Guide Control Panel

How to create an FTP account

Creating login details for an FTP client and connecting to your hosting account with them.

iFastHosting Support Team Updated 26 August 2026 6 min read Beginner

FTP accounts are how a dedicated program on your own computer connects to your hosting account to move files back and forth. Your control panel's browser-based file manager covers a lot of everyday jobs, but for transferring a whole website, syncing a local folder, or working with tools that expect a proper FTP connection, a separate FTP account is the more practical route.

FTP versus SFTP

Both let you transfer files; the difference is in how the connection is protected.

	FTP	SFTP
Encryption	None by default — credentials and files travel in plain text	Encrypted over SSH
Typical port	21	22
Recommended	Only if SFTP is not available for some reason	Yes, whenever it is offered

If your control panel offers both, use SFTP. Plain FTP sends your username and password in a form that can be read by anything sitting between you and the server, which matters more on public or shared networks than it might seem.

Creating the account

Open the section of your control panel dealing with FTP or SFTP accounts. This is separate from your control panel's own login — an FTP account is a distinct credential created specifically for file transfer, and you can create more than one if different people or different tools need their own.

Choose a username for the account. Some panels build this from your domain automatically; others let you pick freely.
Set a password. As with any account credential, make it long, unique, and not reused from anywhere else — an FTP password that leaks gives whoever has it direct write access to your website files.
Set the starting folder, if the option is offered. Restricting an FTP account to a specific subfolder — useful if you are handing access to someone who only needs one part of the site — means it cannot see or touch anything outside that folder.
Save the account. Your control panel should then show you the hostname and port to connect with, alongside the username you chose.

The hostname is not always your domain name

Some setups connect using the domain itself; others use a separate hostname tied to the server. Use exactly what your control panel shows for this account rather than guessing at your domain — an incorrect hostname is the most common reason a first connection attempt fails outright.

Connecting with an FTP client

FileZilla is a common free choice and works the same way most others do. You need four pieces of information:

Host — the hostname shown in your control panel
Username — the FTP account username
Password — the password you set
Port — typically 21 for FTP, 22 for SFTP, unless your control panel specifies otherwise

Enter these into the client's site manager or quick-connect bar. A successful connection shows your remote folder structure on one side of the window and your local computer's files on the other, and you move files between them by dragging.

Keeping the account secure

Treat an FTP password like a website admin password

Anyone with valid FTP credentials can read, replace or delete every file the account has access to. Do not send a password in plain email if you can avoid it, do not reuse it anywhere else, and remove or change the credentials for any account you no longer need — including one created temporarily for a developer or agency.

If you are handing file access to someone else — a developer, a designer, an agency — creating a dedicated FTP account for them, scoped to a specific folder where possible, is safer than sharing your own control panel login. It also means you can remove their access later by deleting that one account, without touching anything else.

Common connection problems

"Connection timed out." Often a firewall on your own network blocking the port, or an incorrect hostname. Double-check the details against what your control panel shows.
"530 Login incorrect." The username or password does not match. Retype rather than paste if you suspect a hidden character crept in when the password was copied.
You connect but see no files, or the wrong files. Check the starting folder set on the account — it may be scoped to a subfolder rather than the account root.
Uploads are very slow. Try SFTP if you are currently on plain FTP, and check whether your own network connection is the bottleneck before assuming it is the server.

Once you can connect, everyday file work — uploading a new theme, editing a configuration file, pulling down a copy before you make changes — works the same way it would on a local folder. If you would rather stay in the browser instead, the file manager covers the same ground without a separate program.