Hostinger Operations — The Three-Cache Truth

The single most important fact

Hostinger has THREE independent cache layers. Most cache-related problems are because someone purged ONE layer (usually the WordPress plugin) and assumed it was done.

The hPanel "Clear cache" button purges all three at once. This is the one button that actually fixes most stale-content issues. The wp-admin LiteSpeed purge does NOT touch Hostinger CDN.

The "Hello world!" gotcha

When Hostinger auto-creates a WordPress install:

1. WP boots up with the default "Hello world!" post and Twenty Twenty-Five theme
2. Hostinger's CDN edge caches that empty install immediately
3. You configure the site, change theme, write content
4. Logged-in users see the new site (cache bypassed for cookies)
5. Anonymous visitors continue seeing "Hello world!" until you flush the CDN cache

Symptoms:

• "My site looks fine but customers see Hello world"
• "Incognito shows the wrong site"
• Server returns correct HTML when you curl it, but real browsers see stale content
• The "wrong" content is dated the same day the site was created

Fix: hPanel Dashboard → "Clear cache" button. One click. Done.

Diagnostic flow when content is wrong

Run these in order. Stop at the first one that proves which layer is stale:

# 1. Does the SERVER return correct content?
curl -s "https://YOUR-SITE.com/?bust=$(date +%s%N)" | grep -oE '<title>[^<]+</title>'

# 2. Does the cache header say "hit" (cached) or "miss" (fresh)?
curl -sI "https://YOUR-SITE.com/" | grep -iE 'litespeed|cache'

# 3. Are there multiple WP installs at the domain? (rare but check)
curl -sI "https://YOUR-SITE.com/wordpress/wp-login.php"
curl -sI "https://YOUR-SITE.com/blog/wp-login.php"

If step 1 shows correct content but a real browser sees wrong content → it's the Hostinger CDN edge cache. Use the hPanel button.

If step 1 shows WRONG content → the actual WordPress install has the wrong content. That's a WP-level issue, not cache.

The Hostinger panel layout (quick reference)

• hpanel.hostinger.com → Websites → [your site] → Dashboard
• Top right: "WordPress admin" button — direct login link
• Middle: "Clear cache" button — the silver bullet
• "File manager", "Databases", "WordPress overview" tiles
• Sidebar inside a website context:
• Dashboard (overview)
• WordPress (plugins, themes, updates)
• Hosting Plan
• Performance (caching settings, CDN toggle)
• Analytics
• Security
• Domains (subdomain management)
• Website (manage site settings)
• Files (file manager + FTP creds)
• Databases (phpMyAdmin)
• Advanced (Cron, SSH on Business+)

What plans give you what

• Premium plan: 1 website only, basic CDN, weekly backups, no SSH
• Business plan: 100 websites, Object Cache, daily backups, SSH access (so wp-cli works)
• Cloud plans: dedicated resources, full WP-CLI

Most people use Premium and don't realize they have no SSH access. That's why Theme File Editor + Plugin Upload via wp-admin are the only options.

Pre-installed plugins on Hostinger WP

Every fresh Hostinger WordPress install comes with:

• All-in-One WP Migration and Backup (active)
• LiteSpeed Cache (inactive — you have to activate it)
• Hostinger Easy Onboarding (their setup wizard — you can delete after first use)
• Hostinger Reach (their email marketing — delete if you don't use)
• Hostinger Tools (their dashboard helper — delete if you don't use)

Recommended cleanup on day one:

1. Activate LiteSpeed Cache
2. Delete Hostinger Easy Onboarding (after running it)
3. Decide on Hostinger Reach / Tools — delete if not used
4. Run hPanel "Clear cache" once you're done configuring

Editing files when you don't have SSH

Hostinger Premium has no SSH, so wp-cli is out. Your options:

• Theme File Editor: wp-admin → Appearance → Theme File Editor → edit any theme file directly
• Plugin File Editor: wp-admin → Plugins → Plugin File Editor
• File Manager: hPanel → Files → File Manager (browser-based file ops)
• FTP/SFTP: hPanel → Files → FTP Accounts (create credentials, then use FileZilla)

Theme File Editor uses CodeMirror. If you're driving it via JavaScript automation, setting textarea.value directly does NOT update CodeMirror. You must use the CodeMirror API:

const cm = document.querySelector('.CodeMirror').CodeMirror;
cm.setValue(cm.getValue() + yourSnippet);
cm.save(); // syncs CodeMirror -> underlying textarea
document.getElementById('submit').click();

DNS and the IP behind your domain

Hostinger uses these IP ranges (helpful for dig/curl --resolve debugging):

• IPv4: 82.25.x.x, 145.79.x.x (commonly)
• IPv6: 2a02:4780::/32

Confirm with:

curl https://cloudflare-dns.com/dns-query?name=YOUR.com&type=A -H "accept: application/dns-json"

When to suspect "duplicate WP install"

Almost never. Hostinger's panel only shows ONE website slot per domain on Premium plans. If you see "different content for different users", it's almost always:

1. Cache (90% of cases) → flush all 3 layers
2. User has hosts file or DNS override → ask them to test on cellular data
3. Service worker stuck on user's browser → clear browser site data

Permanent prevention

If your site changes content frequently and you keep hitting cache issues:

1. hPanel → Performance → Cache Manager → set to "Standard" not "Aggressive"
2. In LiteSpeed Cache plugin → Cache → set "Default Public Cache TTL" to a shorter value (e.g., 3600 = 1 hour)
3. For pages that should NEVER cache (logged-in dashboards, member pages): add to LiteSpeed → Cache → Excludes

Pre-flight checklist when launching a Hostinger WP site

• [ ] Activate LiteSpeed Cache plugin
• [ ] Delete unused Hostinger plugins (Easy Onboarding, Reach, Tools)
• [ ] Set up custom theme + content
• [ ] Click hPanel "Clear cache" once everything is configured
• [ ] Verify in incognito/different browser/different network — not just your logged-in browser
• [ ] If something looks stale, click "Clear cache" before debugging anything else

Common Hostinger error messages and what they mean

Real-world story

A WordPress site for an air conditioning company in Riyadh launched May 3, 2026. Hostinger auto-created the install with default Hello world content. The owner spent 3 days configuring a custom theme, writing 13 blog posts, setting up Search Console + Analytics. Logged into wp-admin, everything looked perfect. But customers kept reporting they saw "Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post" with the default theme.

The owner cleared the WordPress cache (LiteSpeed). No change. The owner cleared their browser cache. No change. The owner suspected DNS hijacking, duplicate installs, viruses, hackers.

Real cause: Hostinger's CDN edge had cached the empty install from May 3 and was serving it to anyone whose request hit certain edge nodes. The fix was a single click: hPanel → Dashboard → "Clear cache". Site instantly correct for everyone.

If the owner had known about the three-cache structure, this would have been resolved in 30 seconds instead of 3 days.

Skill maintained at https://github.com/OmarEltak/wp-rescue-kit