How-tocPanel
How to create a subdomain in cPanel
- Reading time
- 4 min
- Last updated
- 22 Sep 2026
A subdomain is a separate site under a domain you already own — blog.example.in, shop.example.in, staging.example.in. It costs nothing extra, it gets its own folder and its own SSL certificate, and in cPanel it takes about a minute.
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01
Open Domains in cPanel
Log in to cPanel and find the Domains section, then click Domains (on older builds this is a separate Subdomains icon — the fields are the same). Click Create A Domain.
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02
Enter the subdomain name
In the Domain field, type the full name including the parent:
blog.example.in. Do not type onlyblog— on current cPanel builds the field expects the whole hostname.Pick something short and permanent. Renaming a subdomain later means redirects, and redirects leak a little ranking every hop.
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03
Check the document root
cPanel proposes a folder automatically, usually
/home/user/blog.example.in. Two things are worth a moment here:- Untick Share document root with… unless you deliberately want the subdomain to serve the same files as the main site.
- If you are installing WordPress next, leave the folder empty — the installer wants an empty document root.
Click Submit.
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04
Wait for DNS, then add SSL
The subdomain resolves immediately if your domain already uses our nameservers. If DNS is hosted elsewhere, add an A record for the subdomain pointing at your server IP and allow up to a few hours for it to propagate.
Once it resolves, AutoSSL issues a certificate on its next run, normally within the hour. To force it: Security → SSL/TLS Status, select the subdomain, and click Run AutoSSL. On FasterHost this is included, not an add-on.
Subdomain, addon domain or alias?
cPanel groups all three under Domains and the distinction trips people up:
- Subdomain — a section of a domain you already have. Free, unlimited on most plans.
- Addon domain — a completely separate domain hosted in the same account. You must own it and it counts against your plan's website limit.
- Alias (parked) — a second domain that shows the same site. Useful for
.comand.inof the same brand.
If the subdomain does not load
In order of how often it is the cause:
- DNS has not propagated. Check with
dig blog.example.in— if it returns nothing, the record is not live yet. - The folder is empty. An empty document root with no index file shows a blank page or a directory listing, not an error.
- The certificate has not issued. The site loads on
http://but warns onhttps://. Run AutoSSL as above. - A wildcard record is catching it. A
*A-record elsewhere in your zone can win over the new entry.
Common questions
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