iFreeSftp iFreeSftp

SFTP for everyone,
finally effortless

A free, open-source SFTP client for Windows. Dual panes with independent tabs on each side, plus an exclusive server-side command channel — direct remote-to-remote transfer, huge trees deleted in seconds, big-file checksums computed instantly.

Download for Windows Open Source on GitHub

Version v0.8.0 · Windows 10 1809+ / Windows 11 · x64 · Portable, unzip & run · AGPL-3.0

Local
＋
Remote 2
＋
Dual-pane · Multi-tab
Connected · keep-alive 30s SM3 ✓

Core Features

Two panes, many tabs — local and remote side by side

IDE-Style Panes, Tabs on Each Side

  • The two file panes each keep their own stack of independent tabs — every tab browses local disks or connects to a remote host, in any combination on screen
  • All four transfer directions: local⇄local, upload, download and remote⇄remote, with multi-select and recursive folders
  • Drag an entry onto the opposite pane to transfer, with target-directory hints on hover
  • Synced browsing, file comparison highlights, rubber-band multi-selection
Dual panes with tabs
Server-side command channel

Server-Side Command Channel: never touch your PC

  • Remote → remote on the same host goes straight through a server-side cp — data flows between server disks only, zero traffic through your machine. Traditional clients download everything locally first, then upload again
  • Delete huge trees in seconds with one server-side rm -rf, instead of the file-by-file grind the SFTP protocol forces
  • If the command channel is unavailable (e.g. shell disabled), it automatically falls back to the SFTP route — the worst case is exactly what traditional clients offer, never worse

Instant Checksums, Connections That Stay Up

  • File checksums: SHA-256 / SHA-512 / SM3 (Chinese national standard), one dropdown away with copy button
  • Server-side commands first: hundreds of MB hashed in seconds without touching the transfer link; streams back if commands are missing
  • Active heartbeat keep-alive: idle connections stay up, interval tunable — FileZilla has no active keep-alive, so long-idle sessions simply drop
  • First connection asks you to verify the host key fingerprint (SHA256); key changes are rejected outright — man-in-the-middle protection; password / private-key auth
Checksums

iFreeSftp vs FileZilla / WinSCP / Xftp

Same protocol, different philosophy — data from official docs, as of Oct 2026

iFreeSftpiFreeSftp FileZilla WinSCP Xftp
License AGPL-3.0, open source GPL-2+, open source GPL-3.0, open source Proprietary
Price All features free forever Free Free Free for home/school,
paid for business
Dual-pane tabs ✓ Independent tabs in both panes
local & remote in any mix		 ✗ Single connection view Session tabs (single pane) Session tabs (single pane)
Deleting huge directory trees ✓ Server-side rm -rf
seconds, with fallback		 Item by item Item by item Item by item
Transfer integrity checks ✓ SHA-256/512 + SM3
server-side, instant		 ✗ Scripting (checksum) ✗
Keep-alive ✓ Active heartbeat keep-alive
tunable interval, no idle drops		 ✗ No active keep-alive
idle sessions drop		 ✓ Configurable ✓ Configurable

Why don't FileZilla / WinSCP do this?

They target arbitrary servers: many hosts use OpenSSH's ForceCommand internal-sftp to lock users inside the SFTP subsystem — no shell at all. And SFTP v3 simply has no recursive-delete or server-side-copy primitives, so everyone must round-trip file by file. FileZilla doesn't even support SCP and has repeatedly declined "execute command" feature requests: nothing outside the protocol, ever.

Command channel first, SFTP as fallback: faster when possible, never slower

When the command channel works, server-side routes are up to a hundred times faster; when it doesn't, everything falls back to the SFTP route — the worst case is exactly what FileZilla offers today. WinSCP's SCP mode tried the command route and drowned in shell-compatibility work, now demoted to a legacy mode. iFreeSftp's hybrid routing only ever gains.

Free Pledge

Every feature is free for everyone, forever. Nothing locked, nothing gated.

Free forever

No paywalls: transfers, command channel, remote editing, checksums, themes and localization — all open.

Voluntary support

The supporter badge is a purely voluntary honor mark — registered or not, the features are identical.

Sponsor to get a registration code →

AGPL-3.0 open source

Source available, commercial use and derivative works allowed; the community build shares the same codebase.