ConchshellConchshell vs WinSCP, and where each one stops
WinSCP is free, genuinely free, and nothing on this page argues otherwise. There is no paid tier, no account and no licence key. This is an argument about scope instead. WinSCP calls itself an SFTP and FTP client for Microsoft Windows, and most of what follows falls out of that one sentence. If your week also holds an interactive shell, a MacBook or an RDP session, you are already opening two or three applications.
Everything about WinSCP below was read from winscp.net on 20 August 2026.
The overlap is one protocol wide
Both applications move files over SFTP, both speak FTPS, and that is where the shared ground ends. WinSCP goes wider on transfer protocols: plain FTP, SCP, WebDAV over TLS and Amazon S3 all sit in the same window, and Conchshell has none of them.
Conchshell goes wider on what a session is. One window holds a PTY terminal, the two-pane file browser, an RDP session and live CPU, memory, disk and process graphs for the host you are on. So the question is not which one copies files better. It is whether your work is transfers plus a bucket, or transfers plus a shell.
The terminal WinSCP says it cannot have
The vendor puts this more bluntly than a competitor would: "Terminal emulation cannot be implemented at all as it is not possible to combine terminal emulation and file transfers in the same session." The Console window runs a command and prints its output. There is no TTY, so top, vim, less and anything that redraws the screen fails with "Error opening terminal".
The documented answer is to launch something else: Open in PuTTY, or the path to a terminal client you set under Applications Integration. That works. It is also two applications, two lists of saved hosts and two places to change a port number.
Conchshell runs a real PTY with xterm.js and WebGL drawing, splits panes four ways, groups and drags tabs, and restores your sessions on launch. The file panel and the shell are one connection in one window.
Windows, and the vendor has said so
WinSCP runs on Windows 7/2008 and newer, up to Windows 11 and Windows Server 2025. That is the entire list. Asked on the official forum for a Mac equivalent, the author replied "We haven't tested this, so I cannot give any suggestions. If you do test it, let us know!", and the thread ends by pointing at Wine. Asked about an Android port: "Sorry, but it's not likely." The requirements page's whole Linux position is that WinSCP also runs on Wine.
Worth knowing if you are staying on Windows: on the day this was checked, the news page gave 6.5.6 of 25 March 2026 as the current stable release, still a 32-bit application. A 64-bit build appears only as an "Experimental 64-bit version" in the 6.6.2 release candidate of 17 June 2026.
Conchshell ships native builds for macOS on Apple silicon and Intel, for Windows, and for Linux as .deb, .rpm and .AppImage. Android installs as an APK from the site, not from Google Play, and there is no iOS build yet — that is everything there is on a phone.
What happens to a saved password
WinSCP documents its own weakness, which is rarer than it should be. Saved passwords "are stored in a manner that they can easily be recovered", because "it is not possible to securely encrypt passwords in a way that still allows for automatic use". The FAQ is blunter: "anybody with access to your computer can do it too." A master password exists, the docs call it a strong AES cipher and publish no key length, mode or derivation function, and nothing in the product makes you switch it on.
Conchshell has one vault and no unprotected mode. The store is XChaCha20-Poly1305 with the key derived from your passphrase by Argon2id, and independent slots sit over a single data key, so adding the OS keychain or revoking a recovery code rewrites one slot instead of re-encrypting everything. The interface can write a credential and delete it; there is no command to read one back. Each credential is bound to host, port, user, proxy chain and jump host, and if any of those changes the password is not offered.
Where Conchshell is the better tool
- You are not on Windows. Native macOS, Windows and Linux builds instead of Wine, which the vendor has never tested.
- You want the shell and the files in one window, with one saved host list and one port number to change.
- Your day includes RDP. It is in the same window and costs nothing, though Conchshell connects over CredSSP (NLA) only, so a host with NLA switched off will refuse.
- Saved passwords should be encrypted whether or not you remembered to opt in.
- You want to watch the host: live CPU, memory, disk and process graphs, per-interface bandwidth, latency and log tailing with regex filters.
Where WinSCP is the better tool
- Unattended jobs. A scripting host, a full command line and winscpnet.dll, callable from PowerShell, C# or SSIS. Conchshell has nothing in this category.
- S3, WebDAV and plain FTP. If the archive is a bucket and the finance server is FTPS, WinSCP covers both; Conchshell covers the FTPS half.
- Fleet deployment. An MSI package, /SILENT switches and machine-wide administrative settings. Conchshell has installers, not policy.
- The source is public under GPLv3, so an organisation can audit it, patch it and keep it alive without the author. Conchshell cannot make that argument.
- Keep remote directory up to date watches a local folder and mirrors changes as you save. Conchshell compares and synchronises in four explicit steps, and watches nothing between them.
Moving your hosts across in two minutes
- In WinSCP, open the Login dialog and run Tools > Export/Backup configuration. The INI it writes lists every site: host, port, user, protocol. Conchshell does not read that file, so keep it open as your working list.
- Install Conchshell from the download page. On macOS 13 and later the first launch goes through System Settings > Privacy & Security > Open Anyway; on macOS 12 the path is System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General.
- Set the vault passphrase on first run. Argon2id derives the key, XChaCha20-Poly1305 encrypts the store, and the OS keychain or a recovery code can be added as separate slots later.
- Recreate the hosts from that list, with the jump host or proxy if the connection used one. If you already run Conchshell elsewhere, import its JSON bundle instead: connections, folders, profiles and settings all travel in it.
- Point each connection at the private key file already on disk. Keys stay where they are, passphrase-protected keys are supported, and passwords are typed once, because no export here carries credentials by design.
- Only if you want the same hosts on a second machine: $19 once, and the encrypted vault mirrors into a folder you already sync.
Questions people actually ask
Is Conchshell really free?
The application is free on macOS, Windows and Linux, with no account, no subscription and no trial that runs out. One feature is paid: syncing saved connections between your own machines, $19 once at the introductory price, then $29. That is a purchase rather than a subscription, updates are included, the key is checked offline, and there is no limit on how many of your own machines use it.
Does WinSCP support RDP?
No. The vendor's protocol list is SFTP, FTP, SCP, WebDAV and S3, with no remote desktop entry anywhere. It was asked for on the official forum in a thread titled "Need to have RDP in winscp" and nothing shipped. Almost every other RDP result on winscp.net is a support thread about WinSCP misbehaving inside somebody else's RDP session. Conchshell has RDP built in, over CredSSP (NLA) only.
Is there a WinSCP for Mac?
There is no native build, and the vendor has never shipped one. On the forum thread asking for a Mac equivalent the author said he had not tested it and could give no suggestions, and the thread ends pointing at Wine. Linux is the same story: the requirements page says only that WinSCP also runs on Wine. Conchshell has native builds for both, plus Windows.
Do I need an account for either of them?
Neither product has a sign-in screen. WinSCP keeps sites in the Windows registry or a local INI and has no vendor cloud for them at all. Conchshell has no account either. If you pay for sync, the encrypted vault is mirrored into a folder you already synchronise yourself, such as iCloud Drive, Dropbox or a git checkout, instead of passing through a server of ours.
Is WinSCP free for commercial use?
Yes. The licence page grants the right to run WinSCP for any purpose free of charge, whether you are an individual or a corporation, under GPLv3 or later, and there is no commercial edition to buy. The Microsoft Store copy, priced at $19.99 in the vendor's docs on 20 August 2026, is optional: the same page says the binaries are identical to the classic installer and frames the purchase as a form of donation.
Can I keep my WinSCP scripts if I switch?
No, and this is the clearest reason to keep WinSCP installed somewhere. Conchshell has no scripting host, no command-line transfer mode and no .NET assembly. If a nightly job runs winscp.com with a script file, or a PowerShell task calls winscpnet.dll, leave it exactly where it is. Nothing here suggests removing WinSCP from the machine that runs your scheduled transfers.
Which one to install
If you are on Windows, your work is moving files, and some of it runs on a schedule, WinSCP answers the question better and costs nothing. Install it and stop reading.
If you are on a Mac or a Linux desktop, or you keep switching between PuTTY and WinSCP on the same server, or an RDP session belongs to the same job, the thing to remove is the second application. Conchshell is free on all three platforms; the only paid part is carrying saved connections between your own machines, $19 once.