How can I establish a secure connection to my FTP server (FTPS / SFTP)?

There are two ways to establish a secure connection to your FTP server:

FTPS - File Transfer Protocol Secure is available for all web hosting packages
SFTP – Secure File Transfer Protocol (FTP over SSH) is available from Webhosting PRO on

Filezilla is one of the most popular FTP clients and is available free of charge for macOS, Windows and Linux.

First create an FTP user (How do I create an FTP account?)
Now start Filezilla
Enter your access data in the three fields highlighted in green:
- Server: ihredomain.tld
- Username: user@ihredomain.tld
- Password: ihr-pa55w0rt
Click on Quickconnect
- The message that the server certificate is unknown (host name does not match the certificate) is normal and has no effect on the secure connection. You can select the option "Trust this certificate in the future." with peace of mind.
- The message "Insecure FTP data connection" is due to the firewall and does not represent a security risk. You can select "Always allow insecure data connections for this server in future sessions." with peace of mind.
You have established a secure connection to your FTP server. You can recognize this by the lock symbol at the bottom right of the window. By default, FileZilla always establishes a secure FTP connection to the server.

You can establish a secure connection via SFTP from the Webhosting PRO package onwards. To do this, you must first create an SSH key.

After you have created an SSH key and downloaded the private key, proceed as follows:

Start FileZilla
Open the FileZilla menu and select Settings
Under SFTP, click on Add key file

Note: FileZilla may need to convert your SSH key. Have the password that you assigned when creating the SSH key ready for this.
Once you have loaded the key, click OK - simply closing the window will not save the SSH key!
Now enter your access data:
- Server: sftp://ihredomain.tld – It is important to add sftp:// in front of your domain so that FileZilla knows that you want to establish an SFTP connection.
- Username: You need the main FTP account. You can find this in the cPanel under FTP accounts at the very end under Special FTP Accounts
Click on Quickconnect
- The message "Unknown server key" has no influence on the secure connection. You can select the option "Always trust this server, save this key" with confidence.
Now enter the password for your SSH key
You have established a secure connection to your FTP server via SSH. You can recognize this by the lock symbol at the bottom right of the window.