Mountain Duck

Mountain Duck is a highly-regarded utility application that solves the problem of accessing cloud and server storage as if it were a physical folder on your local computer. it is developed by the same team behind the popular file transfer client Cyberduck.

Core Functionality: Mount Remote Storage as a Local Disk

Mountain Duck acts as a bridge, mounting remote connections directly into your operating system's native file system (Finder on macOS or File Explorer on Windows).

Key Features

• Broad Protocol Support: It supports a vast array of services, including:

  • Cloud Storage: Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, Azure, Backblaze B2, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and Box.

  • Servers/Protocols: SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol), FTP/FTPS, WebDAV, OpenStack Swift, and SMB (Windows/Samba file shares, added in Version 5).

• Smart Synchronization: Files are typically downloaded and cached on-demand when you open them. This conserves local disk space.

• Offline Work: You can manually select files and folders to always keep offline. Any changes made while disconnected are automatically synchronized when the connection is restored.

• Integrated Connect Mode (Version 5 and later): This is a major recent feature that uses native OS APIs for faster file write performance and better integration, including the ability to use Windows Search or macOS Spotlight to search remote files.

• Security: It supports Cryptomator interoperable vaults for strong, client-side encryption, meaning your data is encrypted before it ever leaves your computer.

• Custom Versioning: For protocols that don't natively support versioning (like FTP or WebDAV), Mountain Duck can create a secure version history for your files.

Pricing

• Licensing: Mountain Duck uses a one-time purchase license model, not a subscription.

  • A single license for the current major version (Version 5) is typically $49.00 USD.

• Usage: A single license can be used by the same user on multiple computers (both Mac and Windows).

• Upgrades: Major version upgrades (e.g., from Version 4 to 5) are paid, but discounts are offered to existing license holders.

In summary, if you frequently need to access and manage files across many different types of servers or cloud storage accounts using the familiar drag-and-drop interface of your desktop, Mountain Duck is one of the most comprehensive and well-supported tools available.