A ZIP can contain a PHP project, but a PHP website is different from an HTML ZIP. HTML files are sent directly to the browser. PHP files must be processed by a PHP runtime before a page can be returned.
When creating the site in ZipHost, choose the PHP project type if your archive contains index.php, PHP templates, or server-side code. Do not deploy a PHP project as a static site and expect the host to execute it.
Package the public entry point correctly
For a small PHP site, the ZIP may look like this:
my-php-site.zip
├── index.php
├── includes/
├── assets/
└── .htaccess (only where applicable)The public entry point still needs to be at the root of the deployed files. Framework projects are different: many use a public/ directory as their web root. Build and structure those projects according to their framework requirements before uploading, rather than exposing application files that were not meant to be public.
Keep secrets out of the archive
Never put production passwords, API keys, or private database credentials into a ZIP that could be copied, shared, or committed by mistake. Add secrets through the platform’s environment settings after deployment. Keep local files such as .env out of the archive unless you have deliberately created a safe, non-secret example file.
Before going live, test a normal page and the error log. If the browser downloads a PHP file or shows its source, the site was created with the wrong type. If it returns a 500 error, check the log first; common causes are a missing PHP extension, an incorrect include path, or a missing environment value.