Comparing hosting control panel

[bjorn]

Hosting is an internet service of hosting the website files, the database data, and the emails of a website in a server that is running around the clock. A server for hosting sites is usually connected to a redundant network in an Internet Data Center at all the time. For this reason, a website is accessible 24/7 at any location.

A web control panel is very helpful for a webmaster to manage his website. With a control panel a webmaster can manage FTP accounts, manage databases, install CMS scripts, manage DNS, etc. in a few clicks through a web-based interface.

For the aspect a web hosting provider a control panel helps the company manage hosting package for their users. The provider can easily define diskspace, bandwidth, etc. for each package and create accounts for their users through the control panel.

There are many web control panels available. Popular free ones are VHCP and Vesta CP. Popular paid ones are cPanel, Plesk, and Directadmin. Paid control panels are often more reliable and stable than paid ones. Among these three paid web control panels, cPanel is the oldest (established in 1996) follow by Plesk in 2001 and Directadmin in 2003. Most providers host sites of their customers with cPanel because it is the most stable and most popular.

Usability
All three panels has all basic features for managing a website. Most newbies love Directadmin because it is the most user friendly. Plesk and cPanel are harder to use but they are feature-rich. Experience users will love Plesk and cPanel. From a hosting provider point of view, cPanel is probably the best because it gives advanced control of the server without having to rely on command line as often like Directadmin.

Operating System
All three panels support most distros of Linux but only Plesk support Windows server. Please be noted that only Plesk support Docker. If you are a developer that deploy software using docker be sure to choose a hosting provider with Plesk control panel.

Programming language
Directadmin supports only PHP. cPanel supports PHP, Python, Ruby on Rails, and JSP. Plesk supports PHP, Python, and ASP.NET. Therefore, you should check the programming language of the project and the web control panel that a hosting provider is using before selecting a host plan for your site.

Pricing
For plan with no limits on accounts or domains, Directadmin will cost you $29 per month while Plesk will cost you $45 per month. cPanel is the most expensive offering no unlimited plan. It will cost you $45 per month supporting up to 100 Accounts and will cost $0.20 for each account over 100. Due to the massive price increase from cPanel, most hosting providers are now considering the migration to Directadmin at a significantly less cost.

[lishmalinyjames]

As a website owner, dealing with scores of web services is cumbersome and requires in-depth knowledge of the level of a system administrator. Many technically apt ones prefer to control server through CLI but for others, a web hosting control panel with a GUI is the best way to manage sever and different web hosting services. Hence, having a good hosting control panel is one of the most crucial factors, if not the most important one while choosing a web hosting plan.