Transmit for Windows? The Closest Options in 2026
There is no Transmit for Windows. Panic makes Transmit for the Mac only, and it has never announced a Windows version. If you are used to Transmit on a Mac and now need the same kind of tool on a Windows PC, the realistic options are WinSCP, Cyberduck and FileZilla among dedicated clients, Total Commander among classic file managers, RaiDrive if you want servers as drive letters, and X-Filer, a file manager that runs on both systems. Below is what each one costs at the time of writing (October 2026) and how close it gets to Transmit.
Full disclosure: X-Filer is our app. It has its own section, with its limits spelled out.
What Transmit does, and why there's no Windows version
Transmit 5 is Panic's file transfer app. It needs macOS 13 or later and costs $45, one-time, with a 7-day free trial. It speaks FTP, SFTP, WebDAV and S3, and connects to Backblaze B2, Box, Google Drive, Dropbox, Azure, OneDrive for Business and others. What people love about it:
- The dual-pane view — your Mac on one side, the server on the other.
- Folder sync — local to remote and remote to remote, with one-click mirroring.
- Panic Sync — your saved sites follow you to every Mac.
- The polish — it looks and behaves like a native Mac app, because it is one.
That last point is also why there is no Windows version: Transmit is written for macOS from the ground up, and Panic is a Mac and iOS developer. The same is true of ForkLift and Commander One, the other Mac favorites with servers built in. If you came here from one of those, see ForkLift for Windows — the answer is the same.
So on Windows you choose between:
- A dedicated transfer client — WinSCP, Cyberduck, FileZilla.
- A file manager with servers built in — Total Commander, X-Filer.
- A mounting tool — RaiDrive, which puts servers and clouds on drive letters in Explorer.
WinSCP — the Windows standard
WinSCP is free and open source, and it is the default answer on Windows for a reason. The current release, WinSCP 6.7, connects to SFTP, FTP, FTPS, SCP, WebDAV and S3. It has a two-panel Commander interface or an Explorer-style one, folder synchronization in several modes, a built-in text editor, scripting and automation, and integration with PuTTY.
How close to Transmit: in features, very close — two panels, sync, S3 and WebDAV are all there, and scripting goes further than Transmit. In looks, not close at all: WinSCP is a classic Windows utility.
What's missing: Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive and other consumer clouds. WinSCP is for servers and S3, not for your personal cloud drives.
Who it suits: anyone who wants Transmit's feature set for free and doesn't mind a utilitarian interface. Note that WinSCP is Windows only — if you still use a Mac too, see WinSCP for Mac.
Cyberduck — the same app on both systems
Cyberduck runs on Windows and macOS, is licensed under the GPL and is free, with donations welcome. It connects to FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, SMB, Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, OpenStack Swift and Azure, plus Nextcloud, ownCloud, OneDrive, SharePoint, Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, Wasabi and Backblaze B2. It can synchronize folders, opens Cryptomator vaults and lets you edit a server file in your own editor, uploading it again when you save.
How close to Transmit: it covers almost the same list of services, and it works the same on your Mac and your PC. But it is a single-pane browser, one connection per window, without Transmit's side-by-side layout — you copy by dragging between Cyberduck and Explorer. To mount a server as a drive, the same developer sells a separate app, Mountain Duck.
Who it suits: people who use many cloud services and want one free client on both systems.
FileZilla — free and familiar
FileZilla Client is free and runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. The free version speaks FTP, FTPS and SFTP, in the classic layout: local files on the left, the server on the right, a transfer queue below. FileZilla Pro, a paid edition, adds Amazon S3, Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint, Backblaze B2, Box, Azure and WebDAV; the Pro product page doesn't list the price, so check it in the store.
How close to Transmit: the two panels are there; sync and the polish are not.
Who it suits: occasional transfers to FTP and SFTP servers at no cost.
Total Commander — a file manager that also does FTP
Total Commander is the classic two-panel file manager for Windows. FTP is built in, and SFTP comes as a plugin from the author himself, listed on the plugins page. Clouds such as Google Drive and OneDrive are another plugin, and a Synchronize Directories tool compares and syncs two folders, local or remote. A license is EUR 42 plus VAT at the time of writing; the download is a fully functional shareware version.
How close to Transmit: closer in spirit than a transfer client, because you manage your local files and the server in the same two panels. The interface, though, has barely changed in decades, and every protocol beyond FTP is an add-on.
Who it suits: people who want one file manager for everything and like the keyboard-driven commander style. Total Commander has no Mac version.
RaiDrive — servers as drive letters
RaiDrive takes a different approach: it puts each server or cloud on a drive letter, so it shows up in Explorer and every Windows app can open files on it. It runs on Windows and Linux and supports WebDAV, SFTP, FTP, S3-compatible storage, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox and many more.
The free Standard plan allows up to 8 drives, shows ads and makes SFTP, FTP, WebDAV, Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox writable; S3-compatible storage and most other services are read-only. Paid plans start at USD 1.84 a month and S3 becomes writable on the Team plan, USD 4.84 a month — both prices on a 3-year commitment, as listed on the pricing page in October 2026.
How close to Transmit: not a file manager or a transfer client at all, but if what you want is "my server in Explorer", that is exactly what it does.
Who it suits: people who want to open server files directly in Word, Photoshop or an IDE without copying them first.
X-Filer — one file manager on Windows and Mac
X-Filer is our app, so weigh this section accordingly. It is a free file manager for Windows 10/11 (x64 and ARM64) and macOS 12 or later (Apple Silicon and Intel). The same app, layout and shortcuts run on both — useful if you keep a Mac and want one tool on both machines instead of Transmit on one and something else on the other.
Servers connect from Add Drive:
- SFTP with a password or an SSH key file. X-Filer remembers the server's key on the first connection and refuses to connect if it changes.
- FTP and FTPS — turn on Use TLS (FTPS) when the server supports it.
- WebDAV — Nextcloud, Synology, ownCloud.
- S3-compatible storage — Amazon S3, Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2, MinIO and others, one bucket per drive, with read and write access.
- On Windows also WSL distributions, and SMB network folders through the system.
On Windows, passwords and keys are stored encrypted for your user account. The setup for each kind is in the guide Servers and network folders.
A connected server sits in the sidebar like any folder. Open it in a tab or in split view next to a local folder — the closest thing to Transmit's two panes here — and drag files across, with a progress bar, Cancel and a choice of Replace, Save Both or Skip on name clashes. Google Drive and Yandex Disk open in the same window, without their sync clients.
The honest limits, compared with Transmit:
- No folder sync and no mirroring. If you sync folders daily, WinSCP or Cyberduck do it on Windows.
- No mounting. Servers open inside X-Filer, not as drive letters in Explorer — that's RaiDrive's job.
- Undo works on local files only. Moves and deletes on a server can't be taken back, and X-Filer asks before deleting there.
- Young app. X-Filer is pre-1.0, and the Windows build is not code-signed yet, so SmartScreen shows a warning on first run (More info, then Run anyway).
Comparison table
Prices are at the time of writing (October 2026), from each vendor's site.
| App | Windows | macOS | Price | Two panels | Folder sync | S3 | Consumer clouds | Drive letter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transmit 5 | No | Yes (13+) | $45 one-time | Yes | Yes | Yes | Google Drive, Dropbox, Box and more | — |
| WinSCP 6.7 | Yes | No | Free, open source | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Cyberduck | Yes | Yes | Free (GPL), donations | No | Yes | Yes | Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Box and more | Via Mountain Duck (paid) |
| FileZilla | Yes | Yes | Free; Pro is paid | Yes | No | Pro only | Pro only | No |
| Total Commander | Yes | No | EUR 42 + VAT | Yes | Yes | Not built in | Via plugin | No |
| RaiDrive | Yes | No | Free (8 drives, ads); paid from USD 1.84/month | No | No | Read-only free; writable on Team | Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox and more | Yes |
| X-Filer (ours) | Yes (10/11) | Yes (12+) | Free for local files | Split view | No | Yes | Google Drive, Yandex Disk | No |
How to pick
- You want Transmit's features and don't care about looks. WinSCP: two panels, sync, S3, scripting, free.
- You still use a Mac too. Pick an app that runs on both: Cyberduck, FileZilla or X-Filer. Cyberduck if you need the longest list of cloud services; X-Filer if you want a full file manager with servers and Google Drive or Yandex Disk in one window.
- You want servers inside Explorer and other apps. RaiDrive, or Mountain Duck from the Cyberduck developer.
- You live in a commander already. Total Commander with its SFTP plugin.
- You only upload now and then. FileZilla, or
sftp user@serverin Windows Terminal — OpenSSH is built into Windows 10 and 11.
FAQ
Is there an official Transmit for Windows?
No. Panic sells Transmit for macOS only; the current version needs macOS 13 or later. On Windows, use WinSCP, Cyberduck, FileZilla, Total Commander, RaiDrive or X-Filer.
What is the best free Transmit alternative for Windows?
WinSCP has the closest feature set — two panels, folder sync, SFTP, WebDAV and S3 — and is free. Cyberduck is free too and adds many cloud services, and it runs on the Mac as well.
Can I move my Transmit sites to Windows?
Not directly: no Windows app reads Transmit's favorites. Write down the host, port, user name and key path of each site and add them again. If you used an SSH key, copy the private key file to the PC; WinSCP converts OpenSSH keys to its own format when you load them, and Cyberduck and X-Filer use them as they are.
Does Windows have SFTP built in?
Partly. Windows 10 and 11 include the OpenSSH client, so sftp and scp work in Windows Terminal or PowerShell. Explorer itself can't open an SFTP server; for that you need one of the apps above.
Bottom line
There is no Transmit for Windows. For the same features for free, use WinSCP. For one free client on both Mac and PC with lots of clouds, use Cyberduck. For servers as drive letters, RaiDrive. And if you want one modern file manager on both systems with servers, S3 and Google Drive or Yandex Disk in the same window, try X-Filer from the download page. It is free for local files, young, and we'd like to hear what you miss from Transmit.