Hosting Glossary
Addon Domain
Addon Domain in plain English — the definition, the analogy, and why it matters to anyone who runs a website.
The short answer
An addon domain is a second, fully independent website hosted on the same hosting account — its own domain, folder and content sharing the account's resources.
The sections below unpack it properly — how it works, why a site owner should care, and a concrete example of it in the wild.
0
Jargon left unexplained
100+
Linked definitions
Real
Platform examples
Free
To read, obviously
The account's plan allowance decides how many you may add; each gets its own document root, email addresses and SSL, behaving as a complete site in every visitor-facing way.
The invisible caveat is shared fate — all addon domains ride the same account's resources, security posture and suspension status, which is efficient for one owner and reckless across different owners.
A picture that makes Addon Domain stick
Extra market stalls under one trader's licence — separate signage and stock, but one licence-holder whose standing covers them all.
Analogies simplify, of course — but this one holds up well enough to reason with, and reasoning is the point of a glossary.
Why you should care
It's the economical way to run a personal portfolio of sites — and the wrong way to host clients, whose sites deserve the isolation of separate accounts (the reseller model exists exactly for that).
You don't need to operate this layer daily — you need to recognise it when it's the explanation for something, which is exactly when this page pays for itself.
Addon Domain in the wild
A hobbyist runs their blog, a family recipe site and a local club's page as three addon domains on one Pro plan — three sites, one bill, one login.
Multiply that example across every site on the internet and you have the concept's entire job description.
Where you'll meet it on our platform
On our hosting this mostly takes care of itself — the platform applies the sensible defaults, and the panel exposes the controls when you want them. The concepts worth knowing next: Subdomain, Parked Domain, Shared Hosting and Reseller Hosting.
Our team migrates existing sites free of charge, typically within 24 hours and with zero downtime.
Why we wrote a hundred definitions
We think unexplained jargon is a service failure — this glossary is the support desk's accumulated translations, published where the search engines can hand them out.
Renewal prices match signup prices, so the year-two invoice is the most boring email you'll get from us.
- 100+ terms, plain English
- Analogies and real examples
- Cross-linked related concepts
- Written by the support desk
Why HostingAlly
What you get with every plan
Analogies that stick
Each concept gets a picture you'll remember at the moment you actually need it.
Linked, not siloed
Related terms cross-reference, so one lookup becomes a working understanding.
Grounded in a real platform
Examples reference the hosting you'd actually use, not abstract diagrams.
The practical stakes named
Not just what it is — when it's the answer to a problem you're having.
Plain English first
Every term defined for site owners, not for other sysadmins — jargon translated, not restated.
Honest about what you can skip
Most terms are recognise-level, not operate-level — the glossary says which is which.
Getting Started
How to get going
- 1
Spot it in your own setup
Open your control panel and find where this concept lives — seeing it attached to your own site is what converts definition into understanding.
- 2
Check the defaults
Confirm how your account has this configured — usually correctly by default here, and now you'll know rather than guess.
- 3
Follow the related terms
Concepts travel in packs — Subdomain, Parked Domain and Shared Hosting complete this one's picture, and each is a two-minute read away.
Included
What's covered on our plans
- Per-site PHP version selection
- cPanel — the industry-standard control panel
- DDoS protection at the network level
- Free website migration handled by our team
- Email accounts on your own domain
- No setup fees, ever
- Free SSL certificate on every plan, renewed automatically
- 24/7 support from real people
- 99.9% uptime commitment, monitored around the clock
- Free domain for the first year on annual plans
FAQ
Your questions, answered
Do addon domains look different to visitors?
Indistinguishable from any standalone site — own domain, own SSL, own content. The 'addon' arrangement is entirely a hosting-account concept invisible from outside.
Why shouldn't I host client sites as addon domains?
Correlated failure and tangled ownership — one compromise or suspension reaches every co-housed site, and a departing client's site is knotted into your personal account. Isolation via reseller accounts is the professional structure.
Which control panel do you provide?
cPanel — the industry standard, which means every tutorial on the internet matches your screen, your backups restore anywhere cPanel runs, and skills learned here transfer for life. Plesk and DirectAdmin options exist on specific plans for those who prefer them.
Do you include email with hosting?
Yes — mailboxes on your own domain come with every hosting plan, with webmail, IMAP/POP/SMTP access and spam filtering. Standalone email hosting also exists for domains whose websites live elsewhere.
What happens if I outgrow my plan?
You upgrade in place — plan changes apply from your client area without migrations or downtime, and our range runs from small shared plans through VPS to dedicated servers, so growth is an account change rather than a new-host project.
Where is your company based?
HostingAlly is a trading name of Bohzo Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales — a real, verifiable business with published terms under English law, which is worth checking about any host before you hand them your domain.
How long does it take to get started?
Minutes — hosting activates on payment, the domain (free for year one on annual plans) connects immediately, and one-click installers put WordPress or 400+ other apps live the same sitting. If you have an existing site, our team migrates it free, usually within 24 hours.
Keep exploring
Parked Domain
A parked domain is a registered domain pointed at your hosting without its own site — held in reserve, alia…
Shared Hosting
Shared hosting places many customers' websites on one server, dividing its costs and resources among them.
Web Hosting
NVMe cPanel hosting with free SSL, migration and a free first-year domain.
Domain Names
Search, register and transfer domains — first year free on annual hosting.
Your site deserves better hosting.
Fast NVMe hosting, free SSL and migration, and real people on support around the clock — at prices that stay put.
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