There is no WinSCP for Mac. Here is what to use instead

These are the Mac clients people usually land on after WinSCP. Prices and requirements were read from each vendor's own site on 24 September 2026.

• Terminal, already on your Mac. macOS ships OpenSSH, so sftp and scp work with nothing installed. Finder is no substitute: Apple's own help says Connect to Server gives read-only access to FTP servers, and SFTP is not on its list at all.
• Cyberduck. Free under the GPL, with a donation prompt that a contribution of $10 or more switches off. SFTP, FTP, WebDAV, S3 and a long list of cloud storage, and it synchronises folders. The window shows the server only, not your disk beside it, and for a shell its Open in Terminal command hands you over to Terminal.
• FileZilla. The client is free, with two panes, FTP, FTPS and SFTP and directory comparison, on macOS, Windows and Linux. S3, WebDAV and cloud storage are in FileZilla Pro, from €12.99.
• Transmit 5. Panic's client, $45 once, macOS 13 or later. The dual-pane window WinSCP users expect, FTP, SFTP, WebDAV and S3 plus cloud services, and File Sync.
• ForkLift 4. A dual-pane file manager that also connects over SFTP, FTP, WebDAV, S3, SMB and more, and syncs one or two ways. From $19.95 for one Mac with a year of updates; it lists macOS 14.6 as its requirement.
• Conchshell. Free to install, with one paid feature: syncing saved connections between your own machines, $19 once. Two panes over SFTP, FTP or FTPS, with an SSH terminal and RDP in the same window. What that covers and what it does not is set out below.

If WinSCP was only ever a two-pane file mover for you, Transmit or ForkLift is the closest match in feel, and FileZilla the closest at no cost. Conchshell earns its place when the file pane was one half of the job and PuTTY was the other. More on the file-only clients: Cyberduck alternative and FileZilla alternative.

The vendor has been consistent about this for years. The requirements page's only word on anything other than Windows is that "WinSCP also runs on Wine", and Mac users who ask on the forum are pointed to a guide called Running WinSCP on OS X in Wine.

That guide recommends WineBottler "for its simplicity". WineBottler's own site offers its newest build "for macOS Mojave and High Sierra", releases from 2018 and 2017, and the guide says nothing about Apple silicon. Inside Wine your Mac's disk appears as drive Z:, and the guide reminds you to press Ctrl rather than Cmd: Ctrl+X for Cut.

On the right machine it can work, for someone who needs one feature only WinSCP has. As the file client you open every day on a current Mac, it is a Windows program inside a translation layer, on a platform its author has said he has no plans to support.

What carries over from WinSCP: two panes, local and remote, with drag and drop between them; SFTP, plain FTP and FTPS; a transfer queue with progress. Folders are compared and synchronised one direction per run, with exclude patterns such as .git or *.log, and you review every change before anything is written. Local to remote uploads new and changed files; remote to local refreshes only files that already exist on both sides, so a file that is only on the server is neither listed nor downloaded. Double-click opens a remote file in the editor you choose, and saving sends it back to the server from any editor. Keys made with PuTTYgen work as they are: .ppk versions 2 and 3 are read directly, passphrase included.

What does not: SCP, WebDAV and S3 are absent, there is no two-way synchronisation, and FTPS is the explicit kind only, so a server that expects implicit TLS on port 990 will not connect. There is no scripting, no command line and no .NET assembly, and nothing that watches a local folder and uploads as you save, the job WinSCP calls Keep remote directory up to date. If any of that is why you used WinSCP, keep a Windows machine for it.

What you get that WinSCP never had: a real terminal with a PTY in the same window as the files, split four ways; RDP to Windows hosts over CredSSP (NLA) only, so a host with NLA switched off will refuse; and live CPU, memory, disk and process graphs for the server you are on. The full comparison, table included, is on the WinSCP alternative page.

1. On the Windows machine, open WinSCP's Login dialog and run Tools > Export/Backup configuration. The INI it writes lists every site with its host, user, port and key file. Conchshell does not read it, so treat it as your checklist.
2. Copy your private keys across as well. Conchshell reads .ppk files, versions 2 and 3, so there is nothing to convert.
3. Install Conchshell from the download page. The first launch on a Mac goes through System Settings > Privacy & Security > Open Anyway; on macOS 12, System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General.
4. For a handful of sites, create them in the connection dialog from the INI. For dozens, write them into ~/.ssh/config and use Import from ~/.ssh/config: Conchshell reads each Host entry with its HostName, User, Port, IdentityFile and ProxyJump, shows you the list, and saves nothing until you confirm. Conchshell takes the .ppk as it is; ssh in Terminal would need the key converted to OpenSSH format first.
5. Type saved passwords once more. They do not travel in any of this, and WinSCP's own documentation says saved ones are easily recovered unless a master password is set. Conchshell offers to create its encrypted vault on the next start after you save a password; until you do, saved passwords sit unencrypted in its local data.

Host web-prod
    HostName 203.0.113.10
    User deploy
    Port 2222
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/web-prod.ppk

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Is there a WinSCP for Mac?

No. WinSCP runs on Windows only, and when asked in September 2025 whether a macOS release was planned, its author replied that there are no plans to support macOS. The vendor's suggestion for Mac users is running the Windows program under Wine. Native Mac clients that do the same job include Cyberduck, FileZilla, Transmit, ForkLift and Conchshell.

Where can I download WinSCP for Mac?

Nowhere official. winscp.net offers a Windows installer and a Microsoft Store listing, and nothing for macOS. Treat a "WinSCP for Mac" download on any other site with suspicion: search adverts for WinSCP have been used to push trojanised installers, as BleepingComputer, Rapid7 and The Hacker News have reported.

What is the closest WinSCP equivalent for Mac?

For the two-pane file window alone, Transmit ($45 once) and ForkLift (from $19.95) feel closest, and FileZilla is the closest free one. If you also kept PuTTY open beside WinSCP, Conchshell puts the terminal, a two-pane SFTP, FTP and FTPS browser and RDP in one window, free to install. Cyberduck is free too, but shows the server only, without your disk beside it.

Is there a free WinSCP alternative for Mac?

Yes, several. Cyberduck is free with a donation prompt, the FileZilla client is free, and Conchshell is free to install with one paid feature: syncing saved connections between your own machines, $19 once. The sftp and scp commands in Terminal cost nothing and need no install at all.

Can I use my WinSCP sites and keys on a Mac?

The keys, yes: Conchshell reads PuTTY .ppk files, versions 2 and 3, without conversion. The sites, not directly: Conchshell does not read WinSCP.ini, and none of the Mac clients on this page imports it, so export it as a checklist and recreate the sites, or write them into ~/.ssh/config and import that file in one go. Saved passwords are typed again once.

Can I run WinSCP on a Mac with Wine?

Sometimes. The vendor's guide recommends WineBottler, whose newest build is offered for macOS Mojave and High Sierra, and says nothing about Apple silicon. Under Wine the Mac's disk shows up as drive Z: and shortcuts use Ctrl instead of Cmd. It is a workaround for one WinSCP-only job, not a daily client.

What does WinSCP do that Conchshell does not?

SCP, WebDAV, Amazon S3 and implicit FTPS on port 990; scripting, the command line and the .NET assembly; two-way synchronisation; and Keep remote directory up to date, which uploads changes as you save. Conchshell compares and synchronises folders one direction at a time when you ask it to, and watches nothing in between.

If you depend on WinSCP's scripting, none of the Mac clients here replaces it: keep WinSCP on a Windows machine for those jobs. If it is S3 or WebDAV you need, Cyberduck, Transmit and ForkLift all speak both, and Conchshell does not.

If you need two panes over SFTP and nothing else, pick by price and feel: FileZilla at no cost (Cyberduck too, if one pane is enough), Transmit or ForkLift for the most Mac-like window. If you want the files, the shell and the remote desktop together, Conchshell is free to install, and the only thing that costs money is syncing connections between your own machines, $19 once.

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• WinSCP alternatives on Linux and Ubuntu, with the full comparison
• Conchshell for macOS: requirements and first launch
• Cyberduck alternative
• FileZilla alternative
• Download for macOS, Windows or Linux