Works
- Any cPanel or Plesk shared hosting plan
- A VPS or dedicated server running LAMP
- Managed WordPress hosting that allows arbitrary PHP
- Local development with MAMP, XAMPP, Laragon or Docker
Requirements
Will it run
Will it run
on your hosting?
Almost certainly yes. Fortan Software is plain PHP and MySQL with no build step, no Node, no Composer install to run and no background worker. If your hosting runs WordPress, it runs this.
| What | Version | Needed? | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| PHP | 7.4 or newer | required | Anything currently supported will do. 8.1+ recommended. |
| MySQL | 5.7 / MariaDB 10.2+ | required | One empty database and a user with All Privileges. |
| pdo_mysql | PHP extension | required | How the app talks to the database. |
| mbstring | PHP extension | required | Correct handling of non-ASCII text. |
| curl | PHP extension | optional | AI CV tailoring and job board search. |
| zip | PHP extension | optional | Spreadsheet downloads. |
| openssl | PHP extension | optional | Sending email over SMTP. |
| Disk space | ~50 MB plus your files | required | The app itself is small; your uploads are what grow. |
| Cron | Optional | optional | Job alert digests and clearing expired client files. |
You do not have to work this out yourself. The installer checks every item on this list and tells you which are missing before it changes anything — so a missing extension costs you a page load, not a purchase.
Checking
How to find out what you've got
In cPanel
Look for Select PHP Version or MultiPHP
Manager. It shows your current version and a list of
extensions with tick boxes. Confirm pdo_mysql and
mbstring are ticked; tick curl,
zip and openssl too while you are
there.
Or upload one file
Put a file called phpinfo.php in your web root
containing <?php phpinfo(); and open it in a
browser. It lists everything. Delete it afterwards
— it tells anyone who finds it a great deal about your server.
Or just ask us
Email support@flayrfx.com with the name of your host and your plan. We will tell you whether it will work, and we will say so if it will not.
Compatibility
What works, and what doesn't
Doesn't
- WordPress.com, Squarespace, Wix or Shopify — you cannot upload arbitrary PHP to any of them
- Static hosts: Netlify, Vercel, GitHub Pages, Cloudflare Pages
- Anything without a MySQL or MariaDB database
- PHP 7.3 or older, which is long out of security support anyway
One thing to check before you buy: that your host lets you upload files by FTP or through a file manager, and create a MySQL database. A few very locked-down "website builder" plans do not, and those are the only plans this genuinely cannot run on.
Running costs
What hosting will cost you
This is the part of the total price that is not ours, so it is worth being clear about. A shared plan capable of running Fortan Software comfortably is typically £3–£10 a month, and most people reading this are already paying it for a portfolio site.
The app itself is about 50 MB. What grows is your own uploads — invoices, client files and portfolio video. If you intend to serve showreels from it, look at your host's storage and bandwidth allowances rather than the PHP version.
Still not sure? Try it on ours first.
The demo runs on exactly the kind of shared hosting described on this page. If it feels quick there, it will feel quick on yours.