The plan tables carry columns that say Unlimited. The word is true in the sense that no counter stops you, but all of this sits on a disk that has a size and a server that has resources. We would rather tell you exactly where the word applies, and where it does not, than let you find out on your own on a bad day.
What has no counter
In these cases there is no number stopping you from creating one more. Create as many as you need.
| No counter |
What that means |
| Email accounts |
A mailbox per person, per department, per campaign. Nobody charges you per mailbox. |
| Databases |
One per application, and another to experiment with. There is no ceiling on how many. |
| FTP accounts |
One per person who needs to touch the files, each locked to their own folder. |
| Subdomains |
shop, blog, staging, whatever you like, with no new domains to register. |
| Parked domains |
Several names pointing at the same site. |
| Number of sites and addon domains |
Uncounted on the plans where the column says unlimited. On the lower steps that column carries a number. |
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No counter does not mean no cost. Every mailbox uses disk for the messages it holds. Every database uses disk. Every site uses CPU whenever somebody visits. Create as many as you like, but they all draw on the same space and the same resources, and those belong to your plan.
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What always has a limit
| Has a limit |
Why, and where you see it |
| Disk space |
It is the GB figure on your plan, and it counts everything: site files, databases, mailboxes, logs, and any backups you keep inside the account. The total is in the cPanel statistics bar. |
| Number of files |
There is a ceiling on how many files and folders you can have, separate from the space. A site with tens of thousands of tiny files, or a cache that is never cleared, can exhaust it with the disk half empty. cPanel shows it as a file count. |
| Memory, processes and CPU |
Your account runs inside its own compartment, with a ceiling on memory, on simultaneous processes and on CPU. That is what stops the neighbour ruining your day, and you ruining theirs. You can see all of it under Resource Usage, in the Metrics section of cPanel. |
| Simultaneous requests |
There is a maximum number of visitors being served at the very same instant. Above that, the next ones wait. |
| Messages per hour |
Each plan has its own figure, and it is in the plan table. |
The values that apply to your plan are on hosting plans. The ones that depend on the server rather than the plan are visible in the panel, at any hour, without asking anybody.
Why nobody can sell infinite
A shared plan is a slice of a real server, with disks that have a size and processors that have a limit, divided between several accounts. What is sold is a slice sized for the normal use of a website. Calling everything unlimited would be selling something that does not exist, and whoever does it ends up throttling accounts quietly, having never written the number down anywhere.
We prefer the other way round: the numbers that matter are written in the plan table before you buy, and your consumption is in the panel after you buy.
What happens when you hit a limit
| 1 |
Disk full: the site can no longer write, mail stops accepting new messages, and the CMS may error when publishing. Nothing is deleted by us.
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| 2 |
Too many files: the same symptoms as a full disk, but with free space still showing, which is what makes it confusing. Look at the file count rather than the GB.
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| 3 |
Resources at the ceiling: the site goes slow or errors during peaks, and returns to normal when the peak passes. It is the easiest one to recognise, because it keeps to a timetable.
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Clean up before you change plan. Old backups kept inside the account itself, log files, folders of previous versions, mailboxes of people who left, and the trash and sent mail nobody has emptied in years. Recovering a good share of the disk in one afternoon is common, and it costs less than a step up.
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Want to know what you are really using, and on what? Ask us and we will go through your account usage with you.
Open a support ticket
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