Hosting Control Panel battles. Cpanel vs DirectAdmin vs Plesk vs Hsphere |
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If you have experience with web hosting, you might know that there are many different control panels out there; some more popular than others. Which one is better? That is hard to say. Each control panel has its advantages and disadvantages.
Cpanel
Cpanel is hands down the most popular hosting control panel out right now. Most end users(people using the web hosting service) like cpanel because of how simple it is and all the extra features it has with it. Cpanel tends to be the easiest to learn both admin side and client side.
Cpanel has been around for a very long time and recently have added better support for Windows and service clustering. However, these newer additions still have their bugs that need to be worked out.
DirectAdmin
DirectAdmin is becoming more popular these days because of its simplicity. Compared to cpanel, it doesn’t have as many bells and whistles but it makes up for it with how stable it runs and lower resource usage. It tends to break less often than cpanel since it has less features that have had their bugs ironed out.
DirectAdmin is typically used by Budget hosts because of its ability to host more clients than cpanel while still remaining stable.
Plesk
Plesk has been around for a very long time and has many features available that other control panels dont offer. Plesk has better clustering support than cpanel. With Plesk, you could setup a network of different servers that all act as one service together. For instance, you could run both a Linux and Windows based hosting platform(one Linux server + one Windows server) while having separate database and email servers that can all run together as one unit.
Plesk has a higher learning curve both for the end user and the admin because of these advanced features. If you are brand new to web hosting and are just starting, it would take longer for you to get running on Plesk than on cpanel. However, once you learn how to navigate and use Plesk, you might be better off because of its unique extra features(A cool SiteBuilder and better clustering support).
Plesk was recently bought out buy a software company called Parallels.
Hsphere
Hsphere used to be popular back in the day because it offered features that the other control panels could not at the time. However, the popular control panels have all caught up to Hsphere. Hsphere is REALLY hard to use both for the end user and the admins. It has the highest learning curve out of all the control panels IMO. Users most read through all the documentation before they can understand how it works. Because of this, technical support is usually hammered by users who have either messed up their website or have no clue how to start it. I would not recommend HSphere unless you really know what you are doing.
Advantages overview:
Cpanel – Easiest to use with the most bells and whistles
DirectAdmin – Easy to use and extremely stable because of its simplicity
Plesk – Has great support for clustering and a good SiteBuilder. This is slightly harder to use than cpanel and Direct Admin
HSphere – Hard to pick any advantages for Hsphere these days. Maybe it offers a little bit more control than the others but the learning curve to master these controls is great.
Jul 11th, 2008 at 12:57 am
I have to agree with this article. I to use Cpanel, its extremely easy to access and edit things through it, if needed. I know a lot of other webmasters using Cpanel aswell. Its good to read a good article on control panels. Keep it up mate!
Jul 15th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
You may also want to consider InterWorx – we use it on many of our shared and dedicated servers, and have always found it a powerful and useful tool.
Jul 17th, 2008 at 4:05 am
Top web hosting control panels explained…
A cool article about the top web hosting control panels on the market. Learn the advantages and disadvantages between Plesk, cpanel, Hshpere, and DirectAdmin…
Jul 18th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Also check out dotnetpanel.com, its a great .Net based controlpanel.
Jul 25th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
anybody here know of a good site to find more info on windows hosting services? I\’ve got this site bookmarked and im gonna keep checking it out, but i still would like to find a site that covers windows hosting services a little more thoroughly..thanks
Aug 6th, 2008 at 7:10 am
DirectAdmin:
)
cheapest option on the market;
quite simple to use though not so easy to customize;
quite popular so most of the billing and support solutions available on the market will support DA as well (as well as plesk and cPanel);
greatest minus is DA support team- it is very slow and if for any reason you would need their advice,- be ready to wait for few days for an aswer and write few e-mails (You can’t call them !!!
inTerworx:
spports Virtuozzo and Xen (though it’s only on beta version)
is cheaper compared to Plesk and cPanel;
has quite comfortable trasfer tools from cPanel;
I like to scripts (quick install) feature which on cPAnel comes only with Fantastico for which by the way you have to pay
Usabily (admin/user) is very friendy and not “too crowded
Plesk:
)
Parralels have all integrated solution plesk+virtuozzo+PBA (business automation) to that reason you could say it’s on of the best bundle you can get from one suplier
pros is quite difficult to manage for admin and user (my admin doesn’ like it
Very expencive compared to DA, interix or cPANel. You have to pay for every little feature you need (language pack, you can’t buy Virtuozzo without maintanence, you must buy central DNS and SpamAssasin add-ons, since everyone wants to deliver good service…)
Aug 26th, 2008 at 10:35 am
HSphere is an excellent piece of software, it was in fact the first control panel system I used as an end user. Since then though I moved on to CPanel. As a host I only have experience with cpanel but I am looking into hsphere for my next set of servers due to how it is all integrated, which looks nice. HSphere comes as standard with multiple languages which is something I need…
Oct 10th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
i hav used both cpanel & plesk. think cpanel is better for the simplicity of using its feaatures.
Oct 17th, 2008 at 4:52 am
we prefer directadmin because of speed and price. but now we think about testing lxadmin which seems to become a god alternative to cpanel and directadmin.
Plesk is horrible. The market needs some updates.
Nov 21st, 2008 at 7:52 am
As a host, me and my clients prefer cPanel for ease of use, a bit slower than DirectAdmin, and costs slightly more, but for low CPU usage sites, it’s the best option. On the other hand, if you want performance, DirectAdmin.
Jun 28th, 2009 at 8:26 am
i hav used both cpanel & plesk. think cpanel is better for the simplicity of using its feaatures.
Plesk is horrible. The market needs some updates.
Aug 4th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
A Control panel in web hosting refers to the interface provided by the hosting company for the maintenance and monitoring of the hosted website.
Some of the commonly available modules in most control panels:
* Access to server logs.
* Details of available and used webspace and bandwidth.
* Email account configuration.
* Maintaining FTP users’ accounts.
* Managing database.
* Visitor statistics using web log analysis software.
* Web based file manager.
Aug 7th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
I have tested CPanel (don’t really see the whole simplicity you guys talk about), Plesk and HSphere.
I currently sell hosting services using hsphere and I think its the only one that gives me the control I need over the resources. Cpanel neither Plesk cannot even come close to customization of every single detail. Off course if you want to edit every single detail, it will require you to learn how to use the system, like all of the others, but I am not a network engineer neither a programmer, and I am now able to customize it just the way I want to.
One killer function in hsphere as a web hosting provider: ability to login into any customer’s control panel with a single click (no need for login and/or password) and also same for all email accounts.
My customers like much better h-sphere interface, its main control panel has got big VISUAL icons rather than the small/list format of cpanel. They only need it to create email accounts and/or check their usage. In case they need to, they can upgrade to the next package with a single click.
Aug 8th, 2009 at 12:07 am
ahhh I forgot to mention. We provide the web development services in-house. This is why most of our customers don’t have an urge to go into their accounts. We do have some web designers with their packages though.
But even if you are a simple web designer, you should be able to find your way around in hsphere; at least in my opinion.
Aug 16th, 2009 at 7:52 am
I never known there are other control panel in hosting other than cpanel. Interesting review of other hosting control channels. I wanted to change my hosting and was worried how the control panel would look like. Now, I know what to ask my provider.
Aug 21st, 2009 at 6:22 am
Like to know if it is possible to edit websites through the plesk control panel without the sitebuilder add-on? I have managed to edit the script but the website do not change accordingly.