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Your hosting account generates access logs and error logs that track every request to your website and every PHP or server error that occurs. These logs are invaluable for debugging, security monitoring, and understanding your traffic. Here is where to find them and how to use them.
Most logs are available right in cPanel
Go to cPanel > Metrics for web traffic stats (Visitors, Bandwidth, Raw Access Logs) and cPanel > Metrics > Errors for your most recent PHP and server errors. You do not need SSH or FTP to view basic log data.
01. Types of Logs
Access Logs
Access logs record every HTTP request to your website. Each line includes the visitor's IP address, the date and time, what URL they requested, the HTTP response code (200, 404, 500, etc.), and the browser they used. These are in Apache Combined Log Format.
Error Logs
Error logs capture PHP errors, warnings, and notices, as well as Apache-level errors like permission denials and missing files. This is the first place to look when your site shows a blank page, a 500 error, or unexpected behavior.
Email Logs
Email delivery logs are available through cPanel > Email > Track Delivery. These show whether outgoing emails were accepted, deferred, or bounced, along with the receiving server's response.
02. Viewing Logs in cPanel
Log into cPanel at my.ultrawebhosting.com and look under the Metrics section:
- Visitors - Shows recent visitor IPs, pages they accessed, and their browsers. Useful for a quick overview without downloading raw logs.
- Errors - Displays the 300 most recent entries from your error log. This is the fastest way to check for PHP errors.
- Bandwidth - Shows bandwidth usage by month, broken down by HTTP, FTP, and email.
- Raw Access - Lets you download compressed raw access log files. These are the complete Apache logs you can feed into analysis tools.
- Awstats - A built-in web analytics tool that processes your access logs into visual reports with visitor counts, page views, referrers, search terms, and more.
03. Log File Locations on Disk
If you have SSH access or want to access logs via FTP, here is where they live:
- PHP error log:
~/public_html/error_log- This is the most useful log for debugging website issues. PHP errors, warnings, and fatal errors all go here. - Access logs:
~/access-logs/yourdomain.com(symlink to the actual log in/usr/local/apache/domlogs/) - Raw access logs for download: Also available in
~/tmp/as gzipped files after cPanel processes them
The error_log file in public_html can grow large over time. If your site generates a lot of PHP warnings, this file can consume significant disk space. It is safe to delete it; a new one will be created automatically when the next error occurs. Check its size with ls -lh ~/public_html/error_log.
04. Log Analysis Tools
If you want to run your own analysis beyond what Awstats provides, download your raw access logs and use one of these tools:
- Awstats - Already built into cPanel. Provides monthly reports on visitors, pages, referrers, browsers, and search engines.
- GoAccess - A real-time log analyzer that runs in the terminal. Fast and lightweight. Available at goaccess.io.
- Webalizer - Another cPanel-integrated option if enabled on the server.
- Google Analytics / Plausible / Matomo - JavaScript-based analytics that track actual user behavior rather than raw server requests. These are complementary to server logs, not replacements, since they miss bots and non-JS requests.
To download raw logs for external analysis: cPanel > Metrics > Raw Access > click the domain name to download the compressed log file.
If you see robots.txt appearing frequently in your stats, that is normal. Search engine bots check your robots.txt file before crawling your site. See Why Do I See robots.txt in My Web Stats for more detail.
05. Using error_log for PHP Debugging
When your site shows a blank page or a 500 error, the PHP error log is where the answers are. To view the latest errors:
Via cPanel
Go to Metrics > Errors for the most recent 300 entries.
Via SSH
tail -50 ~/public_html/error_logThis shows the last 50 lines. To watch errors in real-time as they happen:
tail -f ~/public_html/error_logPress Ctrl+C to stop watching.
Common entries you will see
- PHP Warning - Non-fatal issues. Your site still works but something is not ideal.
- PHP Fatal error - A showstopper. The script stopped executing. This usually causes a 500 error or blank page.
- PHP Notice - Minor issues like undefined variables. Usually harmless but worth fixing.
Need Help Reading Your Logs?
If you see errors in your logs but are not sure what they mean, paste the relevant lines into a support ticket and we will help interpret them.
Open a Support TicketQuick Recap
- PHP errors - Check cPanel > Metrics > Errors or
~/public_html/error_log - Access logs - cPanel > Metrics > Raw Access to download, or Visitors for a quick view
- Awstats - Built-in traffic analysis under Metrics in cPanel
- Email logs - cPanel > Email > Track Delivery
- error_log can grow large - Safe to delete; a new one is created automatically
Understanding your hosting account logs · Last updated March 2026 · Browse all Getting Started articles
