User guide: Requirements

1. Requirements

SEO Control Center runs on ordinary shared hosting with cPanel. You do not need root access, SSH, Docker, Node.js or Redis.

Hosting

RequiredRecommended
PHP8.5 (for the website and for cron)
DatabaseMariaDB 10.6+ or MySQL 8.0+
PHP extensionspdo_mysql, curl, mbstring, openssl, sodium, zlib, json, filterintl, zip
PHP memory128 MB256 MB or more
PHP execution time30 s60 s or more
HTTPSyes (AutoSSL / Let's Encrypt is fine)
Cronevery 5 minutes or more oftenevery minute
Disk space500 MB freemore if you keep many backups

Also required:

  • your own domain or subdomain, for example seo.example.com;
  • the option to point its document root to a folder of your choice (standard in cPanel).

The installer and System health check all of this and tell you exactly what is missing.

Accounts you may want

  • Google account with access to your sites in Google Search Console. This is free.
  • DataForSEO account for search volumes, rank tracking and competitors. You pay DataForSEO per use; see chapter 6. The rest of SEO Control Center works without it.
  • An authenticator app (Google Authenticator, Authy, 1Password …) for two-factor sign-in. Optional, but recommended.