A single cPanel account can serve several domains. cPanel distinguishes four types, and each behaves differently. Picking the right one avoids duplicate content and confusing email setups.
In short
| Type | Shows | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Primary domain | The main site in public_html. | Set when the account is created; can be changed, see change the primary domain. |
| Addon domain | A separate website in its own folder. | A second, independent site on the same plan. |
| Parked domain (alias) | Exactly the same site as the primary domain. | Typo domains, other extensions of your brand. |
| Subdomain | A separate site or section under a domain you own. | blog.example.com, staging sites. |
In current cPanel versions, all of these are created in cPanel → Domains → Domains; addon domains are simply domains with their own document root, and aliases share the root of the main domain.
What they share
- All domains in the account share the plan's disk, bandwidth, inodes and CPU limits.
- Each domain can have its own email addresses; an alias can receive email too.
- All files live under the same cPanel user, so one compromised site can affect the others. Separate cPanel accounts (for example on reseller hosting) isolate them better.
Alias or redirect?
An alias shows identical content under two names, which search engines may see as duplicate. For SEO it is better to make the extra domain an alias and add a 301 redirect to the main domain, see redirects in cPanel.