How to Upload Your Website (in 6 Easy Steps)

After days of coding and tweaking your website, it’s time to publish your creation to the internet. This tutorial will show you how to upload a website in a few easy steps. Let’s take a look!
1. Pick a Reliable Web Hosting Company
Creating and maintaining a website is not something that you should take lightly. It’s crucial to pick a top-notch web hosting provider that has all the key features to kickstart your project.
Here are several factors that you should consider when choosing a hosting provider:
- Live support. A good hosting service should have a team of experts who can help you at any time. There’s no worse feeling than running into some issues and having to wait for days to get a response.
- Control over your web hosting space. The less control you have over your account, the more likely you are to run into trouble when your site grows.
- Room for growth. Before you commit to a web host, make sure it offers scalable solutions that can provide more power (such as virtual private servers or cloud hosting).
- Money-back guarantee. Nobody likes a bad investment, so make sure to check for a refund policy. This will give you a time frame to test everything out before committing to the service.
2. Choose Your Website Upload Method
The next challenge is picking the right tool to do the job. Here are four of the most popular tools to upload a website:
File Manager
A browser-based tool with all the key features to take care of your website files and directories. In hPanel, you can find File Manager under the Files section.
However, the File Manager has an upload limit. If your website files are larger than 256MB, you should opt for the next tool instead.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
Most web hosting providers include a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) service, so you can use it to connect to an FTP client. For Hostinger’s users, all the required credentials are located in FTP Accounts under the Files section.
FTP clients have no size limit, so you can upload as many files as you want. However, it does take a bit of technical knowledge that you can learn here.
Automatic Website Importer
If you’re a Hostinger client, you can find an Import Website feature in hPanel. You can use this feature to extract a website archive to the public_html directory. The tool supports .zip, .tar and .tar.gz formats, and the upload limit is 256MB.
WordPress Migration Plugins
If you plan to use WordPress, there are several ways to upload your website to the CMS. One of the easiest methods is using a WordPress migration plugin like All in One WP Migration. After installing and activating it, the rest of the steps are self-explanatory.
The upload size limit will depend on your hosting provider. Follow this tutorial to learn how to increase the limit.
3. Upload Your Website File
Now that you know the best tools to upload a website, it’s time to get your hands dirty!
In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to upload your website using Hostinger’s File Manager and a well-known FTP client, FileZilla.
Using File Manager
- Login to Hostinger’s hPanel and navigate to File Manager.
- Once you’re in the public_html directory, select the Upload Files icon from the upper-right menu.
- Select the website archive file on your computer and Upload it to our server.
- Right-click on the uploaded file and Extract the archived files to the public_html directory.
Using FileZilla
Before we begin, make sure to extract the archive to your local computer as FileZilla doesn’t have an Extract feature.
- Connect your account to FileZilla.
- Navigate to Remote Site panel and click on the public_html folder.
- Head to the Local Site panel and locate the extracted files.
- Select the files, and right-click to Upload them to the public_html directory.
That’s it! By following the above steps, you can transfer all files to public_html without doing any extra work. Otherwise, you’ll need to connect via SSH and extract the archive manually.
4. Move the Website Files to the Main Root Directory
In some cases, an additional directory will be created when you upload website files. As a result, visitors will be directed to yourdomain.com/subfolder instead of the default yourdomain.com.
To prevent that from happening, you need to make sure all the files are located in the root directory of your domain, which is public_html.
You can use the File Manager to move your website files. All you need to do is right-click on the subfolder, select the Move option, and set public_html as the destination. Use this tutorial for more detailed guidance.
5. Import Your Database
If your website uses a database, you’ll also need to import it along with your website files:
- Create a new MySQL database and user.
- Access your newly created database via phpMyAdmin.
- Use the Import section to upload the backup file of your database.
- Update the MySQL database connection details (database name, host, user, password) in its configuration files.
For more detailed steps, check out our guide on how to restore a database using phpMyAdmin. Skip this part if you don’t use any database.
6. Check If the Website Works
Once the website files are uploaded, it’s time for a final check!
If your domain name is already pointed to your web host, enter the domain name into your browser and see if it directs you to your website.
Keep in mind that DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to fully propagate worldwide. As such, if you just pointed your domain to the web host’s name servers, you might need to wait for a while.
Use an online tool like whatsmydns.net to check the state of your DNS propagation. Just enter your domain name and the tool will check the DNS records against multiple name servers.
Should you follow all the instructions correctly, your website will appear just fine. However, if you run into an issue, ask your hosting provider for assistance.
And if you’re a Hostinger client, contact us via the live chat and one of our customer success agents will be ready to help you!
Conclusion
Designing a beautiful website will mean nothing if you don’t publish it. Don’t leave it untouched on your computer and let people appreciate your artwork!
To recap, here are the steps to upload your website:
- Pick the right hosting provider.
- Choose the tool and method to upload your website.
- Upload your website files.
- Move the website files to the main root folder.
- Import your database.
- Check if your website works worldwide.
That’s it! It may sound a bit complicated at first, but if you follow all the steps carefully, you’ll get your website running in no time. Good luck!
Comments
June 12 2017
Hey, it should work just fine. I just tested it and WordPress without issues - I was able to install WordPress without errors. Do you get any errors?
June 20 2017
Showing Diskfull while uploding
June 20 2017
Hey, It should be already fixed by our system administrators. Sorry for the inconvenience caused.
July 12 2017
same error. sure it fixed?
June 28 2017
how to access new file manager
June 28 2017
Hello, Press File Manager icon in your hosting control panel to access it.
August 03 2017
please help what we have to do when we upload wordpress file help me
August 05 2017
Hey, please see https://www.hostinger.com/tutorials/wordpress/how-to-manually-install-wordpress
September 12 2017
that is a very good tutorial
September 12 2017
very good tutorial
December 02 2017
File Managerrrrrrr link pleeaaaasseeeeee
December 14 2017
You can find it in your Hostinger control panel
December 10 2017
yes, that's what i was looking for. i have been searching for upload my website to hostinger server, here i got the perfect solution.
December 19 2017
hello i am trying to upload code igniter web site is there any special steps for it and for data base ??
January 02 2018
Hey, Please see this tutorial: https://www.hostinger.com/tutorials/codeigniter-tutorial
April 10 2018
Hi, Thank you so much for the informative article, I have just uploaded my website due to your helpful article
July 27 2018
Hello, Does it support asp.net sites? Couldn't manage to start my uploaded page.
November 06 2018
Sadly, ASP.NET is not supported on Hostinger (as we provide Linux hosting)
November 06 2018
I have seen that there is a security (and organization) strategy that consists of uploading PHP files outside of public_html. Is this possible here?
November 06 2018
It is possible to upload files outside of public_html on Hostinger. However, they will not appear on your website.
November 11 2018
Thanks sir, its working for me.
November 18 2018
Please increase 256MB limitation, It's too hard to upload a website!
November 19 2018
Hello Munkhbayar, Thank you for the feedback! I've passed your idea along to our devs and hopefully, it gets increased soon. For the time being, I'd recommend using an FTP client, as there's no upload limit there. And if you run into any trouble, drop us a message in the live chat box and our agents will gladly aid you! ;)
May 21 2019
Can i upload html website on hostinger?
September 24 2019
Hey Madhav, Yes, of course.
February 22 2020
Link for tutorial how to upload html website here
March 12 2020
Hi Maryel, Here you go :) https://www.hostinger.com/tutorials/website/how-to-upload-your-website
February 23 2020
Sorry that I've inquired now more than once, but I'm wondering if I can do a month-to-month payment plan on the premium shared hosting. I realize it's a better deal to do yearly but it's more upfront so that's why I was asking. **If it's possible to do this on a monthly basis then the price is $10.95, ($71.88 with taxes) and this includes one free domain, unlimited websites, and tutorials that enable me to migrate a site from another server, correct?
March 12 2020
Hi Stephen, Yes, you can pay month-to-month :)
July 05 2020
As You written when using File Manage we upload archive file, But in server there is no Extract option when we right click after uploading.
July 07 2020
Hey there Sharma! :) Please make sure your compressed file is using the correct file extension. If the extension is correct, when you right click on the file, you will have the option to click extract.
August 11 2020
So, to clarify-- does file manager's limit of 256MB refer to the entire website's data? Or does it apply to each and every file's size?
August 25 2020
Hey there! The file manager is the biggest file size a single file can have when uploading directly through it. You can use an FTP client anytime tho, to have no restrictions on size when uploading :)
August 27 2020
does hostinger supports all framework or not? what are some frameworks that is supported by hostinger?
November 06 2020
Hey Carl. We support many frameworks in our servers. Much of it would depend on which plan are you using and which framework you have in mind. I'd suggest dropping a line to our customer success team and asking them about your case in particular :)
November 14 2020
when i upload a zip in file manager of hostinger then it is not working so, please help me please
February 02 2021
Hi there! Were you able to extract your .zip well? Try using the SSH method for it from over here. If this won't help, you can always contact our Customer Success team to assist you!