CPanel is the most widely used web hosting control panel for managing servers and websites. It can be assumed that anyone who owns a website on the Internet has used or tried this tool, or at least knew and searched for it, due to the ease of using the tool for some.
However, despite this, this hosting control panel suffers from many disadvantages that may prompt you to search for an alternative to it, and that is why we will introduce you here to the reasons that may prompt you to search for an alternative to cPanel, and we will also highlight the best alternatives that are useful for you to look at. On it and study it when you need to use another hosting control panel.
What is a web hosting control panel?
Web hosting control panel is a tool that makes it easier for owners of websites and web applications to manage various aspects of their hosting service through a graphical control interface that provides many simple and complex management functions by clicking on buttons and entering the necessary texts without the need most of the time. To write long and complex code.
There are currently many free and paid tools that enable you to manage your hosting, each of which has advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is important to study the advantages and disadvantages of these tools and combine them with your need to know which tool is best for you, as although cPanel may be the best hosting in Many times, but their disadvantages make the alternatives that we will talk about in this article more suitable for a large number of users.
Why do you need an alternative to cPanel?
There are many reasons, one, some, or all of which could prompt you to search for and use a hosting control panel other than cPanel, but the most important reason among these reasons is not related to the presence of a technical defect in it, as it is considered excellent in this regard, but rather is its price. High, especially for startups and individual websites that have a limited budget.
In fact, one cPanel license costs at least $15 per month, and for many users this amount can be greater than the amount they pay for web hosting and domain name over the same period, which means that the price of a cPanel license is not only high, it is very high . Group cPanel accounts are also currently expensive, with a customer needing 1,000 cPanel accounts paying more than $300 to get one.
In short, the cPanel web hosting control panel is not currently one of the good control panels in terms of price, unlike what it was in the past, as its price before 2019 was not that high, and this defect is essentially what prompts many users to give up About using cPanel and looking for a better alternative.
You may also need to look for an alternative to cPanel for another reason other than the high price, such as:
- cPanel does not support Windows servers at all, it only works with Linux servers, but most web servers run on Linux.
- cPanel is more vulnerable to hacking attacks, as hackers may be able to compromise your site through plugins or external software on the server, so you will need a hosting provider that provides a firewall.
Best cPanel web hosting control panel alternatives
There are dozens of alternatives to cPanel on the market currently, some of which are free and some of which are paid, and each control panel has characteristics that differ from cPanel and from the rest of the other control panels, although the control panels share main characteristics and some sub-characteristics depending on the two sides of the comparison.
Knowing the characteristics of the best available cPanel alternatives helps in choosing the appropriate alternative, so here we list for you the most important advantages and disadvantages of the alternatives, and we particularly highlight the most important strengths and most important weaknesses of each alternative compared to cPanel within the context.
DirectAdmin
DirectAdmin Hosting Control Panel is a good alternative to cPanel, as it provides an easy-to-use graphical user interface similar to the user interface in cPanel. It includes most of the basic features and functions you could need to manage your web hosting, including DNS and IP management, as well as the ability to use… Two-factor authentication and automatic recovery in case of failure.
Not all functions available for use in the cPanel user interface can be implemented from the DirectAdmin user interface, as the latter does not include all the options and features of the former, and many tasks in it need to be performed by typing commands, which makes it more suitable for experienced users than novice users who do not have Enough experience to manage some things by writing codes.
Regarding the price, there are many licenses available for DirectAdmin and their prices are generally lower than the prices of cPanel licenses, as the price of the personal license is $2 per month, the price of the light license is $15 per month, and the price of the basic license is $29 per month, and you can view the characteristics of each license by going To the prices page on the official website of the DirectAdmin control panel.
It is also important to point out that both control panels are expandable, but cPanel is better in this regard, as you can easily add modules and add-ons to it without paying any additional cost, while expanding DirectAdmin by relying on plugins requires paying some money in addition to the basic price.
If you would like to try DirectAdmin, go to their trial page to go to a page that enables you to browse many of its options directly online.
Froxlor
Froxlor is one of the best free, open source web hosting control panels. It is characterized by high performance and a user interface that can be customized, although it may seem confusing at times. It is only available for Debian and Gentoo Linux distributions, meaning it does not officially work on hosts that support it. Works with other Linux distributions or Windows.
Of course, Froxlor is not as technically powerful as cPanel, but it does offer the ability to do most of the main functions that a web hosting control panel is expected to provide, such as managing SSL certificates , including the ability to use some free certificates, the ability to save different PHP configurations and use a copy. Different for each domain, Froxlor also supports extensibility via Application Programming Interface (API).
It is also worth noting that cPanel is superior to the Froxlor control panel in terms of design beauty, as the user interface of the former is noticeably more beautiful. You may also find it difficult to get used to using Froxlor after moving to it from cPanel due to the differences between them, that is, the strength of this cPanel alternative. The thing is that it can be used for free, which makes it suitable for people who do not want to buy a paid control panel, but want to use a suitable one that provides them with the most basic functions.
You can download or try the Froxlor web hosting control panel for free through its website, which you can go to through the tool’s website .
Agent
Ajenti is one of the free cPanel alternatives built by a team of hosting administrators and web developers. It features a simple user interface for managing Linux servers through a set of useful tools, such as a file manager, text editor, and other tools that provide the ability to perform basic management functions. They also offer a firewall that can be set up from within the panel.
However, although Ajenti is a convenient and powerful alternative for those people who do not need advanced functionality to manage their hosting because it is free and provides basic functionality, it is not at all suitable for those who need advanced options, because the Ajenti web hosting control panel lacks a lot of functionality that… Many other hosting control panels provide it, such as cPanel or many of its other alternatives, but it is worth noting that Ajenti can be extended using Python and JavaScript .
You can go to the official Ajenti website to find out how to install it on your hosting.
Plesk
Plesk is a very powerful cPanel alternative that provides a user interface similar to the famous WordPress content management system control panel . It is easy to use even by novice users, because it is intuitive and easy to access most of the options it provides, but it is a paid alternative and not free, as you have to pay money to use it. This panel, as well as Plesk, is owned by the same company that owns cPanel.
The Plesk web hosting control panel is superior to cPanel in that it works on both Linux and Windows systems, which makes it suitable if your hosting runs on Windows, which cPanel does not support, especially since it provides many of the basic and advanced functions that other control panels provide, including the ability to install WordPress is easily installed using built-in tools, entire server backups , and free and paid security features.
There are many versions of Plesk available, all of which include built-in WordPress tools and many other features depending on the version, and each version has a specific price, but their prices are generally lower than the prices of cPanel, as the price of a Web Admin Edition license that supports 10 domains is $10.08 per month, and is $10.08 per month. The price for a Web Host Edition license, which supports an unlimited number of domains, is $25.21 per month.
If you’re torn between using Plesk and cPanel for your hosting that runs a Linux distribution supported by both hosting panels, you may be better off using Plesk if you have a small number of sites because it will cost you less.
It is useful to point out that you can try the Plesk hosting control panel online for free, whether the version that runs on the Windows system or the one that runs on the Linux system, through the official website .
Webmin
Webmin is a free tool that can be used as an alternative to cPanel for managing various aspects of the server on Linux-powered hosts. There is a version of it available for Windows hosts as well, but it is not as powerful as the Linux version.
Webmin provides all the basic functionality for hosting management, where you can monitor server health and bandwidth, manage user accounts, access files and databases, and make changes to them. Webmin options can also be enhanced with third-party modules that provide much more… Of other jobs, some of which you may not have even thought about.
It is also worth noting that the Virtualmin program, which is built on the Webmin web hosting control panel, allows you to manage a group of servers at the same time, and its functionality can also be expanded using a group of applications and scripts. A free version of this program and paid versions are available, with prices ranging between $6 and $20. Monthly, and usually some discount can be obtained if the license is for a year.
To make it easier for you to choose the appropriate cPanel alternative for you, we summarize in the following table the most important advantages and disadvantages of each of the alternatives that we mentioned previously, but we point out that it is not necessary that one of these options be the most suitable for you among everything that is on the market, because the projects Online they vary greatly depending on many criteria.
| Hosting control panel | The most prominent advantages | Most notable defects |
|---|---|---|
| DirectAdmin | + Its performance is high. + Easy to use. + Their prices are low. |
– Does not work on Windows. |
| Froxlor | + Free. + Easy to use. + Its performance is high. |
– There are no built-in file management tools. – Does not work on Windows. – Many Linux distributions are not officially supported. – Its support is limited to the forums. |
| Agent | + Free. + Extensible using JavaScript and Python. |
– Works on Linux servers only. – Provides a small number of functions. – Requires technical knowledge. -Support is not free. |
| Plesk | + Works on Windows and most popular Linux distributions. + Very excellent in terms of security. + Easy to use. |
-It is not free, but it is expensive. |
| Webmin | + Free. + Provides most of the features of cPanel. + Virtualmin allows you to control multiple servers. |
– Its user interface is described as somewhat poor. – Only works on some Linux distributions. – Support is limited to the community only. |
How to choose the right cPanel alternative?
With dozens of cPanel alternatives currently available, which have advantages and suffer from disadvantages, some of which are similar and some of which are different, the task of choosing the appropriate alternative seems difficult and exhausting. In this article, we have tried to make the task easier for you by talking about the best alternatives, and presenting their advantages and disadvantages, but only you can. Make the final decision to install and use the most appropriate board, because you know best about your project, and you are the one who will use it to manage the server.
To choose the cPanel alternative that is best for you, you have to take into account a number of basic things, the most important of which are:
- Ease of use, as you should choose a control panel that is easy to navigate between its sections and use the various tools it provides. It may also be better to take the possibility of customization into consideration.
- Support your hosting operating system. You must choose an alternative that works on the operating system that your hosting runs on. You must also make sure that the board supports your specific system distribution.
- It provides all or at least most of the functions that you perform on an ongoing or periodic basis, and can be used on various popular web browsers, such as Google Chrome and Firefox.
- Solutions to problems you might encounter while using them are easy to find online (or have strong support). The most popular hosting control panels are usually better in this regard.
- It is safe, and does not suffer from many problems in terms of security, and here you may want to give cPanel alternatives that support firewall configuration or support other security features priority over other alternatives.
- Its price is appropriate for your project budget, as you must be careful to choose a web hosting control panel that fits well with what you can pay, while not ignoring the other items on this list.
With this, we finish introducing you to the best cPanel alternatives, at least one of which is likely to help you manage your hosting in the appropriate manner that you desire in various aspects. We point out in conclusion that choosing the appropriate hosting control panel does not depend solely on whether it is free or paid, or on The number of functions it provides, but you must take into account what you need, what the tool provides, and your specific budget, and then choose the appropriate hosting control panel based on that after studying the options well.
