sftp is not designed for fast file transfers, its designed for security. With that in mind sftp is extremely slow when it comes bulk data transfers and ftp is much better suited for this.
sftp is for upload and download and is not compatible with site to site transfers, it was added because many web hosting providers are cutting off ftp access in favor of sftp. even though with a proper configuration ftp ssl/tls can be secured very well, the problem is that it isn't as easy to configure and sometimes a nightmare on virtual host setups.
I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to do but in my opinion ftp is the way to go unless you're forced to use sftp for some reason.
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