFT?

Improved Efficiency: Reduces workload through automation.
Time Savings: Accelerates project delivery.
Enhanced Security: Protects data with advanced protocols.
Adaptability: Supports multiple platforms and integrations.
Process Management: Simplifies and streamlines data exchange.

GoAnywhere MFT is deployed by organizations for secure file transfers across systems like financial, healthcare, and corporate sectors. It supports SFTP, FTP, and HTTPS for data exchanges and is highly effective in automating processes and managing large file movements efficiently. It integrates well with cloud platforms like Azure and accommodates environments such as Windows, Linux, and IBM iSeries.

Fortra

IBM's Sterling Connect:Direct is a software product that offers security-hardened, point-to-point file transfers to reduce reliance on insecure File Transfer Protocol (FTP) transmissions. It is designed for high-volume file distribution within and between businesses. The solution guarantees more reliable file movement, from batch integration and movement of large images or catalogs to synchronization with distant sites. Sterling Connect:Direct also enables hybrid cloud deployment through certified containers, allowing for simple and consistent deployment lifecycle management.

Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct Features

Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Performance capabilities such as extraordinary scalability and low latency.

Automated, dependable file transmission that permits unattended, round-the-clock operations.

Designed to run on a variety of operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, UNIX, Linux, IBM z/OS, OpenVMS, i5/OS, and HP NonStop.

Advanced security features with cutting-edge encryption to meet regulatory and industry standards.

IBM certified containers for Sterling Connect:Direct are enterprise-grade, secure product editions that are scalable, secure, easy to install, and manage update and rollback processes. They also have integrated common software services for consistent deployment lifecycle management.
Boosts transfer speed for large files over high-speed networks by up to four times the previous speed while reducing latency.
Gives existing FTP transfers the ability to retry, checkpoint, and compress existing transfers.
Supports a variety of network protocols, including TCP/IP, Systems Network Architecture (SNA), and an optional high-speed add-on based on Aspera FASP technology.

Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct Benefits

There are many benefits to implementing Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

High performance: Takes care of your most demanding workloads, including multi-gigabyte files to large volumes of small files.

Reliable file delivery: To help ensure predictable, assured file delivery, it offers automated scheduling, checkpoint restart, and automatic recovery.

Secure transmission of files: Maintains the confidentiality of customer information and supports regulatory compliance measures.

Speed up patching and installation: By deploying your solution with a certified container that contains all necessary components, you can drastically cut installation and patch time from hours to minutes.

Reviews from Real Users

Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its robust file processing and its security for file transfers. PeerSpot users take note of the advantages of these features in their reviews:

Michele I., Business Unit Manager at Innovery, writes of the solution, “The file processing is done very well. By default, there are a lot of configurations that can be customized. Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct is one of the stronger MFT solutions in the market, it is available in each type of installation, and offers SaaS, PaaS, YaaS, on-premise.”

Camilo M., Pre-sales Engineer at Dell EMC, mentions, “It's a great tool because it offers secure file transfers and it has a fast and efficient protocol for very large files.”

IBM

Sample Customers

McKesson City of Modesto, California Kwik Trip Northwestern University Charter Communications

HZMO, Bank of Communications

Buyer's Guide

GoAnywhere MFT vs. Sterling Commerce Connect:Direct

July 2025

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