SFTPro vs Transmit
The Transmit alternative that edits files in place.
We just wanted an SFTP client we'd actually enjoy opening — native, fast, keyboard-first, with a real editor built in. Transmit 5 is a fine, mature app; it's also $45, mouse-driven, and hands editing off to another program. SFTPro does the whole loop itself, for $19.43 once.
What changes when you switch.
Line by line — what you leave behind on Transmit, and what you get instead.
Built like a Mac.
Native SwiftUI and actor-based networking. Fresh design, real macOS performance, and zero lag scrolling huge directories — none of the cross-platform toolkit tax.
Keyboard-first.
Move, open, edit, upload — every action has a key. Transmit keeps sending you back to the mouse; SFTPro lets you keep your hands where they are.
Yours forever.
$19.43, one-time — free updates included. No subscription, no account, no upgrade treadmill. Buy it, own it, keep it.
SFTPro vs Transmit 5, side by side.
| Transmit 5 | SFTPro | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $45 | $19.43 |
| Model | One-time | One-time |
| Native SwiftUI | No (AppKit) | Yes |
| Keyboard-first navigation | Partial | Full |
| Built-in editor w/ syntax highlighting | No | Yes |
| SSH key auth (Ed25519 / RSA) | Yes | Yes |
| Host-key verification (TOFU) | Yes | Yes |
Where Transmit still wins
Credit where it's due — Panic has been building Transmit for two decades, and it shows. Stay with it if you need:
- Cloud and object storage — S3, Backblaze B2, Google Drive, and a long list of other backends SFTPro doesn't do.
- Mounting a server as a local disk (Transmit Disk) so other apps can read it directly.
- Panic Sync across machines, and years of edge-case polish on a huge protocol surface.
Try it free. Pay when you write.
Free to browse and preview. $19.43 one-time to unlock editing and uploads. Works on macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later.
Transmit switchers ask
Can I import my Transmit servers into SFTPro?+
Not automatically yet — we'd love to change that. SFTPro stores saved servers in the macOS Keychain; you re-add each server once and it's remembered from then on. If server import matters to you, email support@sftpro.dev and it moves up the list.
Is SFTPro as fast as Transmit on big directories?+
That's the whole reason we went native. SFTPro is built in SwiftUI with actor-based networking, so listing and scrolling large directories stays responsive instead of blocking the UI while it thinks.
Does SFTPro do FTP and S3 like Transmit?+
No, and we're honest about it. SFTPro is focused on SFTP over SSH. If you need FTP, S3, or cloud-storage backends, Transmit is the better fit — we traded breadth for a faster, keyboard-first SFTP workflow we actually love using.