Upload your website to UnderHost shared hosting
Three ways to upload your website files to cPanel hosting: File Manager in the browser, FTP with FileZilla, and Git. Note: shared hosting uses FTP (port 21), not SFTP — SSH is only available on VPS and dedicated servers.
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Network Operations
To get your website online, you upload your files to the public_html folder of your hosting account. Visitors accessing your domain will see whatever is in that folder.
Where your files go
Your main domain maps to /home/cpusername/public_html/. The homepage is index.html or index.php. Place all website files-HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, PHP-inside this folder.
If you add a second domain (addon domain), it gets its own subfolder, typically /home/cpusername/yoursecondomain.com/. Each domain has its own public_html equivalent.
Method 1: cPanel File Manager
File Manager works directly in your browser-no software needed.
- Log in to cPanel → File Manager
- Navigate to
public_html - Click Upload in the toolbar
- Drag and drop files, or click to browse and select them
- Wait for the upload to complete, then refresh your site
To upload a ZIP archive: upload the file, then right-click it and choose Extract. This is much faster than uploading many small files individually.
Method 2: FTP with FileZilla
Shared hosting accounts do not have SSH access, so SFTP is not available. Use regular FTP (port 21) with your cPanel credentials. SFTP (port 22) is only available on Cloud VPS and Dedicated Server plans where SSH access is included.
FTP is the standard method for larger file sets or ongoing development on shared hosting. Download FileZilla (free).
- Open FileZilla → File → Site Manager → New Site
- Set Protocol to FTP – File Transfer Protocol
- Set Encryption to Use explicit FTP over TLS if available (recommended)
- Host: your server hostname (find it in CustomerPanel → service details)
- Port: 21
- Logon Type: Normal, Username: your cPanel username, Password: your cPanel password
- Click Connect
- Navigate to
/home/cpusername/public_html/in the right panel - Drag files from your local computer (left panel) to the server (right panel)
Common mistakes
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
| Uploading files inside a folder inside public_html | Files must go directly in public_html, not in a subfolder of it, unless intentional |
| No index file | The server needs index.html or index.php-without it you see a directory listing or 403 error |
| Wrong file permissions | Files should be 644, folders 755. Fix with File Manager → right-click → Change Permissions |
| Domain not pointed to server | Make sure your domain's nameservers or A record point to this hosting account's IP |
Related: Shared hosting overview | Softaculous guide | htaccess guide | Resource limits
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