Founded in 1997, cPanel is one of the oldest and most popular web hosting and server management control panels used throughout the world.
Web hosting companies use cPanel to provide their customers with an easy way to manage their hosting accounts which includes a range of features and tools that allow users to easily manage their domains, applications, website files, emails, and data backups.
Some of the biggest names in the industry such as GoDaddy, Bluehost, Inmotion and A2 Hosting all offer cPanel as part of their hosting plans.
cPanel has been a favourite for many companies and individuals over the years but in 2019 cPanel opted to raise prices and has continued to do so which has led to many of their customers switching to cheaper or free alternatives.
Let’s take a look at the best cPanel alternatives:
Plesk
Plesk is one of cPanel’s most popular rivals. The web hosting control panel was launched in 2001 and is a favourite among WordPress agencies.
Plesk has an impressive user interface, similar to that of WordPress where all options are grouped and displayed in a left-hand side menu.
One major difference between Plesk and cPanel is that Plesk is available on both Windows Server and Linux distributions. cPanel is only available on Linux operating systems.
Compared to cPanel
- Cheaper
- Also has a WHMCS module
DirectAdmin
Released in 2013, DirectAdmin is a budget-friendly lightweight control panel that comes with virtually everything you would expect or need from a control panel.
The panel supports Open LiteSpeed and Nginx Reverse Proxy + Apache.
Compared to cPanel
- Cheaper
- Also has a WHMCS module
Webmin
Webmin is a free open source control panel that helps you administer your Linux servers using a browser-based interface.
Webmin has a simple user-friendly interface for managing common system administration tasks, such as creating user accounts, setting up web server software, and configuring network settings. Webmin is typically installed on a Linux or Unix-based system and can be accessed remotely from any computer with a web browser.
Compared to cPanel
- Free
- Open-Source
ISPConfig
ISPConfig is a widely used open-source hosting control panel project for Linux that was started in 2005.
Compared to cPanel
- Free
- Open-Source
- Manage multiple servers
Vesta
Vesta is another free open-source web hosting control panel.
Vesta Control Panel features an easy-to-use interface that simplifies the monitoring of servers and provides information through easily readable graphs. The standard features of this control panel are the same as those of cPanel, but the support is not free.
Compared to cPanel
- Free
- Open-Source
SPanel
SPanel is a lightweight ALL-IN-ONE cloud hosting and server management control panel developed by the team behind Scala Hosting.
Compared to cPanel
- Cheaper
- Managed Option
- Also has a WHMCS module
CyberPanel
CyberPanel is another great lightweight open-source web hosting control panel that has been receiving a lot of praise and has been touted to be the best free alternative to cPanel.
The panel is Open LiteSpeed ready and you can easily upgrade to LiteSpeed Enterprise with a few clicks. CyberPanel has everything you would expect or need from a control panel.
Compared to cPanel
- Free
- Open-Source
- Also has a WHMCS module
Enhance
Enhance is a scalable, multi-server management and web hosting control panel developed by ex-Tsohost employees.
The control panel, still under development, looks set to be a great contender as one of the best cPanel alternatives.
Enhance has a simple user-friendly interface for both customers and admins and is very easy to set up and manage. This panel is one to watch.
Compared to cPanel
- Cheaper
- Also has WHMCS module
Also read: Best WHMCS alternatives