What is FTP?

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used to move files between an app on your local computer and a remote server. You can use the standard FTP on our Web Hosting, Web Hosting Plus, and Windows Hosting plans.

Our Managed WordPress plans use Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) which uses the SSH protocol for file transfer instead of FTP. It's essentially the same as FTP but with the added security of both the commands and data being encrypted. This feature prevents passwords and sensitive information from being transmitted openly over the internet.

To use FTP, you'll need an FTP app. There are many different clients you can use, but we recommend FileZilla. The FTP app FileZilla is also compatible with SFTP; you'll need to specify port 22 instead of port 21, which is used by FTP.

Note: Our Web Hosting, Web Hosting Plus, and Windows Hosting plans support passive mode FTP. This setting can be managed in most FTP apps and website design software that support publishing with FTP. Managed WordPress uses SFTP, which only supports active mode, so no changes need to be made to the active mode setting in your FTP app.