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How to use Softaculous in cPanel

Reading time
5 min
Last updated
25 Sep 2026

Softaculous is the app installer inside cPanel. It sets up WordPress, Joomla, PrestaShop, Moodle and hundreds of other applications in about a minute, and it keeps looking after them afterwards: updates, backups, staging copies and clean removal. Most people use the first half once; the second half is where it earns its place.

  1. 01

    Open Softaculous

    In cPanel, go to Software → Softaculous Apps Installer. Applications are grouped by category down the left, with a search box above them. The icons across the top lead to your installations, backups and settings.

  2. 02

    Install an app

    Find the application and click Install. Then:

    • Set the protocol to https:// and pick the domain.
    • Leave "In Directory" empty to install at the root of the domain. Anything typed there becomes a subfolder, such as example.in/wp.
    • Choose an admin username other than admin, let Softaculous generate the password, and use an email address you actually read.

    For WordPress specifically, the WordPress install guide covers the settings to change before you publish.

  3. 03

    Switch on updates and backups before you click Install

    Open Advanced Options on the install form. Auto Upgrade offers three choices: do not upgrade, Upgrade to Minor versions only, or upgrade to the latest version, major releases included. Minor versions carry the security fixes, so choose at least that. For WordPress you can also tick automatic upgrades for plugins and themes.

    Under Automated backups, pick daily, weekly or monthly, and set Backup Rotation to how many copies to keep. Softaculous also backs up an installation before it upgrades it.

  4. 04

    Manage what you installed

    The installations list shows everything Softaculous manages on the account. Each entry has buttons to change its settings (including the auto-upgrade and backup choices), upgrade it now, back it up, clone it, create a staging copy of a WordPress site, or remove it.

  5. 05

    Remove an app cleanly

    Back it up first. Then use Remove on the installations list and make sure the options to delete the directory, the database and the database user are ticked. Deleting only the files leaves an orphaned database behind, using space and holding old data.

Test changes on a staging copy

For WordPress, Softaculous can copy a live site to a staging address, such as a subdomain or a folder, where you can try a major update, a new theme or a heavy plugin without visitors seeing it. When it works, Push to Live copies the changes back.

Tick Discourage search engines from indexing this site in the staging copy's WordPress settings, so Google does not find a duplicate of your site.

Bring an existing site under Softaculous

A site installed by hand, or copied over from another host, is invisible to Softaculous until you import it. Open the application's page in Softaculous, choose Import, and point it at the domain and folder. From then on it gets the same upgrades and backups as a site Softaculous installed.

Common questions

Yes for you. The Softaculous licence is included on every FasterHost plan that comes with cPanel, and so is every application in it. Some applications sell paid add-ons of their own.
Only if you choose an Auto Upgrade option, when installing or later in the installation's settings. WordPress applies its own minor security releases by default; Softaculous adds a backup before each upgrade and can handle major versions, plugins and themes too.
In a softaculous_backups folder in your home directory, so they count towards your disk space. Download the ones you want to keep, delete old ones, and rely on the account backups in JetBackup for copies kept off the server.
Yes. Type the folder name in In Directory, for example blog for example.in/blog. Leave it empty to install at the root of the domain.

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