FTP Connection Refused: Common Causes and How to Fix It

You enter your FTP hostname, username and password, click Connect, and instead of seeing your server files you receive an error such as:

Connection refused

It is tempting to assume that the password is wrong. In many cases, however, authentication has not even started yet.

A connection-refused error usually occurs earlier in the connection process. Your FTP client attempted to establish a network connection to a particular server and port, but the connection was rejected.

This guide explains what that means and how to isolate the cause without randomly changing settings.

What Does “Connection Refused” Mean?

Before an FTP client can send your username and password, it first needs to establish a connection to the server.

A simplified connection sequence looks like this:

FTP client
    ?
Resolve server hostname
    ?
Reach server IP address
    ?
Connect to the required port
    ?
Establish FTP / FTPS / SFTP session
    ?
Authenticate
    ?
Browse files

If the connection is refused around the server/port stage, changing the FTP password normally will not solve the problem.

You first need to determine why the server is not accepting a connection on the requested endpoint.

1. Check the FTP Hostname

Start with the hostname because an incorrect server address can send your FTP client to the wrong machine entirely.

A hosting provider might give you a hostname such as:

ftp.example.com

or:

server123.hostingprovider.com

Some servers also allow connections using an IP address.

Do not automatically assume that your website domain and FTP hostname are identical. They often point to the same infrastructure, but hosting configurations vary.

Copy the hostname directly from your hosting account or server configuration when possible.

2. Check the Port

A correct hostname with the wrong port can still result in a failed or refused connection.

Common defaults include:

These are defaults, not guarantees. A server administrator can configure a service to listen on another port.

If your hosting provider specifies a custom port, use that value rather than the protocol's default.

3. Make Sure You Selected the Correct Protocol

FTP, FTPS and SFTP are not interchangeable names for the same connection.

SFTP operates over SSH and is fundamentally different from FTP. FTPS uses FTP with TLS encryption.

For example, entering an SFTP server and port while asking the client to establish a regular FTP session will not create a valid SFTP connection.

Check your hosting documentation or control panel for the exact protocol you are expected to use.

If you are unsure about the differences, read FTP vs SFTP vs FTPS: What's the Difference?.

4. Check Whether the FTP or SSH Service Is Running

A server can be online while its file-transfer service is offline.

For example, your website might continue working over HTTPS while the FTP daemon has stopped. Similarly, SFTP depends on the server's SSH service being available.

If you administer the server yourself, check whether the appropriate service is running and listening on the expected port.

If you use managed or shared hosting, check your hosting control panel or provider status information. Contact the hosting provider if you cannot inspect the service directly.

5. Check the Server Firewall

A firewall can prevent connections to an otherwise functioning FTP service.

The server may be configured to accept web traffic on ports 80 and 443 while rejecting FTP or SSH traffic.

Firewall restrictions can exist at several levels:

• The operating-system firewall
• A hosting-provider firewall
• A cloud firewall or security group
• A network firewall
• An IP allowlist or denylist

If you control the server, verify that the required port is permitted from the network or IP addresses that should be allowed to connect.

Avoid disabling the entire firewall merely to make FTP work. Identify and correct the specific rule instead.

6. Check Whether Your IP Address Is Blocked

Servers sometimes temporarily block an IP address after repeated failed authentication attempts or suspicious activity.

This can create a confusing situation: the connection worked earlier, but suddenly new connections are rejected.

Security software, hosting firewalls and intrusion-prevention systems can all implement this type of protection.

If you suspect an IP block:

• Check your hosting security panel if one is available.
• Review firewall or security logs if you administer the server.
• Stop repeatedly retrying incorrect credentials.
• Contact the hosting provider if the block cannot be inspected directly.

7. Check Your Local Network

The problem does not always originate on the server.

A company, school, public Wi-Fi network, VPN, security application or local firewall can restrict outbound connections on certain ports.

If the same server works from another trusted network but consistently fails from your current network, investigate local or network-level restrictions.

Do not treat switching networks as a permanent fix without understanding why the original network rejected the connection.

8. Verify DNS If You Are Using a Hostname

If you recently changed hosting providers, DNS records or server addresses, your FTP hostname may still resolve somewhere unexpected.

For example:

ftp.example.com ? old server IP

while your FTP account exists only on the new server.

Confirm that the hostname resolves to the intended server.

Also remember that the DNS used for your website and the hostname used for file transfer do not necessarily have to be configured identically.

9. Do Not Confuse “Connection Refused” with “Authentication Failed”

These errors happen at different stages and should be troubleshooted differently.

If you see something similar to:

530 Login authentication failed

the server has generally accepted the FTP connection and rejected the login credentials or account access.

In that case, investigate the username, password, account status and authentication configuration.

By contrast:

Connection refused

normally indicates that the problem occurred before normal FTP authentication.

10. A Timeout Is Also Different from a Refused Connection

A connection timeout and a connection refusal are related network problems, but they are not identical.

A refusal generally means the connection attempt received a rejection. A timeout means the client waited without completing the connection within the allowed period.

A timeout can point toward:

• Network routing problems
• A firewall silently dropping traffic
• An unreachable host
• An incorrect IP address
• Connectivity problems between the client and server

The exact wording varies between FTP clients, so use the full error message and connection log when diagnosing the problem.

11. What If FTP Connects but Directory Listing Fails?

This is another important distinction.

If authentication succeeds but the client hangs or fails when retrieving a directory listing, the initial FTP connection itself is working.

The problem may instead involve FTP's data connection, passive/active mode configuration, NAT or firewall rules affecting the data ports.

That requires a different troubleshooting path from a connection that is refused immediately.

12. Test One Variable at a Time

Changing the hostname, protocol, port, password and connection mode simultaneously makes troubleshooting harder because you no longer know which change affected the result.

Use a systematic sequence instead.

1. Confirm the hostname.
2. Confirm the required protocol.
3. Confirm the port.
4. Confirm that the relevant server service is running.
5. Check firewall or IP restrictions.
6. Check DNS if a hostname is being used.
7. Only investigate credentials once the server is accepting the connection.

FTP Connection Refused Troubleshooting Checklist

Connecting with BrowserFTP

BrowserFTP lets you create FTP, FTPS and SFTP connections from a browser-based interface without installing a traditional desktop FTP client.

When creating a connection, make sure the protocol, hostname and port correspond to the settings supplied by your server or hosting provider.

If the server refuses the connection, BrowserFTP cannot override a closed port, stopped service or server firewall. Those conditions must be corrected on the server or network responsible for the connection.

Once connected, you can browse remote files and use BrowserFTP's path-based workflow to validate and upload changed project files while preserving their relative paths.

What Should You Check First?

If you receive an FTP connection-refused error, start with the simplest explanation: verify the server hostname, protocol and port.

If those are correct, determine whether the corresponding FTP or SSH service is actually available and whether a firewall or security system is rejecting your connection.

The key is to identify which stage of the connection is failing. A network-level refusal, an authentication failure, a directory-listing problem and a file-permission error are different problems and should not be treated as one generic “FTP error.”

If your connection succeeds but uploading or modifying files produces a permission error instead, continue with How to Fix FTP and SFTP Permission Denied Errors.

Common Questions Asked