How to Create a MySQL Database and Open phpMyAdmin
Last updated September 6, 2026
If you are installing WordPress, you do not need to do any of this. WordPress gets its own database, its own user and its own password the moment you add the website. This page is for the other case: a script of your own that needs a database beside your WordPress sites, and for looking inside a database you already have.
- For WordPress
- Nothing to do. It is automatic
- Host
localhost- phpMyAdmin
- One click, no password to type
- Where
- Panel → Databases
Look at What You Already Have
Open your hosting account in the client area and choose Databases. Everything on the account is listed: the database each WordPress site made for itself, and any you created yourself, with the size of each and which website it belongs to.
Open phpMyAdmin
Press Open phpMyAdmin. It opens in a new tab, already signed in. There is no password to find and none to type.
One login opens every database on the account. That is why there is a single button at the top rather than one per row: the sign-in is account-wide, and the row you were looking at only decides which database phpMyAdmin opens on first. Switch between them from phpMyAdmin’s own sidebar once you are in.
Create a Database of Your Own
-
Press Create Database
It is in the Your own databases block, which also shows how many of your plan’s databases are in use.
-
Name the database and its user
Your account prefix is fixed in front of both fields, so the name you will actually get is on screen while you choose it. Leave the user field empty to give the user the same name as the database.
The prefix is shown in front of the field you type into, so there is no guessing at the final name. -
Take the generated password, or make another
At least ten characters. Quotes and backslashes are refused, because this password ends up inside configuration files and those two characters break them.
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Copy the credentials before you close the dialog
The password is shown once and is not stored anywhere you can read it back. If you lose it, set a new one from the Password button on the database’s row.
Connecting to It From Your Code
Four values, and only one of them is surprising:
| Host | localhost |
| Database | The prefixed name from the panel |
| Username | The prefixed user from the panel |
| Password | The one you copied when you created it |
The host is localhost and not a hostname or an IP address. The database server is on the same machine as your site and does not accept connections from anywhere else, which is also why there is no “remote MySQL” setting to turn on. If you need to work on the data from your own computer, use phpMyAdmin, or export from it.
Deleting One
The Delete button on the row, and you are asked to type the name first. Deleting a database drops every table in it, permanently, and it is not covered by the Undo button anywhere in the panel.
A database that WordPress is using cannot be deleted while WordPress is there; the button is disabled and says so. Remove the website first if that is really what you mean to do.
Questions
Do I need to create a database before installing WordPress?
No. Adding a website creates the database, the user and the password, and writes them into wp-config.php for you.
What is my WordPress database password?
It is in wp-config.php in that site’s folder, which you can open in the file manager. You will rarely need it: phpMyAdmin signs you in without it.
Why is there a prefix on every name?
Because database names are shared across the whole server. The prefix is what makes shop yours rather than a name somebody else has already taken.
Can I connect from MySQL Workbench or Sequel Ace?
Your database is reachable from your own site and nothing else, which is what keeps it off the public internet entirely. phpMyAdmin gives you the same browsing, querying, import and export those tools do, from anywhere, with no client to configure.
How do I import a .sql file?
phpMyAdmin’s Import tab. If the file is large enough to time out, open a ticket and send it to us instead. We can import it directly on the server.
How many databases can I have?
It depends on your plan, and the panel prints the figure above the list as “N of M used”.