{"id":1040,"date":"2021-03-17T10:28:43","date_gmt":"2021-03-17T08:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/?p=1040"},"modified":"2025-11-27T11:41:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T09:41:29","slug":"how-to-establish-an-ftp-connection-to-your-hosting-account","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/how-to-establish-an-ftp-connection-to-your-hosting-account\/","title":{"rendered":"Connect FTP to Hosting Account (FileZilla)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When looking to establish an <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/how-to-connect-to-my-vps-via-sftp\/\"><b>FTP connection<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to your hosting account, <\/span><b>using an FTP client is your best bet<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0 FTP clients have the increased flexibility, security measures that make it easy <\/span><b>to transfer files without drawbacks.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you are unfamiliar with FTP clients, they are a piece of software that can log into your FTP server and <\/span><b>help you transfer files on your local computer or to external servers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A number of them are available for use with similar features and user interface, while others have unique features.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this guide, we\u2019ll walk you through <\/span><b>the easy process<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of establishing an FTP connection to your hosting account using three top FTP clients:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Filezilla<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cyberduck<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">WINSCP<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We will also show you some <\/span><b>key points<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to consider before selecting an FTP client for this process.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Using FTP Clients to Establish a Connection to Your Hosting Account<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can establish an FTP connection <\/span><b>in two steps<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Let\u2019s explore them.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Step 1: Set up an FTP account in your hosting account<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To set up the FTP program, you will be required to <\/span><b>set up a New FTP account<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> first, if none is existing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>To do so:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Login to your Spanel account using the default URL of your root domain. This is <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/[yourdomain]\/spanel<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1042 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021-03-17_10h22_37.png\" alt=\"Connect FTP to Hosting Account (FileZilla), Step 1: Set up an FTP account in your hosting account\" width=\"623\" height=\"347\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021-03-17_10h22_37.png 623w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021-03-17_10h22_37-300x167.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 361px) 660px, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 910px, 1140px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After logging in, select <\/span><b>FTP Accounts <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">under the <\/span><b>Files<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> section of your sPanel<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1047 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021-03-17_10h25_53.png\" alt=\"Connect FTP to Hosting Account (FileZilla), Step 1: Set up an FTP account in your hosting account 2\" width=\"626\" height=\"189\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021-03-17_10h25_53.png 626w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021-03-17_10h25_53-300x91.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 361px) 660px, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 910px, 1140px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Click on <\/span><b>New FTP Account<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1048 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021-03-17_10h25_59.png\" alt=\"Connect FTP to Hosting Account (FileZilla), Step 1: Set up an FTP account in your hosting account 3\" width=\"637\" height=\"88\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021-03-17_10h25_59.png 637w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021-03-17_10h25_59-300x41.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 361px) 660px, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 910px, 1140px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>You will be required to fill in the following credentials to complete the new account setup process:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Username<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Give your FTP account a username that easy to remember and will be used to access your account at any time<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Document root folder<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: This specifies the location where you will access your new FTP account. If left empty, the new FTP account will link to your account root directory.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Password<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Give your FTP account a strong password which will be required your new FTP account<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Repeat password<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Re-enter the password created in the previous field<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1043 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021-03-17_10h23_13.png\" alt=\"Connect FTP to Hosting Account (FileZilla), Step 1: Set up an FTP account in your hosting account 4\" width=\"623\" height=\"306\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021-03-17_10h23_13.png 623w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021-03-17_10h23_13-300x147.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 361px) 660px, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 910px, 1140px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Click <\/span><b>Create Account<\/b><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1045 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021-03-17_10h23_30.png\" alt=\"Connect FTP to Hosting Account (FileZilla), Step 1: Set up an FTP account in your hosting account 5\" width=\"206\" height=\"74\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After clicking on <\/span><b>Create Account<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a message will be displayed saying <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Successfully created FTP User [yourFTPusername]<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<h3><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1046 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021-03-17_10h23_38.png\" alt=\"How to Establish an FTP Connection to Your Hosting Account\" width=\"611\" height=\"129\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021-03-17_10h23_38.png 611w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021-03-17_10h23_38-300x63.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 361px) 660px, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 910px, 1140px\" \/><\/h3>\n<h3><b>Step 2: Connect Your FTP account to your FTP client<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The overall process to connect your FTP account to any FTP client is quite similar, with minor differences.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After opening up your preferred FTP Client application, <\/span><b>fill in the following login credentials:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Host<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: This is your FTP IP address or domain name; write it as yourdomain.com or ftp.yourdomain.com<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Port<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: This refers to your data server port and has its default number as 21. This field is optional and can be left blank.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>User<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Enter your FTP account username in this field<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Password<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Type in your FTP account password here<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Logon: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Select the type of logon option you would like to use. Select <\/span><b>Normal<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Protocol<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Here, you are required to select the protocol for transferring files across networks. Select <\/span><b>FTP &#8211; File Transfer Protocol\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Encryption<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: At this point, select how you want your data to be encrypted. Choosing Only Use Plain FTP is an insecure connection but the simplest option because it does not require certificates and other configurations. However, at Scalahosting, we recommend selecting the most secure encryption method, which is the <\/span><b>Use explicit FTP over TLS if available<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> option.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>FTP Connection Using FileZilla<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a previous article, we shared the steps to connect your FTP account to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/filezilla-project.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Filezilla<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>FTP Connection Using Cyberduck<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you are using <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cyberduck.io\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cyberduck<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, open the Cyberduck application on your computer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Click on <\/span><b>Open Connection<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fill in the login credentials requested in the pop-up window.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Click on <\/span><b>Connect <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to establish an FTP connection.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>FTP Connection Using WINSCP<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you are using <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/winscp.net\/eng\/index.php\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">WINSCP<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the process is quite similar too.\u00a0 Login to your WINSCP application, fill in your credentials, and click the Connect button.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Choosing Your FTP Client<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When choosing an FTP client to establish a connection to your hosting account, <\/span><b>here are a few points to consider:<\/b><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>OS Compatibility<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Choose a client that is compatible with your Operating System. It is also essential to check out the version of your OS that the FTP client supports.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Security<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Top of your list should also be security because file transfer requires an increased security measure<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Simplicity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Look out for an easy-to-use interface with a seamless functionality<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>File upload size<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: You don&#8217;t want to select a client that does not support large files transfer.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2><b>Filezilla vs Cyberduck vs WINSCP<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let&#8217;s compare these FTP clients side by side, so you\u2019ll know what\u2019s best for your situation.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Filezilla<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Filezilla is <\/span><b>one of the top FTP clients<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> available on the internet. It is compatible with Windows, Linux, and Mac operating systems.\u00a0 It is excellent for transferring <\/span><b>files larger than 4GB<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with a side-by-side display functionality, which helps you locate your files seamlessly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The interface, though outdated, also displays information on the status of your file transfer process at one glance.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Cyberduck<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cyberduck is another free to download FTP Client <\/span><b>with a simple to use interface<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, making it easy to transfer from your local computers and external servers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, Cyberduck is not available for Linux OS users. Cyberduck is an excellent option if you are looking <\/span><b>to sync with third-party cloud platforms<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> like Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft Azure, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>WINSCP<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This free file manager is only compatible with Windows, as the name depicts. It has <\/span><b>excellent support and documentation resources for its users<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which some other clients do not provide.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">WINSCP also <\/span><b>encrypts all files<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that are sent through it, giving it an increased level of security.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">WINSCP is an excellent option for you if you are a Windows user and you are looking for a client with basic transfer functionalities.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Awesome! Now you know how to use FTP clients to connect to your hosting account.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We hope that our suggestions will help your decision process in choosing the FTP Client right for you. <\/span><b>If you need more help or have questions<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> leave us a comment or reach out to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/contact-us.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">our happy-to-help support team<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When looking to establish an FTP connection to your hosting account, using an FTP client is your best bet.\u00a0 FTP clients have the increased flexibility, security measures that make it easy to transfer files without drawbacks. If you are unfamiliar with FTP clients, they are a piece of software that can log into your FTP [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Connect FTP to Hosting Account (FileZilla) | ScalaHosting KB","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-web-hosting"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1040"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5837,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1040\/revisions\/5837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}