When we think of getting our website hosted, the first thing we know about it is cPanel – The interface that helps in managing websites and blogs. cPanel is the most user-friendly control panel; it has a great graphic interface that even people with minimum technical knowledge can use.
Recently, the price rise announced by cPanel has affected the entire web hosting community. They have modified their pricing model from per-server pricing to a per-account model.
If you are a cPanel partner and you were paying $11 per cPanel license for every server and running 1000 websites, now you will have to pay $122. This is approximately a price rise of 1000%!
Considering that you have 1000 websites, here is the breakup of cPanel pricing:
- $32 for 100 accounts.
- $0.1 each for 900 accounts.
The ‘not so acceptable’ new pricing
The price of cPanel is based on the number of accounts. The price applicable to the end-user is comparatively higher as compared to the price paid by the cPanel partners.
Related: 10 Things About cPanel You Might Not Be Aware Of
General Pricing 2021
- For 1 account: $15/month
- For 5 accounts: $22/month
- For 30 accounts: $32.25/month
- For 100 Accounts: $48.50/month
- Bulk pricing: For accounts over 100, the cost will be $0.30 for every account.
You can get the complete information about the detailed pricing here.
cPanel Partner Pricing
- Solo: $15
- Admin: $22
- Pro: $32.35
- Premier: $48.50
cPanel Pricing: New Vs. Old
People have been criticizing cPanel after they introduced the new pricing model. Here is a comparison of the new and old pricing of cPanel:
Old cPanel Pricing
Earlier it was only VPS and dedicated pricing.
New cPanel Pricing
The new pricing structure does not make a significant difference to the people having 5 accounts or fewer. However, as the number of accounts increases, the price of cPanel costs more than the server itself.
Big Impact On The Web Hosting Community
People have been relying on cPanel hosting for many years for managing their websites. A major contribution to cPanel’s popularity is the integration with Softaculous, Lite Speed, PHP Selector, JetBackup, CageFS, CloudLinux, Imunify 360, and the features it provides.
The sudden price increase does not seem to be a strategic rollout by cPanel. After introducing the new price structure, cPanel has faced significant recoil from the web hosting industry.
If you check out the Twitter handles of the web hosting companies, the negative comments and suggestions have been coming up. Most of the web hosts have also been considering switching to an alternate control panel.
Related: A Complete Guide To cPanel Web Hosting
cPanel Pricing Impact
End-Users
Even though the servers with a single account can opt for cPanel Solo, and servers having 5 or less than 5 accounts can get cPanel in less than $22, the overall pricing of the end-user is substantially increased for the servers that have more than 5 accounts. The more accounts you have, the more price you end up paying.
Shared Hosting Providers & Resellers
The shared hosting providers and the resellers are the worst affected among the lot. Generally, the shared hosting providers will have around 1000 websites on a single VM with the $11/month cPanel VM license. After the new changes have come into effect, the cPanel license cost will increase up to $122/month. This is a whopping 1000% increase and this price is almost equal to the server and the infrastructure costs.
Unmanaged Server Providers
Usually, the unmanaged server providers don’t have access to the server and they are not aware of the number of accounts that are running on a server which was okay earlier because the license price was charged per server. However, the new cPanel pricing has necessitated an additional layer of effort for the providers. Now, they need to have a log about the number of accounts being created on a single server, otherwise, they might end up paying exorbitant bills.
Who will get hit the hardest?
- Shared/reseller hosting providers.
- License holders operating in price-sensitive countries like Latin America, India, and other South East Asian countries.
Should you remain with cPanel?
Pros
- cPanel has evolved over the years with a user-friendly UI and integrations.
- Quick customer support.
- There is no need to migrate data and cause any data loss.
- Downtime caused while migrating data can be avoided.
Cons
- With no annual billing cycle, you will have to pay many invoices every month.
- The subsequent increase in prices might either make a business unavailable for a few or the end clients will end up paying the additional price because of the price hike by cPanel.
Coping up with the cPanel price rise
If you choose to continue using cPanel, the only solution you have is to re-evaluate your entire pricing structure. You will have to deal with communicating the price hike to your customers. The cPanel price hike can be beneficial for you only if you are getting a certain amount from your customers that include the price of the cPanel license.
cPanel Alternatives
With this unexpected price rise, people have already started looking for alternatives. Some alternatives that you can consider in place of cPanel are:
- Plesk
- SPanel
- OviPanel
- VestaCP
- Ajenti
- CentOS Web Panel
- Webmin
- ZPanel
- Virtualmin
- Froxlor
Conclusion
cPanel has ruled the web hosting industry for quite a long time; the positives of cPanel include user-friendliness and inclusiveness. One look at your cPanel account dashboard and can gauge many elements of your website at a glance. However, the most crucial factor that made cPanel a popular control panel is the pricing! And that has changed! And the price hike has gone to an extent where this very desirable control panel no longer seems to be desirable. This is the time for the web hosting industry to take this up as a challenge! Businesses have been re-thinking the use of cPanel and these considerations will soon become a decision. Many alternatives can be considered and people won’t refrain from getting to know and working with these alternatives if the cPanel price rise is consistent.
