FTP Hosting Feature Overview
Provider | Starting Price | Storage (GB) | Bandwidth | Free Domain | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
$2.99 | 100-200 | Unlimited | Yes | Visit Hostinger | |
$2.49 | 15-40 | 30-90 GB | Yes | Visit HostArmada | |
$1.79 | 10-40 | Unlimited | Yes | Visit FastComet | |
$1.99 | 20-40 | Unlimited | Yes | Visit Neoxea | |
$2.99 | 1-50 | Unlimited | Yes | Visit WebHostMost | |
$2.50 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Yes | Visit InterServer | |
$3.00 | 30-100 | Unlimited | Yes | Visit Verpex Hosting |
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) allows users to transfer files from one hosting provider to another over a TCP-based network, such as the internet. FTP hosting refers to a hosting service that allows users to store and manage their website files on a server using FTP. It is typically used by website developers and designers who need to transfer large files or manage multiple websites.
To use FTP hosting, users will need an FTP client, such as FileZilla or Cyberduck, to connect to the FTP server, browse and manage their files, and transfer files between their local computers and the server. FTP hosting is a simple and effective way to manage and maintain a website, and it is often used in combination with other hosting services, such as web hosting or cloud hosting.
At HostAdvice, we researched hosting providers that offer FTP hosting as part of their web hosting services. Our in-house hosting experts left no stone unturned and considered the most important details, from disk space to uptime and pricing. The top 7 FTP hosting providers were bought, tested and ranked using our rating methodologies and factors.
Here Are the Top FTP Hosting Providers
- Hostinger – Best for Total Security
- HostArmada – Best FTP Hosting Overall
- FastComet – Best Linux VPS Hosting
- InterServer – Best for affordable Cloud VPS
- Verpex Hosting – Best for Managed WordPress Hosting
The Best FTP Hosting Providers (Bought and Tested)
Hostinger is worth the price if you are looking for cheap FTP hosting with awesome discounts for first-time users. Hostinger provides an easy-to-use control panel that allows you to manage all aspects of your hosting account, including creating and managing websites, setting up email accounts, and accessing your FTP account. To use Hostinger’s FTP hosting, you need to have an FTP client installed on your computer and know your FTP login credentials, which can be found in your Hostinger account control panel.
- Overall Score: 4.6
- Features: 4.6
- Reliability: 4.6
- User Friendly: 4.7
- Support: 4.7
- Pricing: 4.6
Features (4.6): Hostinger provides a range of tools and resources to help you build and customize your website, including a website builder, templates, and a drag-and-drop editor. You will also get other features like SSL certificates, FTP over SSL, Weekly backups, DDoS protection, Free domain on selected plans, in-house developed WAF and many more.
Reliability (4.6): This host keeps their uptime rates at 99.90% to ensure the accessibility of your website content at all times.
User-Friendly (4.7): Hostinger uses high-quality servers and technologies to ensure fast and reliable performance for your website.
Support (4.7): Hostinger provides customer support around the clock through multiple channels, including live chat, email, and a knowledge base.
Pricing (4.6): if you need more power, flexibility and speed, choose their VPS hosting, which offers more dedicated resources and control for uninterrupted file upload, download and transfer. Here is a breakdown of Hostinger’s VPS hosting plans to access FTP hosting:
- VPS 1: $3.49/month – 1 TB bandwidth, 1 GB RAM, 20 GB SSD disk space, and 1 vCPU core. Renews at $8.99/month.
- VPS 2: $4.99/month – 2 TB bandwidth, 2 GB RAM, 40 GB SSD disk space, and 2 vCPU cores. Renews at $8.99/month.
- VPS 3: $7.99/month – 3 TB bandwidth, 3 GB RAM, 60 GB SSD disk space, and 3 vCPU cores. Renews at $8.99/month.
- VPS 4: $9.99/month – 4 TB bandwidth, 4 GB RAM, 80 GB SSD disk space, and 4 vCPU cores. Renews at $8.99/month.
Pros & Cons
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Full root access
- Dedicated IP
- Secured File transfer protocol (SFTP)
- Full control and flexibility
- Cheap starting prices
- Live chat is only available to existing clients.
- No Free domain on VPS 1.
During our research, HostArmada came up as the best overall FTP hosting provider as it allows you to manage FTP accounts on all its hosting plans. You can access and manage your FTP accounts via your cPanel dashboard, and you can learn how to do various activities regarding FTP with the many step-by-step tutorials that HostArmada offers in its Learning Center.
- Overall Score: 5.0
- Pricing: 4.9
- Features: 5.0
- Performance: 5.0
- Support: 5.0
- User Friendly: 5.0
Pricing: HostArmada offers monthly, annual, biannual, or triennial billing periods for its shared hosting plans, which are its cheapest hosting options. The entry-level plan costs $2.59/month (if you go for the monthly billing option) and includes one website, 15GB SSD, 2GB RAM, and 2 CPU Cores.
Features: All HostArmada shared hosting plans come with a free cPanel Control Panel, free daily backups, a free domain, unlimited databases, unlimited email accounts, unlimited subdomains, malware scans & removals, WAF & IP Firewall, with free SSL, free website migration, free web server caches, and FTP management.
Performance: You’ll get fast-paced SSD storage and the best-in-class hardware with this provider. Also, you’ll get a 99.9% uptime guarantee and the ability to choose from data centers on three different continents.
Support: HostArmada offers 24/7 customer support via live chat, phone, and a ticketing system. It also offers an average response time of 10 minutes, has a 99% support case resolution, and an extensive Learning Center filled with tutorials and guides.
User Friendly: All HostArmada plans come with free cPanel included, which is one of the most popular and user-friendly control panels on the market. You’ll also get a drag-and-drop SiteBuilder, 1-click WordPress install, and “Prepare for Launch†features.
Pros & Cons
- Top-notch performance and a 99.9% uptime guarantee.
- FTP access and management on all hosting plans.
- Excellent value for money.
- No money-back guarantee on the monthly plan (but all other plans come with a 45-day money-back guarantee).
FastComet is an ideal FTP hosting solution for all Linux users out there. With FastComet, you can access and manage your FTP files via cPanel and a few other clients, including FileZilla, WinSCP, CuteFTP, WS_FTP, SmartFTP, FlashFXP, FTP Voyager, and Leap FTP. This provider also offers top-notch performance and overall excellent hosting services.
- Overall Score: 4.8
- Pricing: 4.7
- Features: 4.8
- Performance: 4.8
- Support: 4.9
- User Friendly: 4.8
Pricing: FastComet offers four Linux VPS hosting plans. The entry-level plan starts at $46.16/month and includes one 2.50GHz CPU core, 2GB ECC RAM, 50GB SSD storage, and 2TB bandwidth.
Features: FastComet comes with a wide range of useful hosting features, such as cPanel, SpamExperts, Cloudflare, Softaculous, WHM, AMD EPYC, Imunify360, NVMe SSD Storage, WordPress LiteSpeed Cache, always-on DDoS protection, free website migration, and more.
Performance: With FastComet, you’ll get a 99.9% uptime guarantee and access to 11 data centers located in North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. It provides SSD-only servers with RAID 10, a free CDN, NVMe SSD, AMD EPYC CPUs, and WordPress LiteSpeed Cache.
Support: FastComet offers 15-minute response times and 24/7 customer support via email, live chat, and phone. It also has a ticketing system, tutorials, and an extensive knowledge base.
User Friendly: This provider allows you to install and manage your apps via the 1-click Softaculous installer. Also, it has a one-click App Marketplace and offers free website setup and transfer services.
Pros & Cons
- Round-the-clock customer support with 15-minute response times.
- FTP access via multiple FTP clients.
- Excellent performance and fast loading speeds.
- Higher prices on renewal (but still worth it due to the features included in the plans).
If you want unlimited FTP accounts on standard web hosting or VPS hosting, Interserver is your go-to. You can create and remove FTP accounts via your cPanel dashboard and set up your preferred FTP client software to connect to the server. Your FTP client software will allow you to transfer files to and from the server using FTP commands. With its easy-to-use control panel, you can eliminate the confusion you may have while trying to navigate your command line. Interserver uses only 50% of its server capacity to support the growth of your website without experiencing any issues. You will get instant provisioning whenever you buy any hosting solution to manage and store your website files.
- Overall Score: 4.4
- Features: 4.4
- Reliability: 4.4
- User Friendly: 4.4
- Support: 4.3
- Pricing: 4.5
Features (4.4): Interserver offers several hosting plans with different features and pricing. Some of the features that may be included with any hosting plan you choose are unlimited FTP accounts, DDOS protection (against Denial-of-service attacks), SSH (Secure Shell Protocol) access, unlimited storage space, unlimited data transfer, free SSL, hack and malware protection, plus automatic backups available as an add-on.
Reliability (4.4): This hosting company’s infrastructure is empowered with high-performance SSD storage, which guarantees a 99.9% uptime for their hosting services, meaning that your website should be available to visitors almost all the time.
User-Friendly (4.4): Interserver offers a 30-day money-back guarantee for their hosting services, allowing you to try their service with no risk.
Support (4.3): The company also offers 24/7 technical support to help you with any issues you may have while using their FTP hosting service.
Pricing (4.5): Interserver allows you to select and customize your server resources as you want. You can get unlimited storage space and data transfer to store and transfer as many files as you need without worrying about reaching a limit. Kindly check the screenshot below to see how to select your server resources.
Pros & Cons
- Unlimited FTP Accounts
- Ultra-Fast Web Server
- Unlimited Data Transfer and storage
- Easy to use DirectAdmin control panel
- Free Intershield security to block web attacks
- Transparent and customizable hosting solution
- No free domain name registration
If you’re looking for a hosting provider that offers great performance, managed hosting solutions, and frequent deals and discounts, then Verpex is the right solution for you. Its managed WordPress hosting solutions are among the best on the market, offering a fast and easy setup process and excellent performance and security.
- Overall Score: 4.9
- Pricing: 4.8
- Features: 4.8
- Performance: 4.9
- Support: 4.9
- User Friendly: 4.9
Pricing: Verpex offers three managed WordPress hosting plans that you can get on a monthly or yearly basis. The entry-level managed WordPress hosting plan costs $14.99/month and includes 10GB of storage, 50GB of bandwidth, 1GB database size, and free domain registration/transfer.
Features: All managed WordPress hosting plans come with free migrations, a free domain, CloudLinux, Imunify Web App Firewall, daily backups, a free SSL certificate, a custom-built control panel, automatic CDN, a load balancer, WP-CLI, SSH access, staging, and more.
Performance: Verpex offers a 99.99% uptime guarantee and 2.5s load times, making it one of the fastest hosting providers on the market. It has data centers in 12 locations worldwide, covering Europe, North America, South America, and Asia & Oceania.
Support: With Verpex, you’ll get 24/7 customer support via live chat, phone, email, and a ticketing system. You’ll also have access to a large knowledge base that contains many useful tutorials, articles, and guides.
User Friendly: Verpex’s managed WordPress hosting plans come with a custom control panel through Google Cloud’s Kubernetes. Via the control panel, you can easily launch your WordPress site and leave the management of your hosting and website in the hands of professionals.
Pros & Cons
- Affordable prices with managed services.
- Excellent for beginners and people who don’t have the time to manage their hosting plans themselves.
- All managed WordPress hosting plans come with a 45-day money-back guarantee.
- Prices are higher on renewal (but still affordable and cheaper than most other providers).
Ranking comparison between the Top Providers
FTP Hosting Providers – Final Recommendation
When choosing an FTP hosting provider, it’s important to determine your budget and look for a provider that offers a plan that fits your needs and price range. The hosting provider you have chosen must offer secure FTP options, such as SFTP or FTP over SSL, to protect your data during transfer or upload.
It’s always a good idea to research and compare the features and pricing of several FTP hosting providers before making a final decision. You may also want to consider reading customer reviews and testimonials to get a sense of the level of service and support you can expect from each provider.
We recommend Kamatera as the best FTP hosting provider overall, however different providers may be more suitable for different users depending on their specific needs and requirements.
Our Ranking Methodology: How do we rank?
Each of our top 7 FTP hosting providers has been tested to analyze the features, hardware resources, and support offered to you. Hence, we have created an overview of each host based on their FTP service and considered important criteria such as features, reliability, user-friendly, customer support, and pricing. Hostadvice’s hosting experts continually update review methodologies to provide quality hosting reviews, making it easy for you to choose your next host.
Our Ranking Factors
- User reviews30%
- Performance and reliability10%
- Types of hosting offered5%
- Customer support10%
- Site speed8%
- Bandwidth and storage3%
- Traffic volume4%
- Scaling potential4%
- Features included10%
- Ease of use4%
- Starting price4%
- Money back guarantee3%
- Other factors5%
We give top marks to the FTP host that offers FTP access and allows you to select and customize your server resources to suit your needs. Each of our ranking factors above has been assigned a certain percentage due to their importance in our review.
What is FTP Hosting?
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) hosting is a service that allows users to upload and download files to and from a remote server over the internet. This can be useful for a variety of purposes, including sharing files with others, storing files in a centralized location, backing up important data and managing the files that make up a website.
FTP allows you to easily transfer files to and from your web hosting account without the need for special software or programming knowledge. You can use FTP to upload and download files, including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files, images, and other media.
Some popular FTP (File Transfer Protocol) clients include FileZilla, Cyberduck, WinSCP, Transmit, and lftp.
What is the difference between FTP and SFTP?
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol or Secure File Transfer Protocol) are both network protocols that are used to transfer files between computers. However, there are a few differences between the two:
- Security: FTP is an unencrypted protocol, which means that the data being transferred is sent in plain text and can be intercepted by third parties. SFTP, on the other hand, uses encryption to secure the data being transferred, making it more secure than FTP.
- Authentication: FTP uses a separate set of credentials (username and password) for authentication, while SFTP uses the same credentials as the secure shell (SSH) protocol. This means that if you have access to the SSH login for a server, you also have access to the SFTP server.
- Port number: FTP uses port 21, while SFTP uses port 22.
- Compatibility: FTP is an older protocol supported by most operating systems and FTP clients. SFTP is a newer protocol and may not be supported by older systems or FTP clients.
In summary, SFTP is generally considered to be a more secure and modern alternative to FTP, but it may not be as widely supported.
What are the benefits of FTP Hosting?
FTP hosting refers to a service that allows users to store and access their files on a remote server using FTP. Some of the benefits of using FTP for web hosting include
- The ability to transfer large files quickly and easily, the ability to transfer multiple files at once, and the ability to transfer files between different operating systems.
- FTP hosting allows users to access their files from anywhere with an internet connection, making it a convenient option for users who need to access their files from different locations.
- It enables users to share files with others and collaborate on projects in real time.
- FTP hosting allows users to easily scale their file storage and transfer needs as their business grows.
- Many FTP hosting providers offer customizable options, such as the ability to set user permissions and customize file transfer settings.
- FTP hosting servers are typically well-secured, providing an additional layer of protection for users’ files.
How Should You Choose your FTP Hosting Provider?
Consider the following selected rating factors below to choose your next web host. By considering these factors, you should be able to find an FTP hosting provider that meets your needs and budget.
Performance and reliability:
- Does the FTP hosting provider offer up to a 99.9% uptime guarantee?
It’s important to note that uptime guarantees are not a guarantee that a website hosted by the hosting service will be available 100% of the time. Hosting companies that offer uptime guarantees typically have systems in place to monitor their servers and take steps to minimize downtime as much as possible.
Features included:
- Will the FTP host provide the FTP access and accounts?
- Does the FTP host offer robust security features?
When you sign up for an FTP hosting plan, you will typically receive a user account with a username and password that you can use to log in to the FTP server and access your files. The provider will also typically provide you with instructions on how to connect to the FTP server and transfer files using an FTP client. Some providers may also offer web-based interfaces or other tools for managing and transferring files on the FTP server.
Also, make sure the provider has robust security measures in place to protect your data and prevent unauthorized access. This includes encryption, secure login protocols, and regular security updates.
Money-back guarantee:
- Does the FTP host offer a hassle-free money-back to try out their services risk-free?
It is possible that an FTP host may offer a money-back guarantee or a trial period during which you can test their services. However, the specifics of these offers may vary from host to host. Some hosts may offer a money-back guarantee for a certain period of time after you sign up, while others may offer a trial period during which you can test their services for free before committing to a paid plan.
Server resources:
- Does the host offer scalable hosting plans?
- Will the FTP host allow you to select and customize your server to suit your needs?
If you expect your FTP needs to grow over time, look for a provider that can accommodate your future needs with options for more storage and bandwidth. Some FTP hosts may allow you to customize your server to a certain extent, such as by allowing you to choose the operating system or by providing options for the amount of storage or bandwidth that you need.
However, the specific options available to you will depend on the FTP host you are using and the hosting plan you have chosen. It is generally recommended to carefully review the hosting plans and options offered by the FTP host to ensure that you are getting the server configuration that meets your needs.
Customer support:
- Will the FTP host offer quality and reliable support?
Choosing a provider that offers reliable customer support is a good idea, so you can get help if you run into any issues with your FTP server.
User Reviews:
- Does the FTP host have a good track record?
Some factors that may be relevant to consider when evaluating an FTP host’s track record include the uptime and reliability of their servers, the quality of their customer support, and any issues or concerns that have been reported by previous users. It may be helpful to do some research and read reviews on Hostadvice or ask for recommendations from others who have used the FTP host in question to get a better understanding of their track record.
Key Takeaways
- Make sure the provider offers enough storage and bandwidth to meet your needs
- Look for a provider with reliable customer support in case you have any issues or questions.
- Consider whether the provider offers a user-friendly interface and documentation to help you get started.
- Choose a provider that offers secure FTP connections and takes other measures to protect your data.
- Some providers have limits on the size of files that can be uploaded or downloaded. If you need to transfer large files, make sure the provider you choose allows it.