How to login to cPanel
cPanel is a web hosting control panel that is provided by many hosting providers, and the first thing you need to do when purchasing hosting is to be able to log in to the cPanel admin area.
cPanel is one of the easiest to use and recognizable web hosting control panels available. You can read more about cPanel here.
There are many ways to sign in to cPanel, including using your domain, the server IP, and the Server Name. It may also be possible to access cPanel directly from within your web hosting account panel (i.e., your billing \ product area), but the exact instructions for this will depend on your hosting provider. Most hosts will have a comprehensive knowledge base with more precise instructions.
At the end of this tutorial, you will find some FAQs that run through some common reasons you may have trouble logging into cPanel.
There are three main ways to access your cPanel Admin Area
Sign in to cPanel with the Server Name
- Visit
https://servername:2083
for your cPanel login pageReplace servername with your actual server name.You can find your server name in the welcome email from your web hosting provider.
- Type in your cPanel username and password
You can find your cPanel Username in the welcome email from your web hosting provider.
For security reasons, your hosting provider should not email you your password. If it was, I highly recommend that you change it.
It is most likely that your welcome email will provide details on where to find or set your password. In many cases, you will find it within your Hosting Provider’s account admin area, but you may also have to set it at the outset.
Sign in to cPanel with your IP Address
- Visit
https://YourSitesIPAddress:2083
for your cPanel login pageReplaceYou may find your server’s IP address \ cPanel login IP in your welcome email from your web hosting provider.YourSitesIPAddress
with your servers IP address.Some hosting providers do not offer instructions for this type of login. If this is the case, you can ask them for the IP address in a support request or check your client area where the IP address is often displayed.
- Type in your cPanel username and password
You can find your cPanel Username in the welcome email from your web hosting provider.
Details of where to find your password will be contained in your welcome email. This may have been pre-chosen by you or may be accessed within your web hosting account panel.
For security reasons, this should not be emailed to you. If it was, change it.
Sign in to cPanel with your Website Address
- Visit
https://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel
for your cPanel login pageReplacewww.yourdomain.com
with your actual domain name.Many servers are configured to allow you to access cPanel by appending “cPanel” to the end of your website address, or in some circumstances as a sub-domain prefix (i.e.,
https://cpanel.yourdomain.com
).<
This option only works if your hosting provider manages your DNS. If you use something like CloudFlare to manage your DNS, you may need to add an A record for “cPanel” that points to your server’s IP. - Type in your cPanel username and password
Your cPanel Username can be found in the welcome email from your web hosting provider.
Details of where to find your password will be contained in your welcome email. This may have been pre-chosen by you or may be accessed within your web hosting account panel.
For security reasons, this should not be emailed to you. If it was, change it.
How to log out of cPanel
- Click the “Logout” icon in the top right-hand corner of the dashboard
Troubleshooting \ FAQ’s
Usually, this is the case when you try to sign in via your domain name (i.e., yourdomain.com/cpanel). If you are not prompted for your cPanel Password when visiting this URL, then your domain may not yet be pointed at the hosting server.
This can take 24 - 48 hours from when you first configure your domain’s nameservers to work. Usually, your welcome email will provide an IP based login URL as well which you can use in the meantime.
If you have tried to sign in to cPanel previously but got the password wrong, a firewall can be flagged at the server level. This will mean that your connection to the server has been denied, and the page will not load.
Usually, you will also not be able to view your website on the server either. To rectify this, open a support ticket with your hosting provider stating that you believe that your IP address is blocked as you are having difficulty gaining access.
If you search in Google for “What is my IP” you will be shown your IP address. You should include this in the support ticket. In some circumstances, such as company networks, your Network may be blocking port 2083 with the firewall.
If you see the Login page, but your Username and Password does not work you should first ensure you are using the correct case for your username and password. The username should be all lowercase, and the password is case sensitive, so use capitals and lowercase where appropriate.
Also, check that you are not using your Hosting Account’s user area login details as these are quite often different from your cPanel Login details. If you need to reset your Username Password, there is some useful advice here.
This is a common problem when you have Cloudflare setup, and you try to login to cPanel via the domain URL (yourdomain.com/cpanel
, or yourdomain.com:2083
), and is caused by you trying to sign in via HTTPs which CloudFlare may not be configured to support. As a result, your stylesheets do not load causing issues with how it looks.
An alternative is to use the non-encrypted port 2082, instead of 2083, but I recommend using the IP based login URL.
You may see a warning message when you try to access your cPanel login and will vary slightly depending on which browser you are using.

This is pretty common for all but the server name login method, so don’t worry. It occurs because the SSL certificate does not match the domain of your server’s SSL.
For the server name cPanel login, there may not be a warning as the SSL may match the domain of your server. However, some hosting providers do not purchase a third-party certificate, but instead, self-sign it. Because you know the identity of your host, and you can verify that the connection is encrypted by click on the padlock in the Address Bar, it doesn’t matter. It is worth using this option if it works.
They apply to shared hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting, cloud hosting and dedicated hosting with the cPanel control panel.
If you have reseller, VPS, Cloud or Dedicated hosting, then you may have the WHM administrative area (some Managed Reseller or Managed VPS or Cloud may restrict access to WHM).
You can also sign in to individual cPanel accounts by going to “Account Information” -> “List Accounts” and clicking on the cPanel icon next to the account.
Our tutorial is made with the latest Paper Lantern theme. The majority of hosting providers use this, or at least some slightly modified version of it.
There are older themes still in use, and some companies like SiteGround or GoDaddy go with a completely customized and integrated version (which may have restricted or added custom features). Despite the differences, getting started with cPanel is relatively easy.

About the author
Jonathan Griffin. Editor, Hosting Expert, SEO Developer, & SEO Consultant.
Jonathan is currently the Editor & CEO at The Webmaster. He is also an SEO Developer offering consultancy services, primarily to other web development companies. He specializes in the technical side of SEO, including site audits, development of SEO related features, and site structure & strategy.
In his spare time, Jonathan has a passion for learning. He regularly undertakes professional courses on subjects ranging from python, web development, digital marketing, and Advanced Google Analytics.
Read more about Jonathan Griffin on our About Page.
Source : https://www.thewebmaster.com/hosting/2015/apr/18/how-to-login-to-cpanel/