A WinSCP alternative for Linux and Ubuntu

Start with what is already there. In GNOME Files, type an address such as ssh://user@server/ into the location bar (Ctrl+L) or into the address bar of Network in the sidebar, and the remote files open in an ordinary window. Ubuntu 24.04 and older have Other Locations instead of Network, with a Connect to Server box at the bottom. Dolphin on KDE does the same with sftp:// or fish:// typed into the location bar. For copies you want to script, sftp and scp from OpenSSH, or rsync, do the work that WinSCP's command line does on Windows.

If you want WinSCP's two panes, FileZilla is the closest free match: sudo apt install filezilla on Ubuntu gets you FTP, FTPS and SFTP with directory comparison, and no terminal. Conchshell is the answer when the shell and the remote desktop belong to the same job: a .deb for Ubuntu and Debian, an .rpm for Fedora and openSUSE, and an AppImage for everything else, x86_64 only and needing WebKitGTK 4.1, which means Ubuntu 22.04 or later. The details are on Conchshell for Linux.

Nobody goes looking for a WinSCP alternative because WinSCP costs money. It does not, and it never has. Platform is the usual reason: a MacBook handed over, or the work moved to a Linux desktop. Asked in September 2025 about a macOS release, the author said there are no plans to support it, and Linux gets the same answer as the Mac: Wine. "We run it under Wine" is a sentence somebody eventually asks you to justify. A phone is out as well: asked about an Android port, the author answered "Sorry, but it's not likely."

On Windows itself, one detail surprises people: the requirements page still calls the primary release 32-bit. On 24 September 2026 the news page gave 6.5.7 of 9 September 2026 as the current stable release, and a 64-bit build exists only as an "Experimental 64-bit version", introduced in the 6.6.2 release candidate of 17 June 2026.

The second is having two windows open on one server. The vendor puts it 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." WinSCP's Console runs a command and prints the output, with no TTY behind it, so anything that redraws the screen stops with "Error opening terminal". The documented route to a shell is Open in PuTTY, or a terminal client set under Applications Integration: a second application, and a second host list to keep in step with the first.

The third is remote desktop, which WinSCP has never had. It was asked for on the official forum in a thread titled "Need to have RDP in winscp" and nothing shipped. By the vendor's docs, SFTP and SCP use SSH on port 22, FTP port 21, implicit FTPS 990, WebDAV 80, and secure WebDAV and S3 443; RDP is a separate protocol, on port 3389 by default, and needs a remote desktop client of its own.

The fourth is quieter and tends to surface during a review. A saved password sits in the registry or in WinSCP.ini in a form the vendor itself describes plainly: 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", and the FAQ adds "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 asks you to switch it on.

The fifth is the one nobody warns you about: none of it is portable. Export/Backup configuration writes an INI, and neither FileZilla nor Conchshell reads it, so the host list is retyped on the other side. Budget a few minutes for that before you start.

The two-pane layout, if that is how you work: local on one side, remote on the other, drag and drop between them, and a transfer queue with progress, speed, ETA, cancel and retry.

SFTP and plain FTP, and FTPS as a real protocol rather than an afterthought: Conchshell's FTPS runs over rustls and pins the server's certificate on first use, asking you once unless your system already trusts that certificate for the name you typed, in which case it is accepted without a question and pinned all the same (Android has only the pin). It is explicit FTPS only, so a server that expects implicit TLS on port 990 will not connect. Directory compare and synchronise are in, in four explicit steps. So is opening a remote file in your own editor, where saving sends it back, and so are per-server directory history and pinned directories.

And then the parts WinSCP has no answer for: a real PTY in the same window, split four ways, with tab groups and session restore; RDP sessions, each in a window of its own, over CredSSP (NLA) only; live CPU, memory, disk, process, bandwidth and latency graphs for the host; log tailing from several sources at once with level and regex filters.

The application is free on macOS, Windows and Linux. No account exists, so there is nothing to sign into, nothing to expire and no tier that greys itself out.

One thing is paid, and it is worth being exact about. Carrying your saved connections between your own machines costs $19 once, an introductory price rising to $29. It is a purchase, not a subscription: updates are included, the key is checked on your machine without a network, and there is no machine limit.

WinSCP charges nothing for anything, commercial use included: the licence page grants the right to run it for any purpose free of charge, individual, school or corporation alike, under GPLv3 or later. The Microsoft Store copy, priced at $19.99 in the vendor's docs on 24 September 2026, is optional; the same page says its binaries are identical to the classic installer and frames the purchase as a form of donation. Its answer to the sync problem is portable mode: keep WinSCP.ini in a folder you already synchronise yourself, which works. If price is the only axis you are comparing on, WinSCP wins it, and this page is not going to pretend otherwise.

• Your main machine is a Mac or a Linux box, and "we run it under Wine" is not something you want to defend in a change ticket.
• You are running WinSCP and PuTTY against the same host and editing the port number in two places.
• An RDP session belongs to the same task as the file copy. Conchshell does RDP over CredSSP (NLA) only, so a host with NLA disabled will not connect, but it is in the same app, in a window of its own, at no extra cost.
• You want the client to offer encryption for saved credentials itself: XChaCha20-Poly1305 with an Argon2id-derived key on Linux and Windows (the system keychain on a Mac), bound to host, port, user, proxy chain and jump host, with no way in the interface to read one back.
• You want to remap the shortcuts you use most, instead of choosing from a fixed pool of 36 combinations reserved for bookmarks, custom commands and extensions.

• You are on Windows and never leave it. Explorer drag and drop, jump lists, a URL protocol handler, sites shared with PuTTY, and Kerberos single sign-on in an Active Directory domain: Conchshell reaches none of that.
• You need it portable. One executable with its INI beside it runs from a USB stick on a workstation where you cannot install anything.
• You are arriving with sites in another client. WinSCP imports from PuTTY, KiTTY, FileZilla's sitemanager.xml and an OpenSSH config, and host keys from known_hosts. Conchshell imports the Host entries of ~/.ssh/config, Bitvise .tlp profiles and its own JSON bundle, and on first launch takes host keys from ~/.ssh/known_hosts once; it reads none of the others.
• Your transfers run unattended. Scripting, the command line and the .NET assembly are first-class here, and Generate Session URL/Code turns a session you clicked together into a .bat or a .ps1. Conchshell has no equivalent.
• Your files live behind S3, WebDAV, SCP or implicit FTPS. WinSCP speaks all four in the same window; Conchshell covers FTPS only when the server takes explicit TLS, and none of the other three.
• You deploy to a fleet. An MSI package, /SILENT switches and machine-wide administrative settings; Conchshell has installers, not policy.
• You rely on Keep remote directory up to date, which watches a local folder and mirrors changes as you save. Conchshell compares and synchronises in four explicit steps, and watches nothing between them.
• You want to read the code. WinSCP is GPLv3 with a public repository, so you can audit it, patch it and keep it running whoever ends up maintaining it.

1. Export first. In the Login dialog, Tools > Export/Backup configuration writes an INI containing every site. Conchshell does not read it, so treat it as your checklist, and keep it until the move is finished.
2. Download Conchshell for your platform: the .deb on Ubuntu and Debian, the .rpm on Fedora and openSUSE, the AppImage anywhere else. On a Mac with Apple silicon, Conchshell opens with no extra step. On an Intel Mac with macOS 13 or later the first launch is System Settings > Privacy & Security > Open Anyway; on macOS 12, System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General.
3. Set up the vault when the app offers it: it asks at start-up, every time, while any saved password is still unencrypted, and until you accept, saved passwords sit unencrypted in its local data. On Linux and Windows there is no keychain support, so the vault opens with a passphrase of at least 12 characters, asked at every launch, and setup shows you a recovery code once; Argon2id derives the key and XChaCha20-Poly1305 encrypts the store. On a Mac the system keychain opens it instead, with no master password.
4. Recreate the sites from the INI: host, port, user, protocol, plus the jump host or proxy if there was one. For more than a dozen, write them into ~/.ssh/config as Host entries and use Import from ~/.ssh/config, which reads HostName, User, Port, IdentityFile and ProxyJump and saves nothing until you confirm. Proxies here are HTTP CONNECT, SOCKS4, SOCKS4a and SOCKS5, and a jump host keeps its own credentials.
5. Passwords are typed in once, on purpose: the JSON bundle that moves connections, folders, profiles and settings between Conchshell installs carries no credentials by design. Private keys are not copied anywhere either. You point the connection at the file already on disk; keys protected by a passphrase work, and so do PuTTY .ppk files, versions 2 and 3, without converting them.
6. Only if you want the same hosts on a second machine: $19 once, and the encrypted vault mirrors into a folder you already sync. Devices linked by a code read off the desktop screen also sync directly over your own network while the app is open on both, so the folder matters only for machines that are rarely on the same network at the same time.

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Is there a WinSCP for Linux or Ubuntu?

No. WinSCP is built for Windows only, and the requirements page's one word on other systems is that it also runs on Wine. On Ubuntu, GNOME Files opens an ssh:// address typed into its location bar (Ctrl+L) or into the address bar of Network in the sidebar, called Other Locations on 24.04 and older; FileZilla installs from the universe repository, and Conchshell ships a .deb, an .rpm and an AppImage for x86_64.

What is the best WinSCP alternative for Linux?

It depends on which half of WinSCP you use. For files alone, the file manager you already have or FileZilla will do, and neither costs anything. If you also kept PuTTY open beside WinSCP, Conchshell puts SSH, SFTP, FTP, FTPS and RDP in one window, free to install, with syncing connections between your own machines as the only paid feature at $19 once. On a Mac the choice is wider; see WinSCP for Mac.

Is Conchshell free, or free until it is not?

Free on every platform, with no account, no trial clock and no feature that greys out over time. One thing costs money: syncing saved connections between your own machines, $19 once at the introductory price, then $29. It is a one-off purchase with updates included, the licence is checked on your own machine without a network, and it covers as many of your machines as you like.

Can I run WinSCP on Linux with Wine?

It can be done: the requirements page says WinSCP also runs on Wine and points to its entry in the Wine AppDB, and Ubuntu carries Wine in its universe repository. What you get is a Windows application with Windows dialogs and habits on a Linux desktop. It covers one WinSCP-only job; as a daily client, a native one removes the question. The Mac route, through WineBottler, is on WinSCP for Mac.

Will my WinSCP sites import?

Not directly. WinSCP exports an INI, and Conchshell reads the Host entries of ~/.ssh/config, Bitvise .tlp profiles and its own JSON bundle, but not WinSCP.ini. For a dozen servers, retype host, port, user and protocol from the INI; for more, write them into ~/.ssh/config and import that in one go. Keys come across as they are, since .ppk files are read directly, and saved passwords are typed again once.

Is WinSCP safe to download?

The application is not the problem; the search results have been. BleepingComputer, Rapid7 and The Hacker News have all reported malvertising campaigns pushing trojanised WinSCP installers through paid search. Take the download from winscp.net itself rather than from an advert. The OpenCandy bundling people still bring up belongs to installers from years ago, not to what the site serves today.

Does WinSCP have a scheduler?

No. The vendor's guide points at Windows Task Scheduler plus WinSCP scripting, and there is a whole FAQ page for scripts that work by hand but hang under Task Scheduler or SSIS, usually over the working directory or Pageant being unreachable from a service session. Conchshell has neither a scheduler nor a scripting host, so recurring transfers are a reason to keep WinSCP.

WinSCP is free, still maintained, and does the job it advertises. If it runs on your machine and covers your work, replacing it would be a waste of an afternoon, and the migration steps above are not aimed at you.

It stops at three places: the Windows boundary, the terminal, and remote desktop. If you are standing at one of them, what you want is one window that holds all of it, free to install on macOS, Windows and Linux, with a single paid feature: syncing connections between your own machines, $19 once.

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