A step-by-step guide to deploying a Laravel app on Hostinger shared hosting. Covers folder structure, PHP/Composer setup, Vite manifest fixes, database configuration, storage links, troubleshooting common errors, and ends with a one-screen deploy checklist.

1. Intro (Set the stage)

• Hook: Deploying Laravel on shared hosting isn’t as straightforward as clicking publish. I learned this the hard way on Hostinger, so here’s my real-world step-by-step playbook.

• Promise: what the reader will get (deployment flow, quirks, fixes, troubleshooting, checklist).

2. Why Hostinger + Laravel (when shared hosting is enough vs VPS)

• If your app is a brochure site, a portfolio, a small SaaS MVP, or an internal tool with predictable traffic and no long-running workers, shared hosting is fine (and cheap). You get an SSL, SFTP/SSH, PHP selector, MySQL, and automatic backups out of the box. The trade-off is that you don’t control the server: no root access, limited CLI tooling, and process managers (for queues/websockets) are constrained.

• Go shared hosting when:

  • You can pre-build assets locally (no Node needed on the server).
  • Queues are light or can be run via schedule:run/cron (not 24/7 workers).
  • You don’t need websockets, Horizon, Octane, or custom extensions.

• Go VPS/Forge/Docker when:

  • You need always-on queue workers / websockets.
  • You want full control over PHP extensions, Nginx/Apache, and system deps.
  • You’re planning CI/CD, zero-downtime deploys, or horizontal scaling.

• My rule of thumb: if you’re fighting the platform (crons, workers, memory), you’re already paying the “dev time tax.” That’s when a VPS pays for itself.

3. Final server layout (public_html vs laravel/)

• Most shared hosts force your web root to public_html/. A safe layout is:

  /home/USERNAME/
  ├── laravel/                # your Laravel project root (private)
  │   ├── app/
  │   ├── bootstrap/
  │   ├── config/
  │   ├── public/             # original Laravel /public (we won’t expose this directly)
  │   └── ...
  └── public_html/            # the actual web root
      ├── index.php           # points back to ../laravel/*
      ├── .htaccess
      └── build/              # symlink to ../laravel/public/build
  

• You do not point the domain directly at laravel/public. Instead, keep all app code outside the web root, then place only the web-facing files in public_html/.

• Update public_html/index.php so it references your app correctly:

  make(Illuminate\Contracts\Http\Kernel::class);
  $response = $kernel->handle(
      $request = Illuminate\Http\Request::capture()
  )->send();
  $kernel->terminate($request, $response);
  

• Permissions to sanity-check:

  chmod -R ug+rwx storage bootstrap/cache
  

4. Composer 2 + PHP 8.3 on shared hosting

• On Hostinger, you can target a specific PHP version by calling its full path. I used PHP 8.3:

  /opt/alt/php83/usr/bin/php -v
  

• If composer isn’t globally available, install a local copy once:

  cd ~/laravel
  /opt/alt/php83/usr/bin/php -r "copy('https://getcomposer.org/installer', 'composer-setup.php');"
  /opt/alt/php83/usr/bin/php composer-setup.php --install-dir=. --filename=composer.phar
  rm composer-setup.php
  

• Then install dependencies with sane flags:

  cd ~/laravel
  /opt/alt/php83/usr/bin/php -d memory_limit=1024M composer.phar install \
    --no-dev --prefer-dist --optimize-autoloader
  

• Run Laravel optimizations (once your .env exists):

  /opt/alt/php83/usr/bin/php artisan key:generate --force
  /opt/alt/php83/usr/bin/php artisan config:cache
  /opt/alt/php83/usr/bin/php artisan route:cache
  /opt/alt/php83/usr/bin/php artisan view:cache
  

• Tip: If composer install keeps failing due to memory, run it locally, zip vendor/, upload, and unzip on the server.

5. Upload strategy (SFTP: what goes in public_html vs project root)

• Goal: keep your app private; only expose the web root.

• Steps:

  1. Create folders:
  mkdir -p /home/USERNAME/laravel
  # public_html already exists
  
  2. Upload project via SFTP into /home/USERNAME/laravel/
     - Skip node_modules and .git
     - Skip vendor/ if you’ll run composer remotely
  
  3. Populate public_html/:
     - Copy only the contents of laravel/public/ once
     - Or create fresh index.php and .htaccess
     - Never put .env here (.env stays in /home/USERNAME/laravel/.env)
  
  4. Build assets locally:
  npm ci
  npm run build
  Upload laravel/public/build
  
  5. Symlink build folder:
  ln -s /home/USERNAME/laravel/public/build /home/USERNAME/public_html/build
  

• Checklist: App code → /laravel, Only index.php, .htaccess, and build symlink → /public_html.