As the topic title says - I'm trying to decide which one to install on my server. No, don't say "use SFTP instead", because I use SFTP a *lot* and hate it due to its slowness. And I know it's not as secure (actually, that's a lie since it can be encrypted, and locked down pretty well - heck, ftp.kernel.org uses it)!

My point is that I want an FTP server, don't try convincing me otherwise.

That said, here are the 2 FTP server websites:

vsftpd:
http://vsftpd.beasts.org/#features
http://vsftpd.beasts.org/vsftpd_conf.html

PureFTPD:
http://www.pureftpd.org/project/pure-ftpd

Heh, me telling you to use sftp ^_^

Setting up vsftpd is very simple and, well, works. Installing isn't an issue. The config files to set up are commented and sorta-work. You must change around settings to allow users to connect, etc. However, if you install system-config-vsftpd, you can use a GUI to set up users, change settings, etc. in a simple way (which I use over config files)

I don't have anything to say about PureFTPD as I never needed to use it...

Personally, I use ProFTPd. It works well. Also it have Apache-like configuration files. I think you will like it.

http://www.proftpd.org/

/me is tempted to say "use SFTP instead", but won't.

SFTP is no slower than FTP. If you're using FTP, you're exposing your password in plaintext while you connect. That doesn't sound like security to me. When I did used to use FTP on my Linux servers, I would use ProFTPd, for what it's worth.

Your counter that FTP can be secure is to link to an FTP server with public access?

*facepalm*

Please don't forget about RFC 4217 defining FTPS - Allowing a regular FTP session to be encrypted using TLS/SSL. There are easy ways to set it up. I have not tried to use FTPS, but it shouldn't be a problem. I don't know how other FTP daemons do for FTPS...

The awkward thing is that I only know about FileZilla as far as FTPS support; I think almost everything else just uses FTP/SFTP. Which reminds me that my computer performs its backups, even though they're local, via FTP, which I really should do something about.

I have always used net2ftp mainly because it was the first thing that I could find on Google. On a sidenote, is that an ok choice, or are the other links by alberthrocks better than net2ftp?

If you care about security of the FTP server software itself (notwithstanding the plain text password, as the others mention), by all means, avoid PureFTPD and ProFTPD, and use vsftpd
Both PureFTPD and ProFTPD have a looong ongoing history of security holes. ProFTPD got (once again) in ridicule territory at the end of 2010 - it got exploited to plant a backdoor in one of the releases. https://lwn.net/Articles/418478/

I used to use vsftpd, but I've switched to SFTP.

That's pretty frightening about ProFTPD, especially considering that I used to swear by it as an FTP daemon for my servers. I'm happy that I have long switched over to SFTP for all of my remote file transfer needs.

I would also recommend SFTP, but since that's not an option, I have three words for you: rsync over ssh.

Ah yes, also an excellent option, and the one that I use for periodic backups of my Linux servers. Actually, that reminds me that my backups for one of my servers are out of date; thanks for reminding me about that.