How to Set Up a Hosting Plan

Setting up your newly purchased hosting plan at Hostinger with our onboarding process

Updated over a week ago

After purchasing a hosting plan, you can set it up in the Home section of hPanel:

The Hostinger Members Area home showing how to start hosting order setup

Clicking on Setup will initiate the onboarding, which will guide you on how to get your hosting order up and running.

If you start the onboarding and need to complete it later, click on the Hostinger logo at the top to go back to hPanel 💡

Step 1 – Personalize Your Experience

Once you're on the Hello! page, click on Start now to provide more information about your project. Here, you can indicate if you're creating:

  • A new website for yourself

  • A new website for someone else, e.g., your client, relative, friend, etc.

  • Or, if you already have a website

The next few questions will vary according to your initial answer.

Step 2 – Create or Migrate Your Website

Next, you will be presented with the option to create or migrate a website:

  • Create a new website – choose this option to start building a totally new website

  • Migrate my website – choose this option if your website is hosted somewhere else, uploaded on a file-sharing platform, or stored on your local device

  • Skip – if you want to move on to the next step

Create a New Website

Here, you will be asked to select a platform for creating your new website:

  • WordPress – choose this option if you have experience with WordPress or are interested in learning one of the most widely used Content Management Systems (CMS)

  • Hostinger Website Builder – it's our recommendation for building your very first website or if you want an easy-to-use solution and quick results

  • Skip – choose this option if you want to go to the next step; you'll be able to choose the platform any time later after setting up your hosting plan: Which Applications Can You Install Automatically at Hostinger?

If you select WordPress, you'll be asked to create a user for your platform by entering an email and a strong password before moving to the next step. You'll also have the option to add some recommended plugins as well as select a template if you go with WordPress.

Migrate My Website

If you choose to migrate your website, you will be presented with two options:

  • Upload website – select this option to upload and extract a .zip, .tar, or .gz archive of up to 256 MB to the public_html folder of your website

  • Transfer website – select this option if you wish to transfer your website from another provider to Hostinger and submit a migration request

You may also skip to the next step and migrate your website later.

Step 3 – Name Your Website

Now, it's time to specify the address of your website. You can either use a domain you already own or select a new one:

  • If you go for a new domain, you will be able to choose an available domain name and extension (e.g., .COM, .ORG, .NET, etc.), and then purchase and register your new domain name

  • If you want to use the domain you already own, insert it, and the information card will show the current domain provider, nameservers, and the expiration date of your domain

NOTES

  • If your hosting plan comes with a free domain, you can either claim it in this step or do it later

  • If you wish to use a domain name that's purchased elsewhere (not at Hostinger), you will need to point it to Hostinger servers after the onboarding; in case of website migration, you should point your domain to Hostinger only after the migration is completed

Step 4 – Finish Setting Up

Before completing the setup process, a summary, including the server location and domain, will be displayed. If CMS is selected, it will also contain the name of the chosen platform and the admin email.

You can change any of these settings before finishing by clicking on the edit icon:

The Finish Setting Up screen of hosting onboarding

Now, your hosting plan is active! If you've selected Hostinger Website Builder, the next step will lead you to the builder, where you can start creating your website right away. For WordPress, the setting up process will take a few minutes to complete, and after that, you can edit your website or go to the control panel.

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