Managing Addon Domains

An addon domain lets you host a completely separate website — with its own domain name — on the same Exact Hosting plan. This article explains what addon domains are and walks you through adding, managing, and removing one in cPanel.

What an addon domain is

By default, your hosting plan serves one main website at your primary domain. An addon domain adds another fully functioning website, with its own domain name, files, and email, all under the same account. Visitors see each site at its own address and have no idea they share hosting.

An addon domain is different from:

• A subdomain, which is a section of an existing domain (like blog.yourdomain.com). See Creating Subdomains.
• A parked (alias) domain, which points a second domain at your existing site rather than hosting a separate one. See Parked (Alias) Domains.

Note: The number of addon domains your plan allows depends on your hosting package. [SME CONFIRM: addon-domain limits per plan — Shared / WordPress / Managed WP.]

Before you begin

• A registered domain name. You need to own the domain you want to add. It can be registered with Exact Hosting or elsewhere.
• The domain pointed to Exact Hosting. For the addon site to load, the domain's nameservers or DNS must point here. See Pointing Your Domain to Your Exact Hosting Account.
• cPanel access.

Step 1: Open the Addon Domains tool

1. Sign in to cPanel.
2. In the Domains section, select Domains (or Addon Domains, depending on your cPanel version). [SME CONFIRM: exact tool name in the current cPanel theme — newer cPanel consolidates this under a single "Domains" interface.]

Step 2: Add the domain

1. Select Create A New Domain (or fill in the New Domain Name field).
2. Enter the domain name you want to add, without www or http — for example, seconddomain.com.
3. cPanel automatically suggests a Document Root folder (where this site's files will live, such as seconddomain.com). Accept the suggestion unless you have a reason to change it.
4. Select Submit (or Create).

cPanel creates the document root folder and configures the domain.

Step 3: Add your website content

The addon domain starts empty. Add a site the same way you would for your main domain:

• Install an application — see Installing Applications with Softaculous.
• Upload your own files into the addon domain's document root with File Manager or FTP.
• Migrate an existing site — see Migrating an Existing Website to Exact Hosting.

Tip: Turn on the free SSL certificate for your new addon domain so it loads securely. See Your Free SSL Certificate (AutoSSL).

Step 4: Manage or remove an addon domain

To review or change your addon domains, return to the Domains tool in cPanel. From there you can:

• See all domains on your account and their document roots.
• Change a domain's document root. [SME CONFIRM: whether document-root changes are exposed to shared-plan customers in the current cPanel theme.]
• Remove an addon domain.

Warning: Removing an addon domain stops the site from loading and can leave its files behind in the document root. Back up the site's files and databases first if you might need them.

Next steps

• Create a subdomain instead. If you only need a section of an existing site, see Creating Subdomains.
• Set up email for the new domain. See the Email Support articles
• Create a database for the new site. See Creating and Managing MySQL Databases.

Questions? Contact Exact Hosting Support.