A GSM unlocking site looks like an ordinary website from the outside, but underneath it behaves more like a small background service. It talks to suppliers all day, keeps customer balances that must never drift by a cent, and runs a job every minute to collect results. That shapes what you need from hosting much more than visitor numbers do.
The short list
- PHP 8.2 or newer. Older versions are no longer maintained and will not run current releases.
- MySQL 8.0+ or MariaDB 10.6+. One database, with a user that has every privilege on it.
- Cron access, and permission to run it every minute.
- An SSL certificate. Customers type passwords and pay on your site, and payment gateways expect HTTPS.
- Outbound HTTPS allowed. Every supplier order and every payment check is an outgoing request.
- About 2 GB of memory to start.
Why each PHP extension is on the list
Hosting companies often ask which extensions you need. Here is the list, with the reason for each, so you can check it against your control panel:
openssl: encryption, and every outbound HTTPS call.pdo_mysql: the database connection itself.mbstring: names and service titles in non-Latin scripts such as Bangla, Arabic or Chinese.curl: talking to suppliers and payment gateways.zip: installing updates from inside the admin panel.gd: service images, logos and QR codes.fileinfo: checking what an uploaded file really is, not just what its name claims.bcmath: balance arithmetic that must not drift. Floating-point maths loses fractions of a cent, and across thousands of orders that turns into real money.intl: currency and date formatting per locale.
Shared cPanel hosting
This is where most shops start, and it works. You need the PHP selector, cron access and a MySQL database, all of which are standard on cPanel. Before you pay, ask the host two questions: can I run a cron job every minute? and are outbound HTTPS connections allowed? Some budget plans limit cron to every 15 minutes, which means a customer waits up to 15 minutes for a result a supplier delivered in seconds.
A VPS or cloud server
Once orders pick up, a VPS is the better answer. You control the PHP version, the cron interval and the memory limit, and no other customer on the server slows you down at the busy hour. If you are not comfortable managing a server yourself, a VPS with cPanel or another control panel gives you the same screens you are used to.
What does not work
Free hosting does not work. Free plans block outbound connections, kill long-running requests and disable cron, and those are exactly the three things supplier automation depends on.
Windows and IIS servers are not supported. Nothing in the code is deliberately Linux-only, but it is not tested there and file path handling causes problems.
When to move up
Signs that it is time to leave shared hosting:
- The admin panel is slow at the times your customers are most active.
- The host emails you about CPU or process limits.
- You are adding many suppliers and the service sync takes noticeably longer each run.
Moving is a normal server migration: copy the files, export and import the database, update the database details, and add the cron job on the new server. The full list is on the hosting requirements page, and the install itself is in How to install GSM X Tool on cPanel.