Deploy to HostGator
Last Updated: 31st August 2026
In this guide, you'll learn how to deploy applications to HostGator from a Git repository using Launchdeck.
Whether you're deploying a Laravel application, JavaScript front-end application (e.g. React, Next.js), or another Git-based application, Launchdeck automates deployments from your Git repository to your HostGator server.
Prerequisites
Before you begin, you'll need a Git repository (for example, on GitHub or Bitbucket), a HostGator account and credentials from cPanel.
HostGator supports deployments over FTP, SFTP, FTPS and SSH depending on your hosting plan. This guide focuses on FTP and SFTP because they are the simplest options for deploying files with Launchdeck. FTPS is not currently supported by Launchdeck.
To deploy over FTP and SFTP, you'll need the following credentials:
- Hostname
- Username
- Password
Your FTP and SFTP credentials are available from cPanel. The exact steps depend on your HostGator plan, so their documentation is the best reference.
New to Launchdeck? Start your free trial and follow the steps below to deploy your project to HostGator. Start free trial →
Step 1: Create a new project
Go to the Launchdeck Home Page and Click Add your first project to get started.
From here you’ll be prompted to pick Project Name and choose your repository provider. If you're using a different Git provider such as GitLab, Codebase or a self-hosted server, you can choose the Private/Hosted Git server option.
If you haven’t configured a provider yet, selecting a provider takes you to a login screen where you can authorise Launchdeck to access your repositories.
Once your repository is connected, you can select a repository and a branch you'll deploy from.
If your application requires build commands, Launchdeck will infer them based on your repository's framework (although you can edit these commands later).
Once done, you can click Next.
Step 2: Add server to project
On this page, you'll need to enter the server credentials you collected above (Hostname, Username, Password), as well as the server's environment name (e.g. production), and set the protocol to FTP or SFTP. The port is 21 for FTP. For SFTP, VPS and Dedicated hosting typically use 22, while many HostGator shared hosting plans use 2222.
Then enter the Upload Path on the HostGator server where your code will be stored.
Upload Path
For many HostGator shared hosting accounts, the upload path is
/public_html.If you're deploying to an addon domain, subdomain, or another hosting configuration, the document root may be different (for example, /httpdocs on some plans). Refer to your hosting control panel or HostGator documentation to confirm the correct document root.
To verify the Connection Details are correct, run the server connection test.
If you want Launchdeck to automatically build and deploy new commits when you push to your selected branch, enable Auto-deploy to this server. You can also leave this disabled and trigger builds and deployments manually from the Project Overview page.
Then click Next.
Step 3: Build and deploy to HostGator
From there, you can review basic details and click Create New Project to complete setup.
This will redirect you to the Project Overview page. With auto-deploy enabled, when Launchdeck detects new commits on your selected branch, the latest commit will automatically be built and deployed to your server.
You can also deploy manually at any time. Click Build on a specific commit to run your configured build commands and transfer the resulting code to your server. Once the build is successful, click Publish to switch to the new release.
Learn more
Launchdeck has a variety of useful features to help you deploy your site:
- Automating tasks such as installing dependencies, transpiling code and running tests using build commands
- Running SSH commands on your server
- Keep sensitive information such as database credentials files safely excluded from your repository using configuration files.
Guides
- How to deploy a Laravel application, this guide will walk you through deploying a Laravel application to your server.
- Deploy WordPress theme, this guide will walk you through deploying a WordPress theme directly to your server.