How to Use ftpGrid Free Tier as Your Personal FTP Cloud

Published {$created} by Carsten Blum

With the launch of the new ftpGrid Free Tier, you can now have your own private FTP and SFTP cloud server — completely free. No setup. No hosting bills. No firewall headaches.

The free tier gives you 256 MB storage, 50 GB monthly bandwidth, and full support for FTP, FTPS, SFTP, and SCP — hosted securely in Germany under GDPR compliance.

It’s perfect for developers, makers, and small businesses who want a secure, managed FTP server without running one themselves.

Learn more about the free tier

Step 1: Create Your Free Account

Go to ftpgrid.com and click Sign up.

No credit card required
Instantly get your personal cloud storage space
Login credentials are ready immediately

When your account is created, you’ll get connection details like this:

Host: edgeN.ftpgrid.com
Username: PREFIX.username
Password: (your chosen password)
Protocol: FTP, FTPS, or SFTP
Port: 21 or 22

Step 2: Connect from Any FTP or SFTP Client

You can use any standard FTP/SFTP client — for example:

FileZilla, Cyberduck, WinSCP, or even curl.

Example using lftp on Linux or macOS:

lftp -u PREFIX.username sftp://edgeN.ftpgrid.com
Password: ********

Or using curl for a quick upload:

curl -T backup.sql sftp://PREFIX.username:YourPassword@edgeN.ftpgrid.com/uploads/

Once connected, you can upload, list, and download files as you would with any local FTP server — only difference: we manage the uptime and security.

Step 3: Organize Your Files

Inside your cloud storage, create folders like:

/uploads
/backups
/reports
/projects

Each directory behaves just like a normal filesystem. You can also share access with other team members by adding more users in the ftpGrid dashboard (available on paid plans).

Step 4: Automate It

You can script uploads from any language — Python, PHP, Bash, C#, etc.We’ve created a full tutorial series showing how to use ftpGrid as a Storage API across multiple programming languages:

Quick Storage API Series

Step 5: Focus on What Matters

You don’t need to configure SSL certificates, monitor uptime, or patch servers.ftpGrid handles all of that automatically — including Let’s Encrypt certificate renewals, 24/7 monitoring, and encryption at rest and in transit.

You simply connect, upload, and move on with your work.

Why It’s Better Than Self-Hosting

Feature	ftpGrid Free Tier	Self-Hosted Server
Setup	2 minutes	2–6 hours
SSL/TLS	Automatic (Let’s Encrypt)	Manual renewal
GDPR	Included	Your responsibility
Monitoring	24/7	Needs manual setup
Cost	€0	Hardware + electricity + time

ftpGrid is designed to give you peace of mind, even on the free plan.

Start Now – It’s Free Forever

Stop spinning up temporary VPS servers or local FTP daemons.With ftpGrid, you get a personal, always-on cloud FTP/SFTP server instantly — secure, reliable, and private.

Create your free account now

Learn more about ftpGrid Cloud Storage

Next in the Free Tier Series: “Free FTP Hosting – Secure, Private, and GDPR-Compliant” (coming soon)