Start Here
Try your main cPanel login first.
In most cases you do not need to create a separate FTP account. Your normal cPanel username and password already give you FTP access to your hosting account.
Connect with your main cPanel username and password unless you specifically need a separate FTP user with restricted access to one website or folder.
FileZilla
Add your Hostmate site to FileZilla.
Open FileZilla Client, then go to File → Site Manager and create a new site.
| Protocol | FTP - File Transfer Protocol |
|---|---|
| Host | ftp.yourdomain.com.au |
| Port | 21 |
| Encryption | Require explicit FTP over TLS |
| Logon Type | Normal |
| User | Your main cPanel username |
| Password | Your main cPanel password |
Replace ftp.yourdomain.com.au with the FTP hostname for your actual hosted domain.
Connect
Use FTPS and passive mode.
FileZilla normally uses passive FTP mode automatically. Keep the connection on port 21 and use Require explicit FTP over TLS so the connection is encrypted.
Click Connect. If FileZilla displays a TLS certificate prompt on the first connection, review it and continue when it matches the connection you expect.
Optional
Create a separate FTP account only if you need one.
A separate FTP account is useful when you want to give someone access to only one website or folder, or when an automated deployment should not have access to the whole cPanel account.
In cPanel, open Files → FTP Accounts, then complete the Add FTP Account form.
- Log In — choose the username for the additional FTP account.
- Domain — select the domain associated with the account.
- Password — create a strong, unique password.
- Directory — choose the highest folder this FTP user should be able to access.
- Quota — leave unlimited unless you specifically want to restrict how much data the FTP account can store.
cPanel automatically fills this field based on the username you enter. If the FTP account needs access to an existing website, change the directory to that website's actual document root rather than accidentally creating a new subfolder.
Additional FTP User
Use the full FTP username.
Additional FTP accounts normally use the complete username shown in cPanel, such as [email protected]. Use that full username in FileZilla together with the password you created for the FTP account.
The rest of the FileZilla settings remain the same: ftp.yourdomain.com.au, port 21, and Require explicit FTP over TLS.
Uploading Files
Upload into the correct website folder.
Drag files from the local side of FileZilla to the remote side. When you use your main cPanel login, you can browse the hosting account and open the document root for the website you want to update.
For a typical primary website the document root is commonly public_html. Addon domains may use a different document root, so check the domain settings in cPanel before uploading.
SFTP Alternative
Hostmate SFTP uses port 5050.
SFTP is a separate protocol that runs over SSH. It uses your main cPanel / SSH account, not an additional FTP account created under FTP Accounts.
For SFTP, use your hosted domain as the host, your main cPanel username and password, and port 5050.
Connection Problems?
Logged in but the directory listing will not load?
Check that FileZilla is using passive mode and that your firewall or network is not blocking the passive FTP data connection. If authentication succeeds but the file list times out, this is often a data-connection issue rather than an incorrect password.
Open a Support TicketThis guide follows the current cPanel FTP Accounts and SFTP connection workflows. cPanel FTP Accounts documentation and cPanel SFTP documentation.