Walkthrough · Beginner · 10 minutes
How to Add an Addon Domain
How to host a second site on the same account while keeping the pair cleanly separated, without the guessing — the steps in order, the snag ahead of time, and the tip our support team repeats daily.
The short answer
The job: host a second site on the same account while keeping the pair cleanly separated. Time to set aside: 10 minutes. Skill needed: beginner.
Below are the precise steps, the classic stumble, and one tip from the support desk. Wherever the platform already does a step for you, the guide says so rather than handing you a machine's chores.
By the Hosting & Domains team · Reviewed 18 August 2026
Beginner
Experience required
5
Stages, start to finish
Free
Support included
Proven
On the platform itself
No prior knowledge assumed — a hosting account, a browser and 10 minutes of attention is the whole entry requirement. Every instruction runs on our platform exactly as printed, and carries over to any standard cPanel host.
A promise before step one: nothing here is a one-way door. Any step with teeth is flagged, and the way back is printed beside it.
The route, mapped end to end
The work falls into a few clean stages: point the domain here first, create it from the domains page, check its ssl once dns arrives, treat it as a complete website and accept that their fates are joined.
No part of this needs code or a terminal unless the guide says so plainly — and where it does, the exact commands are printed. The step-by-step is below, with the surrounding sections supplying the context that makes it hold.
One caution before you click anything
Nesting the addon's folder under public_html. The second site then also answers at yourdomain.com/otherdomain, which confuses visitors, harms search, and is entirely avoidable by putting the document root outside public_html.
It earns a section of its own because it is no obscure edge case — it is the single commonest reason this task reaches a support queue. Knowing it in advance turns the whole job from risky into routine.
The habit that keeps this easy for good
Name document roots after their domains, /domain-names/example.com and so on. A year later, an account holding five addons reads either like an index or like an excavation, and the naming convention decides which.
Habits this small are what separate the people who find hosting effortless from the people who find it draining. The same tools on both sides — a different way of working.
Where this platform takes work off you
Steps that never deserved your time are taken out: certificates issue and reissue themselves, the installer handles application setup, the daily copy absorbs the what-ifs, and per-site settings live in a panel rather than a configuration file. The guide covers the remainder — the part that is actually about your site.
Stopped mid-guide at an awkward hour? That is exactly what round-the-clock support is for — say which step you are on and we take it from there.
A quick platform makes for a short guide
Tutorials written against imaginary hosting go stale fast. Ours are written against the real thing: the same panel, installer and defaults waiting in your account.
NVMe storage and LiteSpeed caching sit under every tier, the smallest plan included — that is the floor here, not an upgrade.
- Every step checked exactly as published
- The snag named before it arrives
- The dull steps taken out of your way
- People reachable at any hour you stall
Why Hosting & Domains
Standard on every plan
Taken from real tickets
These guides came out of the support queue, so every snag flagged is one people genuinely hit.
The dull parts automated
SSL, backups and installs look after themselves here, leaving the guide to cover only what is genuinely yours.
Jargon never charges you
Every term is defined on the spot or linked to the jargon buster — nothing assumes prior knowledge.
Honest about how big it is
Host a second site on the same account while keeping the pair cleanly separated is a beginner-level job — set aside 10 minutes, with the platform-absorbed steps marked.
Works exactly as printed
Every step is proven on the platform we run — none of the 'your host may vary' hedging.
Help that keeps your hours, not ours
Stuck on step three at midnight? Support answers at any hour, mid-walkthrough included.
Quick Start
Order placed to site online
- 1
Point the domain here first
Move its nameservers to your hosting pair. The panel will let you create the addon before the DNS move, but no visitor sees anything until the name resolves to us.
- 2
Create it from the Domains page
Give the domain a document root of its own, as a sibling of public_html and never a folder inside it. Turn down any offer to share a document root.
- 3
Check its SSL once DNS arrives
Addon domains come into AutoSSL's reach the moment they resolve. After propagation, open the SSL status page and confirm rather than assuming the certificate turned up unprompted.
- 4
Treat it as a complete website
Everything a full site has, an addon has too: one-click WordPress, its own mail, its own everything. The only thing shared is the account's pool of resources.
- 5
Accept that their fates are joined
Resources, security posture and any suspension are all shared with the parent account. Ideal for your own projects and unsuitable for a client's livelihood, which is what reseller accounts are for.
Built In
Fitted to every plan
- Staging copies for trying a change before it goes live
- Webmail in the browser plus IMAP, POP and SMTP for any client
- Spam and virus screening on every mailbox by default
- Mailboxes that answer at the name you hold
- NVMe SSD storage on every tier, not only the dear ones
- LiteSpeed caching in the server itself rather than bolted on by plugin
- Money back within 30 days on hosting plans, 7 on reseller
- A renewal figure identical to the one you registered at
- WordPress Toolkit, with the updates seen to for you
- Upgrades applied in place, with no migration when you change plan
Frequently Asked
The questions that come up most
How many addon domains do I get?
It depends on the plan, and ours run from a handful to several hundred. Every addon is a full website, so the practical ceiling is account resources against the combined load of everything hosted on it.
Addon, alias or subdomain — what is the difference?
An addon means a separate site living on a domain of its own. An alias, or parked domain, is an extra name for a site that already exists. A subdomain is a branch under your main domain. Three different roles, all run from the same Domains screen.
What is the refund position if I change my mind?
Shared, business, WordPress and WooCommerce hosting get thirty days, and reseller gets seven. VPS and dedicated servers are built to order the moment payment lands, so they sit outside the guarantee — as do domain registrations, where the registry charges the instant the name is secured. Inside the window one request returns the hosting fee, with no retention script to sit through.
Can I choose the PHP version myself?
Yes — PHP is set per site from the control panel, so a legacy application and a current one can run side by side in one account. Extensions and per-site tuning are on the same screen, and none of it goes near a support ticket.
Keep reading
How to Block Unwanted Visitors by IP
Turn a persistent pest away at the perimeter, with clear eyes about what the tool cannot do — intermediate level, about 10 minutes.
How to Install WooCommerce
Get a working shop onto WordPress and push a test order all the way through — beginner level, about 45 minutes.
Addon Domain (Glossary)
The full definition, along with the practical consequence nobody bothers to mention.
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