How to host multiple websites: addon domains, multi-domain, reseller or VPS

First, what actually needs to be separate?

You rarely need one hosting plan per website. What matters is how many sites you have, who owns them and what should happen if one has a problem. Three sites of your own can share an account. Twenty client sites should not. The options below go in order, from the simplest to the most flexible.

A single-domain plan is not one of them. Our single-domain Linux and Windows plans host one website each, so once you have a second site you need a plan that allows more than that, or a second plan.

Option 1: Addon domains on a multi-domain plan

An addon domain is a separate website with its own domain name, its own folder and its own mailboxes, inside the same hosting account. Visitors cannot tell that it shares an account with anything else. Our Multi Domain Linux plans use cPanel and allow up to 5 or up to 10 websites, and they run in the USA. Our Multi Domain Windows plans use Plesk with ASP.NET and PHP, allow the same counts, and run in India, so consider where your visitors are.

Adding a site on cPanel is simple. These are the steps, once the domain is registered:

• Open Domains in cPanel and choose to create a new domain
• Enter the domain name and give it its own document root folder, such as public_html/secondsite.in
• Point the domain’s nameservers or A record at the hosting server
• Wait for DNS to update, then let AutoSSL issue the free certificate
• Install WordPress or upload files into that site’s folder, with its own database
• Create mailboxes for the new domain under Email Accounts, and add its SPF and DKIM records

What sites on one account share

Addon domains are convenient because of one login and one bill, but the sites also share everything else. They draw on the same disk allowance and the same CPU and memory limits, so a traffic spike on one site can slow the others. They also run under the same system user. If an outdated plugin lets an attacker into one site, the others in that account are exposed too.

To reduce that risk, keep every site’s software updated, delete any site you no longer use, and give each one a separate database and database user. Back up each site as well, because restoring a whole account to fix one site also rolls back the others.

Option 2: WordPress plans for several WordPress sites

If every site is WordPress, our WordPress plans include managed updates, a firewall and malware scanning, and the larger ones allow 5, 10 or 25 websites. These plans run in a US data centre. That makes them a good fit for an agency or owner who only runs WordPress and has an audience beyond India, or who values managed updates over being physically close to Indian visitors.

Option 3: Reseller hosting, with one cPanel per client

Reseller hosting gives you WHM, the administration layer above cPanel. In WHM you create a separate cPanel account for each client, with its own login, disk limit and mailboxes. Because accounts are separated, a compromised site in one account does not get direct access to the files of another. You can also brand the panel and use private nameservers, so clients deal with you, and not with us.

Choose this if you build sites for other people and would like to charge them for hosting, or if you want each of your sites properly separated. Plans run in India, are sized by disk space, and allow extra cPanel accounts as an add-on. You remain your clients’ first line of support, and you need your own way of invoicing them, such as the available WHMCS add-on.

Option 4: A VPS with a control panel

A VPS gives you reserved CPU and RAM that no other customer can use, and you can run whatever you need alongside your sites. That suits busy sites, custom software, or a mix of PHP versions and services. You can add a cPanel and WHM licence on NVMe 4 and larger plans running AlmaLinux or Rocky Linux, with licences allowing from 5 up to 100 accounts.

The catch is that a VPS is self-managed. You are responsible for operating system updates, the firewall, backups and any fault in what you install. A control panel makes daily tasks easier, but someone still needs to be able to fix the server when it misbehaves. Do not choose this route just because it looks like more hosting for the money.

How to decide

Match your situation to the first line that fits:

• Two to ten of your own low-traffic sites: Multi Domain hosting
• Several WordPress sites where you want updates handled: a WordPress plan
• Client sites you bill for, or sites that must stay separated: reseller hosting
• Busy sites, custom software or more than a reseller plan can comfortably run, with someone able to run Linux: a VPS
• One important site and several small ones: consider separate plans, so that the important one is not affected by the others