SFTP.cloud vs AWS Transfer Family
AWS bills SFTP by the hour. We bill it once a year.
Both put SFTP and FTPS in front of Amazon S3. AWS Transfer Family charges for every hour each protocol is switched on and for every gigabyte that passes through. SFTP.cloud is one published price, with passwords, FTPS, a web client and storage beyond AWS included.
AWS details checked against AWS pricing pages and documentation on 15 October 2026, using US East list prices.
How you pay
Per protocol, per hour, plus per GB
One yearly price, no per-GB charge
Password sign-in
Needs a custom identity provider you build, or AWS Directory Service
Included
Storage
Amazon S3 and Amazon EFS
S3, Azure, Google Cloud, S3-compatible and on-premises
01What a year costs
The same setup, priced for a year.
One endpoint offering SFTP and FTPS, a browser option for partners who don't use a client, and 100 GB moved a month. On AWS each of those is a separate meter, and every protocol meter runs all year whether files move or not.
AWS Transfer Family
A year, before S3 and other AWS charges$9,684
SFTP.cloud Shared
A year$2,400
AWS figures use US East (N. Virginia) list prices for AWS Transfer Family as of 15 October 2026 and exclude S3 storage, requests, data transfer out to the internet, and any Lambda, API Gateway or Secrets Manager charges for a custom identity provider. Your storage provider bills your storage as usual with either product.
02Setup
An SFTP endpoint, or a project.
AWS Transfer Family is a building block. Much of what partners expect from an SFTP service is something you assemble from other AWS services, then maintain.
| You want | On AWS Transfer Family | On SFTP.cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Partners who sign in with a password | Service-managed users sign in with SSH keys. Passwords need a custom identity provider you build with Lambda or API Gateway, or AWS Directory Service. | Passwords, SSH keys and multifactor authentication, included |
| FTPS alongside SFTP | A second protocol, billed by the hour, with sign-in through a custom identity provider or AWS Directory Service. | Included on the same endpoint |
| Storage outside AWS | Amazon S3 and Amazon EFS only. | Azure Blob, Google Cloud Storage, S3-compatible stores and on-premises storage, as well as Amazon S3 |
| Blocking attacking addresses | Not described in the AWS Transfer Family documentation. | Shield, on every endpoint |
03Defences
Security that arrives switched on.
AWS gives you the parts to build a secure endpoint. SFTP.cloud ships these four layers already in place, on every plan, with nothing to configure.
- 01
Shield turns attackers away before the handshake.
Shield remembers how every source address behaves and catches fast brute-force attempts and slow, spread-out botnets alike. Banned sources are dropped at TCP accept, before any SSH or TLS key exchange begins.
- 02
Post-quantum key exchange on every protocol.
SFTP negotiates the hybrid
mlkem768x25519-sha256, and FTPS, FTPES and HTTPS use post-quantum cipher suites, by default, so traffic recorded today stays unreadable later. AWS offers a post-quantum security policy for SFTP that you choose for each server. - 03
Mutual TLS between every component.
The Head, the control plane and your Connector authenticate each other with certificates on every connection. A foothold on the network between them is not a way in.
- 04
Two signed audit records you can check yourself.
Your Connector and our Head each keep a signed, chained record of every session. Download the evidence file and verify it with logverify, an open-source tool that needs nothing from us.
Nothing to wire together, nothing to forget.
04Side by side
Price, storage and protocols, line by line.
Checked on 15 October 2026
| AWS Transfer Family | SFTP.cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ||
| Pricing model | $0.30 an hour for each protocol enabled, $0.04 per GB uploaded or downloaded, $0.50 an hour for the web app | Shared: $2,400 a year. Dedicated, on your own VM: $8,400 a year |
| Usage charges | Per GB, in both directions | No per-gigabyte or transfer charge |
| Storage | ||
| Supported storage | Amazon S3 and Amazon EFS | Amazon S3, Azure Blob, Google Cloud Storage, S3-compatible stores and on-premises storage |
| How it reaches your storage | An IAM role in your AWS account | A Storage Connector you run, with credentials that never leave it |
| Sign-in | ||
| SSH keys | Yes | Yes |
| Passwords | Through a custom identity provider or AWS Directory Service | Yes |
| Protocols and security | ||
| Protocols | SFTP, FTPS, FTP, AS2 and a web app, each billed separately | SFTP, FTPS, FTPES and an HTTPS web client |
| Post-quantum key exchange | Available for SFTP through a security policy you select | On every protocol, by default |
| Audit record | Logs in your AWS account | Two signed records you verify yourself |
AWS information comes from AWS pricing pages and documentation as of the date above, using US East (N. Virginia) list prices, and may have changed since. Prices exclude taxes. Amazon Web Services, AWS and AWS Transfer Family are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. SFTP.cloud is not affiliated with or endorsed by Amazon.
05Choosing
When AWS Transfer Family is the better fit.
AWS Transfer Family is a capable service. In these cases, it is the more direct choice.
- 01
Everything must run inside your AWS account.
Transfer Family endpoints live in your account and are governed by your IAM policies. SFTP.cloud’s transfer service runs on infrastructure we operate.
- 02
Your partners send files over AS2.
AWS Transfer Family supports AS2. SFTP.cloud supports SFTP, FTPS, FTPES and HTTPS, not AS2.
- 03
You want transfers to trigger AWS services directly.
Transfer Family events feed straight into Lambda, Step Functions and other AWS services. SFTP.cloud automates with SyncJS scripts.
If you want SFTP to S3 and beyond at a price you can budget once a year, that is what SFTP.cloud is built for.
06FAQ
SFTP.cloud and AWS Transfer Family, common questions.
Is SFTP.cloud an alternative to AWS Transfer Family?
Yes, for SFTP and FTPS access to Amazon S3, and to other storage too. Your files stream into your own bucket, and you pay one yearly price instead of hourly and per-gigabyte charges.
How much does AWS Transfer Family cost?
At US East list prices as of 15 October 2026, each enabled protocol costs $0.30 an hour, data uploaded or downloaded costs $0.04 per GB, and the web app costs $0.50 an hour. One SFTP endpoint enabled all year is $2,628 before any data moves.
Can partners sign in to AWS Transfer Family with a password?
Service-managed users sign in with SSH keys. For passwords, AWS documents building a custom identity provider with Lambda or API Gateway, or using AWS Directory Service. SFTP.cloud supports passwords, SSH keys and multifactor authentication without extra setup.
Does SFTP.cloud store my files?
No. Files stream through the Storage Connector you run next to your storage and are never written to a disk we own. The Connector authenticates to your bucket with credentials that never leave it.
Does AWS Transfer Family support post-quantum key exchange?
Yes. AWS offers SFTP security policies that include hybrid post-quantum key exchange, which you select for each server. SFTP.cloud negotiates post-quantum key exchange on SFTP, FTPS, FTPES and HTTPS by default.
Can SFTP.cloud use storage outside AWS?
Yes. Besides Amazon S3, SFTP.cloud works with Azure Blob Storage, Google Cloud Storage, S3-compatible stores and on-premises storage. AWS Transfer Family works with Amazon S3 and Amazon EFS.
Point it at your bucket. Stop watching the meter.
Deploy a Connector, grant it access to one bucket and send your first file in an afternoon. Fourteen days, no credit card, and nothing to cancel if it is not for you.
Want the details first? Read about SFTP for Amazon S3 or how it works.