When comparing WinSCP vs KiTTY, the Slant community recommends KiTTY for most people. In the question“What are the best SSH clients for Windows?” KiTTY is ranked 1st while WinSCP is ranked 17th. The most important reason people chose KiTTY is:
- Sessions filter - Shortcuts for pre-defined command - The session launcher - Automatic logon script - URL hyperlinks - Running a locally saved script on a remote session - Send to tray - Transparency - Quick start of a duplicate session - SSH Handler: Internet Explorer integration - pscp.exe and WinSCP integration - New command-line options
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Supports FTP and SFTP
In new versions also supports WebDav.
Pro Free and open-source
It has very good compatibility with the other tools of this segment (e.g. PuTTY).
Pro Supports WebDAV
Pro Not bundled with Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUP)
Does not attempt to install unwanted software on installation.
Pro Supports PPK Keys
You can use the SSH server public/private key files from putty to log in.
Pro Supports Amazon S3
You can use in the last versions S3 so you're good if you use Amazon AWS.
Pro Portable
No Installation required.
Pro Integrated basic text editor
It has a integrated basic function text editor to create/edit/update files directly from client.
Pro Can protect stored passwords by strong AES cipher
Pro Can be automated with batch scripts
Put a line in bat file ""D:\Program Files\WinSCP\winscp.com" /console /script="D:\ftp\scripts\transfer.txt". All the info can be found on their site.
Pro Includes additional features over PuTTy
- Sessions filter
- Shortcuts for pre-defined command
- The session launcher
- Automatic logon script
- URL hyperlinks
- Running a locally saved script on a remote session
- Send to tray
- Transparency
- Quick start of a duplicate session
- SSH Handler: Internet Explorer integration
- pscp.exe and WinSCP integration
- New command-line options
Pro Source Code Available
Source code is available so you could modify or review changes.
Pro Startup sessions
Support start-up sessions which allow you to specify the window/tab layout, working directories, and programs to run on startup.
Pro Can store login credentials
Ability to store passwords/passphrases locally.
Pro Clickable URLs
URLs are parsed and can be clicked.
Pro Auto login script
Automatic processing of commands after conncetion was made.
Pro True Color support
Supports True Color, so software like Vim can display a really nice pallet.
Pro Portable version available
Pro Background image
Ability to overlay the terminal background with an image.
Pro Unicode
Uses Unicode for the best character compatibility.
Cons
Con Keyboard shortcuts not editable
Con Slow
In my opinion, it's slower than Filezilla.
Con No x64 version
Con Does not support UNC
Does not support UNC. This makes working with the "Library"-function in Win 7, 8, 10 not possible when working over a network.
Con Weird keyboard selection handling
If you are accustomed to several commanders, the selection method in WinSCP behaves unexpected - most often selects too much.
Con No centralized configuration
Each session holds its own configuration of all features. This means that if one wants to change a configuration common to all sessions (say, the terminal font), it has to be changed in each stored session separately.
A better solution would be to have a default configuration and store only the changed elements for each session (both configurations would be merged, with e priority on the specific one).
Con No tabbed sessions
No built-in support for tabbed sessions. Requires an add-on.
Con No mouse support in alternative screens
Like vim, less, etc.