How to deploy a React + Vite app to Hostinger

What you'll need

• A React + Vite project that builds without errors locally
• A Hostinger account (Shared, Cloud, or VPS — all work, differences noted below)
• Node.js 18+ on your machine

Step 1: Build your Vite app

Before you do anything with Hostinger, make sure your app builds cleanly:

npm run build

This creates a dist/ folder containing your static files — HTML, JS, CSS, and assets. That folder is what you'll upload to Hostinger. If you see build errors, fix those first before continuing.

Open dist/index.html locally to sanity-check the output looks right.

Step 2: Choose your Hostinger plan

Hostinger offers three main options relevant to React apps:

For a standard React + Vite app with no backend, Shared Hosting is enough.

Step 3a: Deploy via File Manager (simplest)

This method works on any Hostinger plan and requires no extra tools.

1. Log in to hPanel (Hostinger's control panel)
2. Go to Files → File Manager
3. Navigate to the public_html folder — this is your web root
4. Delete any default files already there (usually a placeholder index.html)
5. Click Upload and select all files from your local dist/ folder
6. Make sure index.html ends up directly inside public_html, not in a subfolder

Visit your domain — your app should be live.

Options -MultiViews
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^ index.html [QSA,L]

Step 3b: Deploy via Git (recommended for ongoing updates)

If you'll be updating the site regularly, setting up Git deployment saves you from manually uploading files every time.

1. In hPanel, go to Advanced → Git
2. Click Create and connect your repository (GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket)
3. Set the deployment path to public_html
4. Set the branch to main (or whichever branch you deploy from)

Hostinger's Git deployment pulls your repository files directly — it does not run npm run build for you on shared or cloud hosting. Two options:

A minimal GitHub Action for Option B:

name: Deploy to Hostinger
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: 18
      - run: npm install
      - run: npm run build
      - name: Push dist to deploy branch
        run: |
          git config user.email "ci@example.com"
          git config user.name "CI"
          git add dist -f
          git commit -m "Deploy"
          git push origin HEAD:deploy --force

Then point Hostinger's Git deployment at the deploy branch.

Step 4: Set up your custom domain

If you bought your domain through Hostinger, it's already pointed at your hosting. If you bought it elsewhere:

1. In hPanel go to Domains → Add Domain
2. Add your domain and follow the instructions to update your DNS nameservers at your registrar
3. DNS propagation takes up to 24 hours, but usually under 2

Step 5: Enable HTTPS

hPanel makes this one click. Go to Security → SSL and enable the free Let's Encrypt certificate. Do this after your domain is pointing correctly, otherwise the certificate won't issue.

Troubleshooting

Summary

Deploying a React + Vite app to Hostinger is straightforward once you understand what Hostinger actually does with your files. For static apps, shared hosting is plenty. Use the File Manager for a one-off deploy, Git deployment for anything you'll maintain long-term. The .htaccess fix for React Router is the one thing that trips up almost everyone the first time — now you know.