Understanding Addon and Parked Domains

What's the Difference Between Addon Domains and Parked Domains?

Sometimes customers don't understand the difference between addon and parked domains, although they are quite different. One will allow you to have another domain/site on your account, while the other forward readers to the main site.

What is an Addon Domain?

An add-on domain is another website with its own unique URL, content, and information.  It appears as a completely separate website when you point it from your original domain to its own folder within public_html.

This makes it possible to have two unique websites on one account.  For example, you can have golf.com as your main domain and also host cooking.com on the same account.  Both will display their unique content in different locations.

Note: Addon domains are available at Hostwinds, depending on the hosting plan you have.

What is a Parked Domain?

A parked domain forwards the information along to the main domain registered in your cPanel account. It is not unique.  For example, when you use subdomains of the same name, like cooking.net, to show the same information as cooking.com, or pass through to cooking.com.

Here are some of the most frequent uses of parked domains:

1. You want more than one domain to point to your primary domain
2. You want to protect your name by purchasing additional misspellings of your domain
3. You need a place to put an extra domain without a website

Note: Hostwinds does not allow parked domains for our shared hosting plans.