Addon, subdomain or parked: which one to add for a new name
Screen walkthrough with on-screen captions, no narration. Plays on this page, muted, no sign-in needed. Every name, address and figure on screen is an example.
You have a new name and an account that already exists. There are three ways to attach one to the other, they look almost identical in the panel, and they behave very differently a year later. Picking wrongly is not fatal, but it is annoying to unwind.
The three options, in one table
| Option | What it is | Right when |
|---|---|---|
| Addon domain | A second full site inside the same account, with its own folder and its own mail | The name is a real site, and it may openly belong to the same operation |
| Subdomain | A section under a name the account already holds | Blog, docs, staging, shop: part of the same site, not a separate one |
| Parked domain | An alias that shows the same site as an existing name | Spelling variants, other extensions, an old name you still own |
A useful test: ask whether the name should ever show different content. Never, and it is parked. Yes, under an existing name, and it is a subdomain. Yes, as its own thing, and it is an addon.
The trap with addon domains
An addon domain is convenient because it costs nothing extra and takes seconds. It is a trap on an estate where the sites are supposed to look unrelated, because the addon shares the account. That means the same address, the same document root tree, the same resource ceiling and the same fate if the account is suspended.
So the rule is not about traffic or size. It is about whether you would mind somebody connecting the two names. If you would mind, the name needs its own account and its own address, not an addon slot. Where that line falls is set out in Network Planning, and what separate addresses do and do not buy you is in IP Diversity.
Parked domains are not free of thought either
Parking is the right answer for variants, but every parked name still points at content that lives somewhere else. Two consequences worth knowing before you add ten of them:
- Search engines see the same content answering on several names. Decide which name is the real one and make sure that is the one that gets referenced.
- Certificates need to cover the parked names too, or visitors reaching them over a secure connection see a warning. Which certificates cover what is in Control From the Dashboard.
When an addon has outgrown its account
This is common enough that there is a dedicated function for it: an addon domain that has become a real, separate site can be converted into its own cPanel account. It gets its own home, its own limits, and can be pinned to its own address.
Three signs it is time:
- The name now belongs to somebody else commercially, or is about to.
- It should not be visibly related to the parent site any more.
- It has grown enough that its resource use is affecting its housemates.
Do the conversion at a quiet hour and expect a short window where mail and files are in motion. Verify afterwards the same way you verify any move: content correct, mail flowing, address as intended. The verification sequence is in Moving In.
Write down which is which
Six months on, nobody remembers whether a name is an addon, a subdomain or parked, and the panel lists them in separate places. Keeping one record of names against accounts, as described in Running Your Estate, turns that from an investigation into a lookup.
Still not sure which way to go?
Tell us what you are building. If it needs less than you think, we will say so.