Creating an Instance

An instance is one site, app or API on Insites, with its own address, database and admin. You create one with the create wizard. It takes four or five steps, depending on how you start and where the instance runs.

You need the Editor role or above to create a staging instance, and the Admin role or above to create a production instance.

Starting the Wizard

Select Create instance on the Dashboard or on the Instances page. To create the instance inside a folder, open the folder first, or choose the folder in step 1.

Step 1: Name Your Instance

Field	Required	Description
Instance name	Yes	A name for you and your team. You can rename it at any time.
URL	Yes	The subdomain of the instance's default address. The wizard checks that no other instance uses it. You add your own domain later, on a production instance.
Where it runs	Yes	Staging (Build and test): a private space to build and test with the whole platform, free. Production (Go live): for real users, on your own domain and with real email, on a paid hosting plan.
Folder	No	Under Advanced options. Choose No folder to keep the instance at the top level.
Tags	No	Under Advanced options. Pick from the tags set up on the Account page.

Staging and production instances get different default addresses. The ending of the URL field changes when you choose where the instance runs.

Step 2: Choose How to Start

• Start from a template: a ready-made instance you can change to fit what you need.
• Start from scratch: an empty instance, so you can build it your way. This skips step 3.

Step 3: Pick a Template

Choose one of the templates: Ecommerce, Website and Member Portal, Events, Web App/SaaS Starter, or Store Locator. Select View demo on a template to see a finished example first. The template installs the modules it needs, which you then see on the instance's Modules and Marketplace Items tabs.

Step 4: Choose a Plan (Production Only)

For a production instance, choose a hosting plan: Starter, Growth, Business or Pro, billed monthly or yearly. Select Compare all plans and pricing to see what each includes: data objects, storage, API calls, custom domains, bandwidth, emails, SMS, background jobs, users and modules. For Private Stack or Self-Hosted plans, select Talk to us.

A staging instance is free and skips this step.

Step 5: Review and Create

1. Check each value. Select Edit beside a value to go back and change it.
2. Select Create instance. For a production instance, the Console takes you to a secure checkout to pay for the plan first.
3. The wizard shows Setting up your instance. You do not need to wait on this screen: select Go to your instances and the instance appears in the list when it is ready.

When the instance is ready, the wizard offers next steps: open the admin, view the website, or go to the instance's page in the Console.

If setup does not finish, the wizard shows Setup didn't finish. Your choices are saved, so you can try again.

To leave the wizard without creating anything, select Cancel and leave. Nothing is saved.

Moving an Existing Site to Insites

To bring a site from another platform onto Insites, use the Insites Migration Tool. It is covered in the Migration section of the Console documentation.