PHP applications

Install Joomla, OpenCart, PrestaShop, phpBB, MediaWiki or Laravel in one click, find each admin area, and run other PHP apps you upload yourself.

Updated Oct 9, 2026 · 8 min read

ZoPanel installs popular PHP applications into an empty PHP website in one click: it downloads the latest stable release from the official source, creates a MariaDB database and runs the application's own command-line installer as the hosting account. Use it to start a new site quickly; for code you develop in Git, use Git deploy instead, and for WordPress see WordPress Toolkit.

Before you start

• An empty PHP website. Create a website of type PHP in Websites → New website (see Websites and PHP). The installer refuses a folder that already holds files; only the default index.html, .well-known and .user.ini are allowed.
• A free database. Each application gets its own database, which counts toward the package's database limit and the license (Free: 10 databases, see Licensing).
• A suitable PHP version installed under Runtimes (see the table below). Laravel also needs Composer, installed under Runtimes → Composer.
• The package must include App installer & WordPress tools. Without it, the card below is not shown.

Point the domain to the server and keep SSL on before you install: the application is configured with https:// only when the website already has a certificate.

Supported applications

The panel checks the range above, which follows the release it installs:

If the website's PHP version is outside the panel range, ZoPanel switches the website to the newest installed version inside the range. If none is installed, the install stops with " needs PHP ; ask the administrator to install a suitable PHP version". To choose the version yourself, set PHP version on the PHP & config tab before you install.

Install an application

1. Open the website (Websites → Manage) and stay on the Overview tab.
2. In the Applications card, click the application. The card is shown while the website runs PHP, its document root is inside public_html and no application is installed yet.
3. Check the badges: the PHP range, Apache mode (.htaccess) when the app needs it, and a link to the project's website.
4. Fill in the fields:

5. Click Install. A task window shows the progress.

What the task does:

1. Turns on Apache mode for OpenCart and PrestaShop (Apache is installed on the server the first time, see Apache mode).
2. Creates a database and user named <account>_<two letters><four random characters> with a random 24-character password, linked to the website.
3. Downloads the release over HTTPS (resuming if the connection drops), unpacks it and runs the installer. Passwords never appear on a command line.
4. Removes the install/installation folder and makes the files holding the database password readable by the account only.
5. Ends with the line Admin area: https://<domain>/<path>.

If any step fails, the half-installed files and the database are removed and the website is restored as it was, so you can fix the cause and try again.

Note: the database password is not shown in the panel. It is in the application's configuration file (see the next section). Change it under Databases only if you also update that file.

After the install

Once an application is installed, the website header shows an Admin area button that opens the admin URL (PrestaShop excepted, see below). All applications are installed in English; change the language in each admin area.

Important: PrestaShop's admin folder is renamed to admin followed by 8 random characters, as PrestaShop requires. The address appears only in the task log (Tasks). Save it; if you lose it, find the folder whose name starts with admin in public_html with the File Manager.

Laravel

The Laravel installer runs composer create-project laravel/laravel with the website's PHP version, then:

• writes .env from .env.example with APP_NAME (the site title), APP_ENV=production, APP_DEBUG=false, APP_URL and the MySQL connection (DB_CONNECTION=mysql, DB_HOST=localhost, the new database and user);
• runs php artisan key:generate --force, php artisan migrate --force and php artisan storage:link;
• sets the website's document root to public_html/public and the Laravel rewrite rules.

The project lives in public_html, outside the document root, so .env and vendor cannot be downloaded. For scheduler, queue and deployment details, see Laravel.

The installer works on a PHP website and on a Laravel website alike: the project always goes into public_html, and the document root becomes public_html/public.

Update an application

ZoPanel installs the applications but does not update them: use each project's own updater. Take a backup of the website and its database first (see Backups).

Run command-line steps in the SSH terminal as the hosting account, with the same PHP version as the website, for example php8.3 maintenance/run.php update.

Other PHP applications

Any PHP application that is not in the list can be installed by hand:

1. Create a PHP website with the PHP version the application needs.
2. Upload the files to public_html with the File Manager or SFTP.
3. Create a database under Databases and run the application's web installer.
4. If the application serves from a subfolder (for example public or web), set Document root on the PHP & config tab, for example public_html/public. It must stay inside public_html.
5. If it relies on .htaccess rewrites, turn on .htaccess support (Apache mode) on the Tools tab. With the Standard rules, nginx already sends unknown URLs to index.php, which is enough for most front controllers.

Composer

When the project has a composer.json, install its dependencies over SSH with the website's PHP version (Composer must be installed under Runtimes):

cd ~/domains/example.com/public_html
php8.3 /usr/local/bin/composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader

If the project is in a Git repository, Git deploy runs Composer for you on every release and detects Laravel and Symfony.

PHP options such as upload_max_filesize are set in Tools → PHP settings for this website; php_value lines in .htaccess are ignored.

Troubleshooting

The full installer output is kept in Tasks.

Related

• Websites and PHP
• Laravel
• Git deploy
• Databases
• Backups
• File Manager