GHS
KES - Kenya
NGN - Nigeria
ZAR - South Africa
USD - International
Short answer
Yes, on every shared hosting plan except Starter. Turn it on in cPanel, add your SSH key and connect with any SSH client to use Git, Composer, WP-CLI, npm or pip. You get a secure shell for your own account, not root; for root access, use a VPS.
Which plans have SSH
SSH comes with the Standard, Executive and Platinum web hosting plans. Starter doesn’t include it; move up to Standard (₵418 a year) when you need it.
How to connect
- In cPanel, open SSH Access (or Terminal to work in the browser).
- Under Manage SSH Keys, generate a key or import your public key, then authorise it.
- Connect from your computer with
ssh -p PORT [email protected], using your cPanel username. Ask support by live chat or ticket if you don’t have the SSH port.
Use keys rather than passwords: they’re safer and you won’t get locked out by typing mistakes.
What you can do over SSH
- Git: clone and pull your code straight onto the server.
- WP-CLI: update WordPress, plugins and users from the command line.
- Composer and Laravel Artisan for PHP apps.
- npm and pip for Node.js and Python apps, set up with cPanel’s app tools.
- Import and export large databases, unzip archives and search through files quickly.
What you can’t do
Shared hosting is a secure environment shared with other accounts, so there’s no root: you can’t install system packages, run your own web server or keep long-running background processes going. For that, a VPS gives you full root access.