How do I check my disk space usage?

September 17, 2026 · 3 min read · Markdown

Running low on space usually shows up in awkward ways: uploads fail, email bounces back, or a site stops writing to its database. This guide shows you how to see what your account is using and where that space has gone. Start by logging in to cPanel.

See your totals

1. Log in to cPanel.
2. Look at the statistics panel in the sidebar. It shows Disk Usage and File Usage against the limits on your plan. Disk Usage counts everything stored on the account, including websites, mailboxes and databases. File Usage counts the number of files, which some plans limit separately.
3. If the sidebar is collapsed, click the arrow at the top of it to expand the list.

Your limits depend on the plan you are on, so compare the numbers shown in your own cPanel rather than a figure from elsewhere.

Find what is using the space

1. In the Files section of cPanel, open Disk Usage.
2. The top table lists your main directories with a size beside each one. Click a directory name to open it in File Manager and drill further down.
3. The lower part of the page shows a full tree of directories. Sort it by size to see the largest first.

Common culprits are old site backups left in your home directory, log files, cached images generated by a plugin, and mail directories for accounts nobody has emptied in years. Files that begin with a dot are hidden by default in File Manager; turn on Show Hidden Files in the File Manager settings if a folder looks smaller than the Disk Usage figure suggests.

Check mailboxes and databases

1. Open Email Accounts in the Email section. Each address lists the storage it is using against its quota. Click Manage on an account to change its quota or to see the figure in more detail.
2. Open MySQL Databases in the Databases section. Each database is listed with its size, which is handy when a site has accumulated years of spam comments, revisions or logged events.

Clear space safely

1. Download anything you want to keep before deleting it. Backups you generated in cPanel count towards your usage once they finish, so move them off the server rather than leaving them there.
2. In File Manager, delete old backup archives and unused files, then empty the Trash folder. Deleted files sit in Trash and keep using space until it is emptied.
3. In webmail, empty the Trash, Junk and Spam folders for any mailbox that is close to its quota, then remove old messages with large attachments.

If it didn't work

The numbers have not changed after deleting files. cPanel recalculates disk usage on a schedule, so the figure can lag for a while. Check again a little later before assuming the deletion failed.

The total looks higher than the files you can see. Hidden files, mail directories and databases all count, and File Manager hides dotfiles unless you ask it not to. The Disk Usage tool is the more reliable view.

You are within your disk limit but uploads still fail. Check File Usage as well. An account can sit under its storage limit while holding too many individual files, which some plans cap separately.

If you are still not sure what is filling the account, open a ticket at /support with the domain name and we will take a look with you.

Stuck partway through? Support is answered by the engineers who run the servers, around the clock.

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