FTP 101 – Part 5: Why many are moving from FTP to SFTP
Published {$created} by Carsten Blum
FTP has been around since the 1970s. It’s simple, widely supported, and gets the job done. So why are more and more users moving away from it?
The short answer: FTP hasn’t aged well. Let’s look at some of its core limitations – and why modern teams prefer alternatives like SFTP or SCP.
1. It’s not secure
This is the biggest reason.
With plain FTP, everything – including your username, password, and even the files you transfer – is sent in clear text. Anyone monitoring the network can intercept your credentials or files without much effort.
Firewalls and VPNs can help, but they don’t fix the root issue: FTP lacks built-in encryption.
At ftpGrid, we enforce strong credentials to raise the security baseline – but even that isn’t enough to make plain FTP safe on modern networks.
2. It struggles with modern infrastructure
FTP was designed in a time before NAT, firewalls, and cloud-hosted servers.
Because it opens a separate connection for file transfers (often on unpredictable ports), FTP can be a nightmare to configure in corporate networks or containerized environments.
Passive mode helps, but it’s still fragile compared to alternatives.
3. It doesn’t support modern workflows
Need fine-grained access control? Audit logs? Key-based authentication?
FTP doesn’t natively offer any of that.
Features we now consider standard – like safe authentication methods, scripting with predictable behavior, or integration into CI/CD pipelines – are simply missing in the FTP spec.
Better alternatives: SFTP and SCP
Both SFTP and SCP offer secure, encrypted file transfers over SSH. That means:
Your credentials and data are fully protected
You can use SSH keys instead of passwords
It’s firewall-friendly and easy to script
At ftpGrid, among our many features, we fully support both SFTP and SCP – and we recommend using them for all production workloads. We even support multiple SSH key formats, so you can tailor access securely for each user.
TL;DR
FTP is outdated and insecure
It doesn’t play well with modern networks or security expectations
SFTP and SCP are secure, robust, and work out of the box at ftpGrid
Still using plain FTP? It’s time to upgrade your pipeline – your data deserves better.