Deploying a PWA on shared hosting

Not every project gets a Vercel budget. Standard PHP shared hosting still works for PWAs in 2026.

Jan 6, 2026

You don't need Vercel or Netlify for a PWA. Standard shared hosting (cPanel, Plesk, FTP) still works fine in 2026, with some configuration.

What needs to be set:

HTTPS. Service Worker requires it. Let's Encrypt is free.
MIME types. .webmanifest as application/manifest+json. .woff2 as font/woff2. Set in .htaccess or hosting panel.
Cache headers. Static assets get year-long cache. HTML and manifest get short cache (so updates propagate).
Service Worker scope. SW must live at root. Otherwise scope is restricted to its subdirectory.
Manifest. webmanifest with name, icons, theme_color. Both that and apple-touch-icon for iOS support.

What's harder on shared hosting:

Push notifications via VAPID — needs server-side. PHP works fine for sending pushes.
Background sync — most shared hosts limit background tasks. Limited but possible.
HTTP/2 — many shared hosts have it now, but not all.
Edge caching — usually need to add Cloudflare or similar in front.

Real example: a PWA catalog of 5,000 daily users running on $4/month shared hosting works fine. Vercel-style platforms are convenient, not mandatory.