A one click installer for ten applications
Choose what you want, give it a name, and UHost fetches the release the publisher has now, checks it, runs the application's own installer and hands you the administrator password once. What you get is a working website, not a half finished one with its setup page still open to whoever finds it first.
The catalogue
Ten applications, each installed the way its own installer wants.
Two of them keep everything in files, so no database is created for them and none counts against your allowance. Where an application needs a newer PHP or an extra extension, UHost says so before it downloads anything.
WordPress
The most widely used way to run a website, a blog or a shop. It keeps itself up to date, and UHost asks it what it is waiting on, plugins and themes included.
- php 8.1
- database
Joomla
A content management system for sites with many editors and pages, with its own permissions and workflow.
- php 8.1
- database
Drupal
A content management system for sites with complex structure and many roles. UHost drives the same installation routine Drupal's own tooling uses.
- php 8.3
- gd
- database
Concrete CMS
A content management system edited in place, on the page itself, rather than through a separate administration screen.
- php 8.1
- gd
- database
OpenCart
An online shop, with a catalogue, a checkout and an order manager. The installer directory it ships is removed once the shop is up.
- php 8.1
- gd
- database
phpBB
A discussion forum, with topics, moderation and private messages. Set up with its own command line installer, so the board has a founder account the moment it answers.
- php 8.1
- database
MediaWiki
The wiki software Wikipedia runs on, for documentation and reference sites. UHost checks this one against the signature Wikimedia made over the release.
- php 8.3
- intl
- database
DokuWiki
A wiki with no database, where every page is a text file you can read, back up or move somewhere else without exporting anything.
- php 8.1
- no database
Moodle
A place to teach a course: lessons, assignments, grades and quizzes. Its data directory is created outside the document root, so nothing a student uploads is served to the public.
- php 8.2
- gd
- intl
- database
Grav
A fast website kept in files rather than a database, written in Markdown. Installed with its administration panel, and an account to sign in with.
- php 8.3
- no database
WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Concrete CMS, OpenCart, phpBB, MediaWiki, DokuWiki, Moodle and Grav are the trademarks of their respective owners, and each logo above is theirs. They are here to name software UHost installs for you, and nothing about that is an endorsement by them or a partnership with them. Every logo is served from this site as a file of its own, so opening this page tells none of these projects anything about you.
What you get
The release the publisher has today, not the one we shipped with.
A panel that installs whatever version it was built with hands you a website you have to update before you have finished looking at it. So an install asks the publisher which release is current and takes that one.
- Checked before anything is unpacked. Against the checksum the publisher publishes for that exact version, or, where they sign releases instead, against their own signature using keys carried inside UHost. MediaWiki is the second kind, which makes it the one here whose check does not rely on the download server being honest.
- Never something nobody vouched for. If the publisher cannot be reached, or publishes no checksum for what they named, UHost installs the version it vouches for itself and tells you which it used and why. It does not install unverified files, and it does not leave you with nothing.
- The administrator is made here. Files and a database with the setup page still reachable is a race the person who owns the website usually loses. UHost runs the application's own installer, creates the first administrator and shows you the password once.
- Refused early rather than half done. An application that needs PHP 8.3 or an extension your website does not load is refused before a download starts, with the thing to change named. Finding out afterwards leaves files in the folder, and a folder with files in it is one no install can be retried on.
Afterwards
The panel tells you when one of them is behind.
Every application writes down the version it is running, and every publisher can be asked what is current. UHost reads both, so the software list names the release you would be moving to rather than leaving you to go and check.
WordPress keeps itself current
It applies its own updates, and UHost installs a policy beside it so they stay on. The panel asks WordPress directly what is outstanding, which counts plugins and themes as well as WordPress itself, and notices if somebody removes the policy.
The rest are named, not guessed
For the other nine the panel compares what is installed with what the publisher has published and says "5.4.9 is out". Updating them is done in their own administration, which is where their own instructions send you.
A check that failed says so
If a publisher could not be reached, the panel says that instead of showing nothing outstanding. Silence and "up to date" look the same on a page and only one of them is true.
One website can hold several of these at once, each in a directory of its own with its own database. An application that builds its links from a path works best at a website's own root, and the documentation says which is which.
Questions
What installs, and what happens afterwards.
Which version of WordPress or Joomla does UHost install?
Whichever the publisher has now. An install asks them which release is current and fetches that one, checking it against the checksum they publish for that exact version, or against their own signature where they sign releases instead. If they cannot be reached, UHost installs the version it vouches for itself and says which it used and why, rather than installing something nobody checked.
Does UHost keep the software it installs up to date?
WordPress applies its own updates and UHost keeps that turned on, then asks WordPress what is outstanding, plugins and themes included. For the other nine the panel reads the version each one is running and compares it with what its publisher has published, so it names the release you are behind. Applying those is done in the application's own administration.
The one click installer comes with every plan.
Including the free one, which covers three websites. Nothing here is metered, counted or charged for separately.