When comparing FileZilla vs Nautilus (AKA Gnome Files), the Slant community recommends FileZilla for most people. In the question“What are the best FTP clients for Linux?” FileZilla is ranked 1st while Nautilus (AKA Gnome Files) is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose FileZilla is:
Supports FTP, FTPS (SSL) and SFTP (SSH).
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Secure FTP support (FTPS/SFTP)
Supports FTP, FTPS (SSL) and SFTP (SSH).
Pro Free and open source
FileZilla is free open-source software distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License free of charge. Basically this means that everyone, including corporate entities, can use FileZilla, including but not limited to private, educational and commercial use.
Pro Offers Server Mode
Can be used as an FTP server also, allowing easy file sharing.
Pro Cross-platform
In addition to Windows, FileZilla client is available for Unix, OSX and Linux.
Pro Suppots FTP and FTPS
FileZilla Server is a server that supports FTP and FTP over SSL/TLS which provides secure encrypted connections to the server.
Pro Kind of de-facto standard
If you're troubleshooting things, everybody will first try if it works with File-Zilla.
Pro Allows you to access remote or local locations
On recent versions of GNOME, you can click the Files entry in the panel to access the a specific location (remote or local), connect to a certain server (FTP, SFTP, SAMBA, etc.), access your bookmarks, open a new window, as well as to change its default functionality.
Pro Widely supported
The program is distributed as a single source archive, which can be configured, compiled and installed on almost any Linux flavor. There are no binary files for a specific Linux distribution, but you can install it directly from the default software channels of your operating system.
Pro Google drive integration
Pro Easy to use and familiar user interface for Ubuntu users
The user interface of Files is very familiar to Ubuntu users, most probably because Canonical still uses Nautilus (an old version of it) as the default file manager for its world’s most popular free operating system, Ubuntu Linux.
It split into two parts, a sidebar and the main file viewer. While you already know what the latter can do for you, the sidebar offers quick access to Places, Devices and Network locations, as well as any other bookmarks that you can add whenever you want.
Pro Convenient file moving progress
Nautilus shows the progress of file move operations in the top right. This doesn't get in your way. You can keep using the window while the operation is progressing.
Pro Fully supports DPI
Cons
Con Installs junk software on your computer
The installer will install adware by default.
Con Mostly unconfigurable
There are not many ways to configure Nautilus to fit your needs. Besides what can be seen in the settings button you can't configure it further.
Con Gradually losing its features
Unlike most software, where new features are added over time, Nautilus (along with other Gnome applications) tends to lose features, and for unclear reasons.
Con Doesn't support "open as root"
Con No Tree View option any more
This is a crucial feature for my daily work with a file manager and without a Tree View option a file manager seems pointless to me.
The reason for dropping this feature is weird. Quoted from here:
"It is the list view after all. Tree models don't work well on
touch and it isn't consistent with the file chooser."
Con Slow
Seems to be one of few file managers that can take several seconds to open.