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Is there any tool like Dropbox but for FTP?

  • "dupe" in anoter site: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5151782/ftp-client-that-functions-similarly-to-dropbox-both-mac-and-pc – cregox May 25 '12 at 15:00

2 Answers2

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9 years later edit

take a look at the comments.

avoid using ftp at all costs!

compute safely.

original answer

After a quick research, I could find only 1 good. Pardon for the name: GoodSync. Main problem is: its free version is almost useless, unless you only need to sync less than 100 files. It doesn't seem expensive, tho (specially compared to other options).

Here were the options I've found:

  • FTPSynch is paid and only for windows. Doesn't look too good or simple as well.
  • FTPbox is also only for windows, but it does have the best name (as an answer to the op's question) and great open source / free potential.
  • Syncany is the linux equivalent of ftpbox, but it has no release yet.
  • WinSCP is too complicated (out of dropbox simplicity context) and windows only.
  • mybackupbox the most expensive option at $10 per month, seems like the free version wouldn't keep things in sync, with just 10 "syncs" per month.
  • rsync - this didn't came up on my research but I'm just adding to the least for completeness sake. It can work very much like dropbox, but it's not simple on windows and it doesn't do the job by its own.

There are many features and differences as well (think of file sharing, which none of the above have), but for simple FTP sync to replace common task of uploading files to FTP, all of them seem good enough.

cregox
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  • +1 FTPbox probably fits the need, if the poster is not on Linux. If Linux is needed too, see question http://superuser.com/questions/416040 – Nicolas Raoul May 27 '12 at 02:08
  • @NicolasRaoul on my brief experience, FTPbox keeps crashing way too much (at least 5 times now) and it doesn't sync when I add stuff to local folder. I gave up on it for now. – cregox Jun 01 '12 at 14:46
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    Now Syncany does have a release and it seems to work! – Binyomin Feb 16 '21 at 20:13
  • @binyominzeev thanks for the revival! the very second phase on their landing page says "The core team of Syncany is on hiatus for an indefinite amount of time.". i never tried it. today i use mostly syncthing and some nextcloud. i think none of which use FTP, but ftp (or sftp) is outdated. you should prefer ssh. – cregox Feb 24 '21 at 14:05
  • I tried it, and it does work for me (on Linux), but it is not syncing to FTP, rather uses FTP to sync between different computers. – Binyomin Feb 25 '21 at 15:12
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Try using Netdrive (free for personal use, Windows) to map the FTP server as a local drive, with your Dropbox folder located in the local drive. A tutorial can be found here. If you prefer that your Dropbox folder is located in multiple directories: make use of symlinks.

I only recommend Netdrive if you're using Windows: I don't have access to a Mac and all the Linux alternatives to Netdrive (e.g. CurlFTPFs) I tested were quite slow (you always can give it a try)