How to Move Your Laravel Project From Shared Hosting to a VPS

Shared hosting is simple:

• Upload files
• No SSH
• No control
• And you often cannot run Node, Composer, or CI/CD pipelines.

This was exactly my situation.

When my shared hosting plan ended, I switched to a VPS — and the difference was unbelievable.

In this guide, I will show you exactly how to move your Laravel website from shared hosting to a VPS, step by step, without confusion.

This is written for beginners, and everything is explained clearly.

Let’s start.

🟦 Step 1: Understand Why Moving to a VPS is Actually Easier

Many developers think VPS = harder.

In reality:

Once you switch to a VPS, your deployment becomes much easier.

🟦 Step 2: Point Your Domain to the VPS (DNS Setup)

This is the first and most important step, otherwise your domain will still point to your old shared hosting.

If your domain is on Hostinger, Namecheap, GoDaddy, or any registrar:

You will receive from the VPS:

• An IPv4 address
• (Sometimes) an IPv6 address

You must update your DNS records:

Go to your domain → DNS → Add:

If you have IPv6:

| AAAA | @ | IPv6 | Auto |

📝 Important: DNS propagation may take 1 minute or up to 2 hours.

When your DNS is correct, visiting your domain should show:

“CloudPanel – No site configured”

This means the domain is now pointing to your VPS. ✔️

🟦 Step 3: Install CloudPanel on Your VPS

CloudPanel is one of the easiest panels for developers.

Why CloudPanel?

• Automatic Nginx setup
• Automatic PHP versions
• Automatic SSL
• Built-in phpMyAdmin
• Easy database creation
• Easy FTP/SFTP
• Laravel preset when creating a new site
• Extremely fast and lightweight

Installing CloudPanel (1 command)

SSH into your VPS:

ssh root@YOUR_VPS_IP

Then run:

curl -sSL https://installer.cloudpanel.io/ce/v2/install.sh | sudo bash

After it finishes, open:

https://YOUR_SERVER_IP:8443

Create your admin user.

You’re now inside CloudPanel. ✔️

🟦 Step 4: Create Your Laravel Site (CloudPanel Makes This Super Easy)

Inside CloudPanel dashboard:

1. Click "Sites"
2. Click "Create Site"
3. Choose:

• PHP Site
• Framework: Laravel
• Version: Laravel 10 / 11 / etc

1. Enter your domain
2. Click Create

CloudPanel will automatically:

✔ Install the correct PHP version

✔ Install Composer

✔ Create the folder structure

✔ Prepare Nginx config for Laravel

✔ Create a dedicated system user for your site

This saves hours of manual configuration.

🟦 Step 5: Install Free SSL Certificate (1 Button)

Inside your site → SSL:

Click:

Issue Certificate

CloudPanel uses Let’s Encrypt, so it is 100% free.

DNS must be correct (Step 2), otherwise SSL will fail.

After enabling SSL, your site is now HTTPS-secured.

🟦 Step 6: Upload Your Laravel Code

Go to:

• Sites
• Select your site
• See the System User (example: clp12345)
• Use SFTP or SSH

Example:

ssh clp12345@YOUR_VPS_IP

Navigate to:

/home/clp12345/htdocs

This is where your Laravel project should be.

Upload your project files here.

🟦 Step 7: Install Dependencies on the Server

CloudPanel makes this easy because Composer + PHP are already installed.

Run:

composer install --optimize-autoloader --no-dev

Then install Node/NPM:

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs

Then build your frontend:

npm install
npm run build

Now your Laravel app is fully built on the server without any pain.

🟦 Step 8: Migrate Your Database (Easiest Part)

CloudPanel includes phpMyAdmin already.

Go to:

• CloudPanel
• Databases
• Click Create Database
• Assign a user + password

To migrate your old database:

1. Export your database from shared hosting (phpMyAdmin → Export)
2. Open CloudPanel → phpMyAdmin → Import
3. Upload the file

Done.

Now update your .env file with the new database credentials.

🟦 Step 9: Fix Storage & Permissions

Inside your project:

php artisan storage:link

Set correct permissions:

chmod -R 775 storage bootstrap/cache

And ensure ownership matches your CloudPanel system user:

Example:

chown -R clp12345:clp12345 /home/clp12345/htdocs

This fixes 90% of “403 Forbidden” and “storage not found” problems.

🟦 Step 10: Verify Your Domain is Working

Now visit:

https://your-domain.com

If everything is correct, your Laravel app should load.

If you see 403 or 500 errors, don’t worry — that’s normal when migrating.

Check:

• .env database values
• File permissions
• Environment variables
• Missing storage symlink

🟦 Step 11: Optional but Recommended — Add SSH Deployment + CI/CD

Once you’re on a VPS, you can finally use GitHub Actions.

Create an SSH key on the server:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "deploy"

Add the public key to GitHub → Deploy Keys.

Add the private key as GitHub secret.

Then use this GitHub Action:

• SSH → pull latest code
• Composer install
• Build assets
• Clear + cache Laravel
• Run migrations
• Restart PHP-FPM

Now your deployment becomes:

Push → automatic deployment → live

No more FileZilla.

No more uploading files manually.

No more headaches.

🟢 Optional Tips You Should Know (Very Useful)

✔ CloudPanel creates a “system user” — use it always

Never deploy as root.

✔ CloudPanel has separate php.ini for each site

You can edit it easily.

✔ You can switch PHP versions anytime

Better than shared hosting.

✔ You can enable Redis, Supervisor, CRON jobs

All from the panel.

✔ Backups can be automated

CloudPanel supports AWS S3, DigitalOcean Spaces, etc.

🟦 Final Thoughts

Moving from shared hosting to a VPS feels scary — but once you do it, you realize it's actually much easier, more powerful, and more reliable.

CloudPanel makes everything simple:

• Creating a Laravel site
• Installing SSL
• Managing PHP versions
• Handling databases
• Managing files
• And even giving you phpMyAdmin built-in

And once you add GitHub Actions, your deployment becomes professional and automated.

If you want to start using DevOps concepts, a VPS is the best first step.