Is there free FTP hosting for OOTP leagues?
Free options exist but almost none of them work with OOTP. Here is why Dropbox and Google Drive are dead ends, and what the actually-free paths cost you.
Updated September 14, 2026
This is the most common question from first-time commissioners, and the honest answer is: mostly no. Free file hosting and OOTP online leagues are a bad fit for a specific technical reason.
OOTP transfers over FTP only. It has no API, no cloud-storage integration, and no way to authenticate against a consumer file service. If a platform does not speak FTP on port 21, OOTP cannot use it — no matter how much free storage it offers.
Side by side
| SimHosts | Free options | |
|---|---|---|
| Dropbox / Google Drive | Not usable | No FTP server — OOTP cannot connect |
| Free web hosts | Rarely usable | Often SFTP-only, or FTP disabled on free tiers |
| Discord / file sharing | Manual only | No in-game download or export |
| Old PC at home | Possible | Needs static IP, port forwarding, always-on |
| SimHosts Starter | $5/month | Everything configured |
Choose free options when
- You are testing a solo league and nobody else needs access.
- Your league is small and everyone accepts passing files around by hand.
- You already have a machine you can safely expose to the internet.
Choose SimHosts when
- You want managers to download and export from inside OOTP.
- You do not want to be the manual file-relay for a dozen people.
- You want the league to survive your computer being off.
Frequently asked
- Can I use Dropbox or Google Drive for an OOTP online league?
- Not for the automated loop. OOTP uploads and downloads over FTP only, and neither Dropbox nor Google Drive provides an FTP server. You can share the league file through them manually, but managers lose in-game download and team export, which is most of what makes an online league workable.
- Is there genuinely free FTP hosting that works with OOTP?
- Rarely. Most free web hosts either disable FTP on free tiers or offer only SFTP on port 22, which OOTP cannot use. The ones that do offer FTP typically have transfer limits or idle-suspension policies that break a league mid-season.
- What is the cheapest way to host an OOTP online league?
- A small VPS at roughly $4–6/month if you are willing to configure and maintain an FTP server yourself, or purpose-built hosting from $5/month with the setup already done. Below that, the options generally do not support the FTP transfers OOTP requires.
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