GoAnywhere MFT vs VisualCron comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Fortra and SMA Technologies are both solutions in the Managed File Transfer (MFT) category. Fortra is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.5, while SMA Technologies is ranked #21. Fortra holds a 7.1% mindshare in MFT, compared to SMA Technologies’s 2.4% mindshare. Additionally, 99% of Fortra users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of SMA Technologies users who would recommend it.

GoAnywhere MFT

Read 120 GoAnywhere MFT reviews

12,235 Views
11,623 Comparison Views

99% willing to recommend

VisualCron

Read 11 VisualCron reviews

4,770 Views
1,336 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

GoAnywhere MFT

VisualCron

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 22, 2026

GoAnywhere MFT and VisualCron both operate in the file transfer and automation space. GoAnywhere MFT edges out with its robust security features and encryption standards, excelling particularly in secure file transfer capabilities.

Features: GoAnywhere MFT offers advanced encryption for both data in transit and at rest, automation capabilities that streamline complex processes, and centralized control with efficient project-based workflows. It supports various secure protocols such as SFTP and HTTPS, aiming for reliability and easy integration. VisualCron shines in visual task management and efficient scheduling, reducing the coding effort while simplifying task automation for users without an extensive technical background.

Room for Improvement: GoAnywhere MFT could improve user experience by simplifying its UI design and reducing the learning curve for new users. The response time for customer support is another area highlighted for enhancement. VisualCron might benefit from better interface usability and more comprehensive documentation. The absence of real-time support and limited CI/CD integration are noted as potential growth areas.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: GoAnywhere MFT offers deployment versatility across Public Cloud, Private Cloud, and On-premises environments, demonstrating its flexibility. Its customer service is generally praised for being quick and effective, though delays in support have been noted by some users. VisualCron's deployment capabilities are less clear, with some users suggesting the setup process could be improved with better documentation and support accuracy.

Pricing and ROI: The pricing for GoAnywhere MFT is considered substantial but justified due to its comprehensive feature set, contributing significantly to ROI through enhanced security and automation. While its licensing options are viewed as complex, they offer value through effective workload management and significant time savings. VisualCron, on the other hand, is seen as cost-effective and straightforward, targeting small to medium-sized companies by avoiding complex pricing structures. Its straightforward licensing and functionality provide a budget-friendly solution without sacrificing essential automation capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed GoAnywhere MFT vs. VisualCron Report (Updated: November 2026).

Buyer's Guide

GoAnywhere MFT vs. VisualCron

November 2026

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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

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

120

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

VisualCron

Ranking in Managed File Transfer (MFT)

21st

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Workload Automation (25th), Robotic Process Automation (RPA) (30th)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Managed File Transfer (MFT) category, the mindshare of GoAnywhere MFT is 7.1%, down from 10.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VisualCron is 2.4%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Managed File Transfer (MFT) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
GoAnywhere MFT	7.1%
VisualCron	2.4%
Other	90.5%

Managed File Transfer (MFT)

Featured Reviews

Anuj Bhagwat

Dev Ops 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%.

Read full review

Sourav-Dutta

Technical Lead - Database Administrator at SMART ENERGY SYSTEMS LLC

It's user-friendly, and I didn't need long to understand the process

We use VisualCron for all our automation needs, like connecting to FileZilla, calling APIs, generating PGP keys, creating encryption files with the PGP key login to Azure, etc. It can automatically log in to SQL Server and execute SQL script jobs in bulk. We had 2,000-3,000 users at my previous…

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The automation in GoAnywhere MFT really helps us because it reduced the manual work significantly, we can transfer hundreds of files with zero manual interventions, the audit trails also help during the compliance audits, and it has given stakeholders more confidence in the security of file transfer."

"In its class, I'd give GoAnywhere MFT a nine out of 10; it does what it does exceedingly well."

"We have definitely seen a good return on investment from going with GoAnywhere, and considering the time that it has saved us and the development that we don't need to do, the price is really affordable."

"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."

"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."

"What I appreciated the most about GoAnywhere MFT is that it was very user-friendly and very reasonably priced compared to other MFT applications."

"GoAnywhere MFT has been a reliable and efficient platform for secure file transferring and automation, especially in environments where visibility, compliance, and workflow reliability are important."

"The best feature of GoAnywhere is that transfers are straightforward if there are no other requirements from the source and destination. It doesn't require much maintenance."

More GoAnywhere MFT pros

"'ve only had a few cases where I've had to request support in the past 12 years of use, but the support response time and resolution were was extremely quick."

"The ability to clone jobs to shorten the time it takes to implement a process has been invaluable, but its flexibility also gives us the ability to create a job that can handle a multifaceted process with a complex workflow."

"It has improved our organization with more automation within the business departments and less administration and development in the IT department. Usually, as the IT department, we are the bottleneck for many requirements within the business. With this tool, the business departments are able to perform many task themselves."

"VisualCron is a handy tool that we (the IT department) provide for the business departments to obtain easy access when automating and scheduling."

"The tool has reduced our operational costs by 40%."

"It helped us reduce manual steps."

"The most valuable feature of VisualCron is its ability to schedule interactive jobs so that you can have interdependencies within the job and interdependencies of a job on another job, and so on."

"VisualCron is a very powerful program to automate different steps in your business processes. We use it to automate replacing files and inform departments about the replacement."

More VisualCron pros

Cons

"Its user interface can be improved. The current user interface is a little basic for some of the use cases. We have to use an external component to enhance it. When we need a more appealing user interface, we use an additional component, and that works okay."

"I want to highlight the user interface as an area for improvement in GoAnywhere MFT, as it is slightly difficult to understand."

"The response from the technical support was not convenient and did not meet my expectations."

"I think GoAnywhere MFT is already strong from the stability and security standpoint, but it can improve more in UI modernization and advanced analytics."

"The security side, particularly when dealing with keys and certificates, could be in a different suite rather than built directly into the main interface."

"The UI of GoAnywhere MFT could be more modern, and some advanced workflow configuration and troubleshooting steps could be made easier for administrators."

"There's not a lot of improvement I can think of. Maybe in the tools section, they have an SQL Wizard and a URL Wizard, which are really good. I think that the SQL Wizard might need some improvement. I don't know how to improve it, but it's just a little slow here and there."

"GoAnywhere MFT is a strong and reliable platform overall, but there are a few areas where it could be improved, including the initial setup and configuration experience for organizations that are new to managed file transfer solutions."

More GoAnywhere MFT cons

"An area for improvement in VisualCron is its cluttered interface."

"The error timeout and info could be better. When making web request calls, it will time out sometimes and we won't get any useful info out of the error response."

"I've mentioned before that it would be great to see a move away from SQLCE and XML configuration files."

"The documentation is a bit weak."

"I want to improve the UI in VisualCron, as it's not as user-friendly, particularly when setting up the task scheduler."

"VisualCron's command console is a little bit difficult to understand and needs to improve."

"An area for improvement in VisualCron is its cluttered interface. It isn't always easy to find all functionalities, so what VisualCron needs is a user interface expert who can improve the interface. There's a learning curve in terms of finding what you need from the interface of VisualCron. The technical support for VisualCron also needs improvement in terms of response time. Currently, there's no live support or hotline you can call to get quick answers, so this is what I'd like to see in the next version of VisualCron. A less cluttered and more streamlined interface, where you don't need to hunt for some of the features, is also what I'd like to see in the next VisualCron update."

"The only problem I face when I use the tool is that it doesn't contain much documentation or it doesn't have many video tutorials on its features."

More VisualCron cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing can be expensive and it depends upon which features you want to buy."

"To have a solution like this for the price we're paying makes it cheap. Considering the time that it has saved us, and considering the development that we don't need to do, such as connectors and handling servers, the price is really affordable."

"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."

"GoAnywhere was the most attractively priced product that met our needs. In our PoC it really came down to MOVEit and GoAnywhere, and GoAnywhere's pricing was about 30 percent less."

"The product is not cheap, but it is not expensive."

"Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT pricing is competitive."

"I find it to be very fair. It is very good."

"I get the invoices, and its price is fine and appropriate. It is well priced. Even if it was double the price, we'd use it. For us, it is indispensable. We're not going to go anywhere else. There are no additional costs. Its licensing is good. There is just one charge that we get. That's it."

More GoAnywhere MFT pricing and cost advice

"ROI is 95 percent."

"VisualCron is correctly priced because it wasn't very cheap, and it wasn't overly expensive, so the price for it was set correctly. When my previous company bought VisualCron, it was €800 per server per year. On a scale of one to five, I would rate the pricing for VisualCron a five because it was just right. The tool was affordable, and it has one of the most competitive pricing in the market."

"We are fine with a rather cheap setup. Licensing with VisualCron is fair. You have a simple one-year licence in different sizes. There isn't a licensing jungle with hundreds of options and opt-ins."

"The price is a bit high."

"The pricing is extremely fair, and because of that I recommend purchasing multiple instances to split out the processing load across multiple application servers."

"ROI is one month."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

18%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

16%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	116
Midsize Enterprise	38
Large Enterprise	59

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	5

Questions from the Community

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

My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing has been good overall.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?

I believe GoAnywhere MFT could be improved with a better UI regarding user-to-user file sharing; one of the most requested features is related to user collaboration. Currently, if I share a Word do...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Fortra's GoAnywhere MFT?

My main use case for GoAnywhere MFT is managed file transfer for both user-to-user based file transfer and automation-based file transfer, where we automatically transfer files between one source s...

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Comparisons

Progress MOVEit vs GoAnywhere MFT

Compared 8% of the time

Control-M vs GoAnywhere MFT

Compared 6% of the time

IBM Sterling File Gateway vs GoAnywhere MFT

Compared 6% of the time

Kiteworks vs GoAnywhere MFT

Compared 6% of the time

JSCAPE by Redwood vs GoAnywhere MFT

Compared 5% of the time

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ActiveBatch by Redwood vs VisualCron

Compared 10% of the time

Stonebranch vs VisualCron

Compared 7% of the time

Microsoft Power Automate vs VisualCron

Compared 7% of the time

Control-M vs VisualCron

Compared 6% of the time

UiPath Platform vs VisualCron

Compared 6% of the time

More VisualCron Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

GoAnywhere MFT

October 2026

Download GoAnywhere MFT product report

Buyer's Guide

VisualCron

October 2026

Download VisualCron product report

Also Known As

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

No data available

Overview

GoAnywhere MFT offers an intuitive interface with advanced workflows, robust security, and seamless integration across platforms. It automates file transfers, supports multiple protocols, and ensures strong encryption and centralized management for secure and efficient data exchange.

GoAnywhere MFT provides automation for secure file transfers using SFTP, FTPS, and HTTPS protocols. It supports comprehensive logging, auditing, and threat protection. The platform's encryption and scalability enhance data exchange and operational efficiency in sectors like finance and healthcare. Users appreciate its integration capabilities with AWS, Azure, and Salesforce, reducing manual tasks and maintaining security with robust encryption through connectors.

What are GoAnywhere MFT's most important features?

Intuitive Interface: Easy navigation, facilitating better user experience
Advanced Workflows: Streamlines processes to save time
Robust Security: Strong encryption and threat protection
Seamless Integration: Connects with platforms like AWS, Azure, and Salesforce
Automation Capabilities: Reduces manual tasks, improving efficiency
Multiple Protocol Support: Utilizes SFTP, HTTPS, and FTPS for secure transfers

What benefits should users expect in reviews?

Enhanced Efficiency: Automation reduces manual processes
Data Security: Features strong encryption and comprehensive threat protection
Scalability: Supports large data volumes efficiently
Compliance Support: Meets industry-specific data regulations

GoAnywhere MFT is widely implemented in industries like finance and healthcare for secure data transfers and workflow management. It simplifies internal processes and enhances communication between systems, integrating seamlessly with platforms such as AWS and Salesforce, thus ensuring speed and security.

Fortra

VisualCron offers task automation through a visual interface, eliminating the need for programming skills. With capabilities like alerting and variable usage, users benefit from integration with databases, timely task execution, and cross-platform operations.

VisualCron empowers users by simplifying complex workflows. It allows seamless task automation through features like interactive scheduling and role-based operations. Users appreciate its integration capabilities, replacing multiple tools with a comprehensive automation solution. The support system ensures quick assistance, making it a reliable choice for workflow visualization and task execution. However, areas like error handling and interface design require enhancements for improved user experience.

What are the key features of VisualCron?

Visual Interface: Users automate tasks without needing programming skills.
Integration: Connects with databases and multiple systems to streamline operations.
Alerting: Notifies users about tasks and system statuses.
Task Scheduling: Allows interactive management of automated tasks.
Credentials Management: Enables cross-platform operations securely.

What benefits can users expect when evaluating VisualCron?

Increased Efficiency: Reduces the time spent on manual processes.
Cost Reduction: Eliminates the need for multiple tools by consolidating functionalities.
Enhanced Support: Offers robust post-sales support for quicker assistance.
Streamlined Workflows: Simplifies complex task automation.

Organizations leverage VisualCron in industries like finance and logistics to automate tasks such as encryption and secure file transfers. It's also integral in managing data operations, facilitating communications between systems, and executing SQL jobs, enhancing operational efficiency across sectors.

SMA Technologies

Sample Customers

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

7 Eleven, ABB Sécheron SA, Adobe Systems Incorporated, Amazon Europe Core, Apple, Assa Abloy, Aston Martin, Banco Santander, BMW (Australia)

Buyer's Guide

GoAnywhere MFT vs. VisualCron

November 2026

Free Report: GoAnywhere MFT vs. VisualCron

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