How to Check Bandwidth and Disk Usage in cPanel

Keeping track of how much bandwidth and disk space your hosting account uses helps you avoid hitting limits and understand where your resources are going. This guide shows you how to monitor both in cPanel.

Checking Bandwidth Usage

Quick View: cPanel Sidebar

After logging in to cPanel, look at the right-hand sidebar (or the stats section at the bottom of the home page). You'll see a quick summary showing your monthly bandwidth used versus your plan's allocation.

Detailed Bandwidth Report

1. Log in to cPanel (my.hostdada.co.uk/cpanel).
2. Go to Metrics > Bandwidth.
3. The report shows monthly bandwidth broken down by:
   • HTTP — web traffic
   • FTP — file transfer traffic
   • SMTP — outgoing email traffic
   • POP3/IMAP — incoming email retrieval
4. Use the month selector to view historical data.

Checking Disk Usage

Quick View: cPanel Sidebar

The cPanel sidebar shows your total disk usage at a glance alongside your plan's limit.

Detailed Disk Usage Report

1. In cPanel, go to Files > Disk Usage.
2. The report shows a visual breakdown of disk usage by directory.
3. Click any directory to drill down and find what's using the most space.

Common space consumers to check:

• public_html/ — your website files
• mail/ — stored email (can grow large if emails are never deleted from webmail)
• backups/ — account backup archives
• public_html/wp-content/uploads/ — WordPress media library
• logs/ — access and error logs

Freeing Up Disk Space

Delete Old Emails

Stored emails are a common hidden culprit. Log in to Webmail (webmail.yourdomain.com), empty your Trash and Spam folders, and delete emails with large attachments.

Clean Up WordPress Uploads

Remove unused media files via WordPress Dashboard > Media. The plugin Media Cleaner can identify and remove files not attached to any post.

Delete Old Backups

If you generated full backups via cPanel and left them in your home directory, delete them once you've moved them to local storage.

Compress Old Log Files

In cPanel's File Manager, navigate to your logs/ directory. You can safely delete old .gz rotated log files.

Setting Up Bandwidth Alerts

cPanel doesn't have built-in bandwidth email alerts, but your plan information is visible in the sidebar. If you're consistently approaching your limit, consider:

• Enabling a CDN (e.g. Cloudflare) to serve static assets without counting against your bandwidth.
• Optimising images and enabling compression to reduce per-request data transfer.
• Upgrading your hosting plan if you regularly approach the limit.

If you need to increase your bandwidth or disk allowance, or if your account is suspended due to exceeding a limit, contact our support team and we'll review the options with you.