The web hosting industry is continuously evolving. Recently, cPanel announced a major hike in its price. For web hosting resellers, continuing with cPanel may cost an arm and leg.
Does this make them helpless?
No.
Because alternatives exist.
There are a lot of control panels in the market that will serve your purpose. The web server can also be configured using the command line but it isn’t feasible for everyone to use complex code. It’s simply effortless to use a graphical interface and configure the server.
The cPanel alternatives listed here exactly do that. With the help of simple design and integrated with fast-loading and efficient code, these alternatives provide identical experience.
If you are looking for some alternatives for cPanel, you have landed at the right place.
Related: All You Need to Know About the cPanel Price Hike
Top five cPanel Alternatives Share on X
Top cPanel Alternatives
#1 DirectAdmin
One of the eminent competitors of cPanel now has become one of the topmost alternatives for resellers and individual users.
DirectAdmin is a lightweight Linux based control panel. It consists of all the basic features of the control panel that includes multi-customer setups. Ultimately, less power will be utilized in management and more power will be provided to your users. Now that gives an upper hand to this control panel. The licenses are “unlimited domain” licenses in DirectAdmin.
Besides, the DirectAdmin is making advancement in security and design, also the new design is arriving shortly. Some web hosting providers are already reselling DirectAdmin control panel. Take a glimpse of the features provided by DirectAdmin:
- Cost – Although the license may be quite on the higher side, but if you compare to cPanel, the domains don’t have any limit. Moreover, you get “protection against price increases”. We wish cPanel provided that.
- Easy CMS installations – Install DirectAdmin with just a single click with the help of Softaculous or Installatron. Softaculous is also used to install WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and many such other apps with one-click installation.
- Support – The DirectAdmin team is always ready to assist you for any of your queries or technical issues. Their support is available via email and they have a lot of useful information accessible on the internet.
- Advanced features – With DirectAdmin, you get add-ons and plugins that can improve the panel’s features. Custom graphic skins, plugins for webmail, marketing, security and more are among them.
#2 Plesk
Currently, the Plesk is the next most popular hosting panel in the market and has complete control over windows hosting that is not supported by cPanel. It is well known for the finest panel available. Undoubtedly, it provides an exquisite experience for it’s users.
Distinctive from cPanel, which passes on its server-side management to Web Host Manager (WHM), Plesk provides all the configurations of server-side and that of users on the same panel.
Based on the amount of advanced options and the level of control you want, it can either be gains or losses for you.
The fact of the matter is, Plesk belongs to the same company that owns cPanel. People believe the price hike will soon be followed for Plesk too.
- Price – Plesk can either be pricey or cheap, the cost depends upon the domains you are planning to manage.
- Excellent graphic interface – Plesk has a top-notch control panel, they have colorful icons and animated effects. This gives users a premium experience.
- Support – Although you get a 24/7 support through email and phone, their support is paid. They will charge you pay-per-case basis.
- Operating system – Unlike cPanel, you can run Plesk on anything, be it Windows machine to a Linux Debian distribution. Whereas, cPanel is limited only to a few Linux distributions.
#3 Ajenti
Ajenti is an open-source platform and supports a lot of well-known Linux distributions. This tool is free and is managed by a team of website developers and server administrators. Being feather-light and free, Ajenti functions as a fantastic alternative for those looking for a control panel solution without spending much.
- Firewall protection – Ajenti provides a firewall which you can enable and can be configured from the panel. Block or grant access only to the services you want with just the point-and-click way.
- Simple interface – Provides fresh looking interface, with all best practices. Although not the most excellent panel but all the features are simpler.
- Monitoring and analytics – Get in-depth statistics of your configured domain, with ongoing resource usage, server tasks, monthly average, etc.
- Personal support – If you come across any issue, you can write on Ajenti’s forum and their developers will get back to you.
#4 Virtualmin
The main objective of Virtualmin is to provide state-of-the-art hosting management. Although a paid version of Virtualmin is provided, you can also go with its free version.
It has styled side menus, along with a system health dashboard that provides in-depth data which is lacking from cPanel.
However, if you are a beginner you will have to be careful with the configuration settings and customizations.
- Mobile responsive – It’s said that server management is a task for a large screen, but it’s not necessary. With Virtualmin, you can access all the setup and configuration from your Android or iOS device.
- Complete control – A lot of control panel give you ways to manage your server from their GUI. Not all panels provide a complete level of customization that you get with Virtualmin.
- Professional version – Along with their free and open-source version, Virtualmin also provides a paid-Professional version. You get an advanced site-building tool, easy CMS installations and dedicated support.
- Security tools – Virtualmin will protect you with any web attacks that can harm your panel. This includes two-factor authentication, brute force protection and some more additional services that you can incorporate.
#5 Froxlor
Froxies community contributes and supports Froxlor, constantly updating it, but competing with cPanel is tough.
With open-source projects, things can get slower or bugs can take longer to solve. Also, support is limited to Reddit and online forums. Still, this panel has bound together a lot of basic management features and a lot of other options for reseller management- all this at no cost.
- Light and robust – Froxlor delivers all essential features that are designed by a team of highly skilled administrators.
- Administration options – All of your domains are easy to customize as per your client’s requirement. Every single domain can be configured separately, with its resources, a different PHP version and a different web server (NGINX, Apache, etc).
- Easy SSL integrations – Create your own SSL certificate effortlessly and get a padlock.
- Be part of the process – Got suggestions? You are free to share your thoughts about ideas for features or report bugs that you came across. Floxlor is an open community that works jointly to improve efficiency.
Some more cPanel alternatives that you can consider:
- VestaC
- Kloxo
- ISPConfig 3
- Webuzo/BreadBasket
- InterWorx
- CentOS Web Panel
- Zpanel
Cloture
Nobody can predict the exact situation of cPanel. Will there be a price hike? Will DirectAdmin take the place of cPanel or will some other panel climb up the ladder?
No matter what the answers are, you must be prepared for whatever comes unexpectedly. If you choose cPanel alternatives and start using it, you’ll never be affected by any major alterations with these types of panels.
