How to Install Joomla in cPanel With Softaculous (Full Guide)

Joomla is a free, open-source content management system used for company websites, community portals, membership sites and multilingual sites. It is more structured than WordPress out of the box, with built-in user groups, access levels and multilingual support. On Hostnali hosting you can install it in a few minutes with Softaculous in cPanel.

Joomla or WordPress?

	Joomla	WordPress
Best for	Portals, membership and multilingual sites	Blogs, business sites, online shops
Built-in multilingual	Yes	Needs a plugin
User groups and access levels	Detailed, built in	Basic, extended with plugins
Learning curve	Steeper	Easier for beginners
Extensions	Thousands	Tens of thousands

If you’re unsure, start with WordPress; choose Joomla when you need its structure.

Install Joomla step by step

1. Log into your cPanel account.

2. In the Software section, open Softaculous Apps Installer.

3. You will be redirected to the Softaculous Panel.

4. On the left sidebar, find the Portal/CMS category. Click on this followed by a click on the Joomla that will appear under this category.

5. Click on the Install button.

6. Fill the necessary field under the Software Setup field:

• Choose the version you want to install: You can leave this as it is.
• Choose Installation URL: Choose the appropriate protocol/domain. Inside the “In Directory” field, should you want to install this in a directory, i.e. hostnali.co.ke/directory, enter the directory name. Otherwise, leave it blank to install in your main domain, i.e. hostnali.co.ke

7. Under Site Settings field, fill in the information following this guide:

• Site Name: Fill in the name of your site, i.e my first website.
• Site Description: Site Description or Slogan

8. Under the Database Settings field:

• Import Sample Data: Leave this as it is

9. Under the Admin Account field, fill in the information following this guide:

• Admin Username: Your new Joomla username (for security reason do not use the Administrator or the Admin username.)
• Admin Password: Use a strong password.
• Real Name: Leave this as it is or use your full name
• Admin Email: Your e-mail address.

Note: You need to remember the username and the password because you will need these login details to access the admin area of your Joomla Website.

10. Choose Language: You can specify the primary language for your Joomla. The default language of Joomla is English.

11. Advanced Options: Leave this as default unless you really want to alter the database name or configure automated backups. Please kindly keep in mind that frequent backups eat up your disk space.

Finally, scroll down to the end of the page and click on the Install button.

What to do after installing Joomla

1. Log in to the administrator at yourdomain/administrator.
2. Turn on search-engine-friendly URLs: System → Global Configuration → Site → Search Engine Friendly URLs and Use URL Rewriting (rename htaccess.txt to .htaccess in File Manager first).
3. Set up Two-factor Authentication for administrator accounts (Users → Manage → your account → Multi-factor Authentication).
4. Install a template that suits your site, and remove the sample content.
5. Add languages if you need a multilingual site (System → Install → Languages).
6. Enable caching: System → Global Configuration → System → Conservative caching, plus LiteSpeed Cache for Joomla for full-page caching on our servers.
7. Create a backup in Softaculous before installing extensions.

Updating Joomla safely

• Joomla shows update notices on the administrator dashboard; Softaculous can also update it.
• Always back up first, and test major upgrades (for example Joomla 4 to 5) on a staging copy.
• Update extensions as well as the core; outdated extensions are the most common way Joomla sites are hacked.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
Pages show 404 after enabling URL rewriting	Rename htaccess.txt to .htaccess in the site’s folder
Administrator login loops back to the login page	Clear browser cookies; check the site URL uses https
Blank page	Turn on error reporting (Global Configuration → Server) to see the error, or check PHP memory
Extension won’t install	Check the extension supports your Joomla version and PHP version

Frequently asked questions

Is Joomla free?

Yes. Joomla is open source, and Softaculous is included with every Hostnali plan.

Which PHP version does Joomla need?

Recent Joomla versions need a recent PHP 8 version. You can choose the PHP version per domain in cPanel; see how to set the PHP version.

Can I move my Joomla site to Hostnali?

Yes. We migrate Joomla sites, databases and email for free.