Jack Wallen/ZDNET
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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- If you regularly transfer files to/from remote servers, this app is for you.
- Transmit can connect with SFTP, WebDAV, and several cloud services.
- Transmit can be had for a one-time fee of $45.
I upload and download files from multiple services and servers throughout the day. These files range from small text files to larger video files. When I’m on macOS, there’s one tool I prefer for this process, and that’s Transmit.
Transmit is a paid app ($45/one-time fee with a 7-day free trial) that goes above and beyond what most file transfer apps can do.
What makes Transmit so special? Other than having a well-designed, easy-to-use GUI, it can work with more services than you’ve probably heard of. Transmit can interact with Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, Box, DeamObjects, Dropbox, Google Drive, Azure, OneDrive, OpenStack, RackSpace, and any server that accepts FTP, SFTP, or WebDAV protocols.
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The one caveat to the list of servers is that Google Drive support will soon be phased out. If you already have a Transmit > Google Drive connection established, it should continue to work. However, once support for Google Drive is no longer available, you will not be able to add a Google Drive account. That’s pretty common with apps like this: when Google makes a change, support is often broken.
Other than the Google Drive issue, Transmit is an outstanding app for moving files. I’ve mostly used it to move files back and forth between SFTP servers, and it does so perfectly. I can even connect with SFTP servers using SSH Key Authentication, which makes it more secure than using username/password credentials.
And with the tabbed interface, I can have as many connections open as needed and send/receive files throughout my day without having to open a new tab or reestablish a connection.
What makes Transit worth $45?
There are several features of Transmit that, for me, make it worth the $45 one-time fee.
First, it begins with a well-designed GUI. Although Transmit has yet to receive the Liquid Glass treatment, this is very much a MacOS app through and through. It has been designed such that anyone can jump on and start connecting to servers without much hassle. Sure, if you’re going to be connecting to SFTP or WebDAV servers, you’ll need to know how to work with those protocols, but when connecting to the likes of OneDrive, it’s as easy as it gets.
My only complaint about the GUI is that it hasn’t been Liquid Glassified.
Jack Wallen/ZDNET
It doesn’t hurt that Transmit also supports drag-and-drop of files to and from the server. Once you’ve connected, navigate to the destination folder and drop the files you need to or from the server.
Also: How to customize MacOS Liquid Glass and make it uniquely yours
Another feature that really stands out for me is the Sync option. Here’s how it works:
- Navigate to the local folder that houses the files/folders to be synced in the left pane.
- Navigate to the destination folder that will house the synced files/folders.
- Click the Sync icon (the one directly to the left of the “i” icon near the top center).
- Configure the syn options you want.
- Run the simulation to make sure it succeeds.
- If the sync succeeded, click Sync Files.
Creating a sync is as easy as it gets.
Jack Wallen/ZDNET
Once you’ve taken care of that, the source and destination will stay in sync, which makes for an outstanding backup solution. Not only can you do a one-time file transfer, but you can also use Transmit to regularly keep your data in sync with a remote server. And given how easy the sync is to set up, this is a total no-brainer.
A good backup solution is often worth every penny.
You can also create favorites, which give you quick access to the servers you regularly access. To create a favorite, all you have to do is make the connection to the server in question, click the Servers menu, select Add, and (in the resulting pop-up) give the server a name, and click Add.
Creating favorites gets you quick access to the servers you use most.
Jack Wallen/ZDNET
After adding a favorite, you can then quickly access it from the Servers menu.
Finally, the speed at which Transmit sends and receives files is impressive, especially for larger files sent to services like Amazon S3, where you can see transfer speeds up to 16x faster than other apps. I ran a full sync of my Documents folder to an SFTP server on my home network, and over 4,000 files were transferred (some of which were larger film clips), and the process completed far faster than it had when using other apps (such as FileZilla).
How to get Transmit
You can install Transmit from either the Apple App Store or by downloading the installer directly from the official Transmit website. If you opt to install from the download, all you have to do is double-click on the downloaded file, and the installation will begin. The 7-day trial begins as soon as you open the app.
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Everything about Transmit is user-friendly, from connecting to remote servers to transferring files to creating synchronization backups.
If you’ve been looking for a great file transfer app and don’t mind paying the $45 one-time fee, you cannot go wrong with Transmit.
