Difference Between Addon Domain and Parked Domain (With Table)

The primary distinction between Addon Domain and Parked Domain is that Addon Domain allows you to establish a new subdomain and link it to a different directory. A parked domain is just a new domain that points to the same directory as the primary domain. 

Addon Domain vs Parked Domain

The main difference between Addon Domain and Parked Domain is that Addon Domain is a standalone website with its own content. On the other hand, the parked domain is not a standalone website; instead, it serves as a cover for the primary domain name. Addon Domain has separate logs, whereas Parked Domain does not have separate logs.

An addon domain is a fully working domain you may set up from your control panel. This addon domain is a new, distinct website hosted in a separate folder on your account, allowing you to manage several domains from a single control panel.

Parked domains may be utilized when several domain names are required to refer to the same website. This can be helpful when some people are interested in buying the parked domain but do not want to pay to host the site. Web hosts can hold one website on different domain names and set up forwarding so that they all point to a single website. Parked domains are also called placeholder domains or alias domains.

Comparison Table Between Addon Domain and Parked Domain

 What is Addon Domain?

An addon domain allows you to manage multiple domains that point to separate folders in your hosting account. For example, if you want to host two websites on your hosting account (www.yourdomainname1.com and www.yourdomainname2.com) and you want each website to have its control panel, then an addon domain will allow you to do this – both websites can be accessed via FTP, and have their email accounts, subdomains, etc.

To create an addon domain, log into your cPanel account, and then, In the Advanced section of the cPanel home screen, click Addon Domains. Fill out the following fields:

New Domain Name: Enter the addon domain name you wish to create (for example, your_addon_domain). The following two fields will be filled out automatically (see below). Note: You cannot use an existing subdomain or parked domain as an addon domain. If you would like to use one of these existing domains as an addon domain, you must first remove it from the Subdomains or Parked Domains area of cPanel.

Subdomain/FTP Username: This field will automatically be completed with the subdomain username for this addon domain (for example, your_addon_domain). You can override this default setting and create a custom username for this subdomain. The username must be unique on our system and can only contain letters and numbers (no special characters).

What is Parked Domain?

In the domain name system, a parked domain is an Internet domain name registered but not developed. A domain name registrant may wish to reserve a name for future development without transferring ownership or paying the annual maintenance fee associated with active domains. Parked domains are used for monetization by a third party via advertising or creating the illusion of a legitimate website.

Parked domains don’t contain unique content; they’re used when several domain names lead to the same website. A parked domain is a domain name that has been registered but not put to any use. The owners may use parked domains to develop a website later or for sale.

For example, if a website owner wanted to refer to their website with the domain names “example1.com” and “example2.com”, they would have to purchase these separately from a domain name registrar such as GoDaddy or Namecheap. Once both domains were purchased, the registrar could be instructed to point both at the same IP address, which would be that of the web server hosting the website content on behalf of its owner.

Therefore, all traffic going to either example1.com or example2.com would be referred to precisely the same website content regardless of which the end-user entered into the address bar in a browser.

Main Differences Between Addon Domain and Parked Domain 

1. A virtual host is the Apache directive used in an addon domain, but Server Alias is used in a parked domain.
2. The first step in getting an addon domain is to get the new domain name before hosting it; however, getting a parked domain is much easier because all you have to do is verify if your desired domain is available for purchase.
3. Individuals who have personal accounts or are testing settings should use addon domains. On the other hand, nearly anybody may use preferred domains to point many domains to a single website.
4. An addon domain is a secondary domain that serves an entirely different webpage from the primary domain. On the other hand, a Parked Domain is a domain name that redirects to the same website as another.
5. After connecting the c panel, you’ll be able to alter settings for several sites in Addon Domain; however, in Parked Domain, the actual location of the page substitutes the URL in the address bar.

Conclusion

The root domain will be pointed to when a new Parked Domain (your main domain) is created. Furthermore, the Parked Domain’s content is identical to your primary domain.

The content of an addon domain might be distinct from that of your primary domain, and it will be referred to as a separate subdirectory on your website. Additional names for your account that share the same space and are managed through the same cPanel account are called addon domains. They can only be created if you have a web hosting package to add other domains.

References

1. https://www.jbc.org/article/S0021-9258(19)79421-6/abstract
2. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110894677/pdf#page=121