# Control Panels



## WetPi (Jan 18, 2014)

This is a question for small to medium VPS providers. Which control panel would you use, while keeping the costs as low as possible. 

Cpanel??

plesk???

Im offering plans at the £3,£5,£10,£30 price point, but down want to push costs up!! But to stay competitive i think you need a good control panel...

What do you think?


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## NetWatcher (Jan 18, 2014)

cPanel VPS license fee is $11/mo. (this is how much we have as cPanel Partner) 

So, you cannot offer plans including cPanel for such low fee. The best way to offer some license is to give best price you can for basic VPS fee and then make license fee as an addon. 

So who needs cPanel, Plesk, etc... He can choose it during purchase process.


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## GIANT_CRAB (Jan 18, 2014)

Plesk is a piece of crap.

You might want to look at VestaCP or cPanel.


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## WetPi (Jan 18, 2014)

yeah true.....

It seems most people prefer cpanel... i might look for a reseller now?

who do you think is the cheapest?


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## GIANT_CRAB (Jan 18, 2014)

WetPi said:


> yeah true.....
> 
> It seems most people prefer cpanel... i might look for a reseller now?
> 
> who do you think is the cheapest?


Internal licenses from DC are usually the cheapest.

The list of (external license) distributors is available here - http://partnernoc.cpanel.net/partner_search?distributors=1

Licensepal would be the first to come into mind.

Sometimes, if you buy bulk licenses from these distributors, they'll give you a discount, you'll have to work out the pricing for yourself.


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## KuJoe (Jan 18, 2014)

cPanel is your only real option if you want to offer shared hosting to non-technical people. The only clients I've found that don't _need_ cPanel are the same clients that run their own panel on a VPS anyways.

Based on your pricing, you only need to sell 3 of your smallest plan to cover the monthly cost of an external cPanel license ($14.95) so don't skimp on your control panel.


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## shinehost (Jan 18, 2014)

Cpanel is the best option. For providers and for customers as well. As most of customers do familiar with it, And as providers we can easily transfer their data from old host to new one.


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## perennate (Jan 18, 2014)

WetPi said:


> This is a question for small to medium VPS providers. Which control panel would you use, while keeping the costs as low as possible.
> 
> Cpanel??
> 
> ...


Why do you say VPS providers then give web hosting control panels?


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## WebSearchingPro (Jan 18, 2014)

I'd like to add, if you are thinking about offering services where people pay you for security and reliability. Do not skimp out on license fees just to save a buck, that will come back to haunt you in the future especially with the small amount of industry experience it appears you have.

Buy a license from buycpanel for $13 a month and keep your customers and yourself (as well as future hires) happy.


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## vampireJ (Jan 18, 2014)

I would think that there is a good open source cpanel alternative out there. I just have not yet the time to actually prove it yet.


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## KuJoe (Jan 18, 2014)

vampireJ said:


> I would think that there is a good open source cpanel alternative out there. I just have not yet the time to actually prove it yet.


Even if there is, clients want cPanel and will not use anything else. I asked my paid clients on my previous hosting company if they would be willing to switch to DirectAdmin and switch from a paid account to a free account (same resources, same hardware, just switching from cPanel to DirectAdmin) and EVERY paid client said they would migrate to another paid account elsewhere if I dropped cPanel as an option.


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## WetPi (Jan 23, 2014)

wow, looks like cpanel it is then!


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## TruvisT (Jan 23, 2014)

Some people hate CPanel so by going DA and other panels you can win and control that market share and have less competition.


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## nunim (Jan 23, 2014)

cPanel is the industry standard and has been for many years now, everyone is so used to it and it's support is universal that it's really the only choice.  Out of all the custom shared hosting control panels that I've come across while doing migrations, I'd have to say that 99% of them were worse than cPanel.


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## BuzzzHost (Jan 25, 2014)

cPanel would be the best option in my opinion due to it's added simplicity for the user as well as constant updates. cPanel popularity alone will easily get you in the door every time but I really hate the fact that once installed on a server, it basically cannot be removed without re-partitioning the entire file-system and starting from scratch. I like using 'Webmin' as a free resource and as an alternative to cPanel.


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## rsk (Jan 25, 2014)

cPanel all the way. Clients want simplicity, offer them just that.

The whole market is used to "cPanel"...


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## mrrob32 (Feb 17, 2014)

If you're looking to differentiate yourself, cPanel might not be the best option, because people can get that anywhere. I would consider looking at a couple like Plesk (http://www.parallels.com/products/plesk/) or InterWorx (http://www.interworx.com/), and if you get into direct contact with them, they might be willing to figure something out for you in terms of price.


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## Navyn (Feb 20, 2014)

As a vps provider we prefer cPanel as paid control panel.And virtualmin as free vps control panel. Both are fine.


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## HostXNow (Mar 26, 2014)

I think it's best to offer the most popular one.


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## hostinghouston (Mar 26, 2014)

Why not offer customers a choice to choose between what they want? You could offer cPanel, Plesk and DirectAdmin and allow the customer to choose what they want. DA will also work on a lower spec VPS than cPanel will.

We use all 3, and even some opensource ones and obsecure things (hostingcontroller) to keep our customers happy.

At the end of the day, customers will pay you if your services is up to standard, so previous comments are not wrong in saying don't skimp on the fees.


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## lowesthost (Mar 28, 2014)

> Why not offer customers a choice to choose between what they want?


We went that route many years ago  and brand X fell beyond the wayside people want and expect cPanel


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## HostXNow (Mar 28, 2014)

hostinghouston said:


> Why not offer customers a choice to choose between what they want? You could offer cPanel, Plesk and DirectAdmin and allow the customer to choose what they want. DA will also work on a lower spec VPS than cPanel will.
> 
> We use all 3, and even some opensource ones and obsecure things (hostingcontroller) to keep our customers happy.
> 
> At the end of the day, customers will pay you if your services is up to standard, so previous comments are not wrong in saying don't skimp on the fees.


I'm more familiar with cPanel and wouldn't want to offer other panels that I don't know much about (even if my support team does) for obvious reasons. I think for smaller providers it's best to specialize in what they know best i.e most providers don't pull off offering Linux and Windows at the same time very good, due to not having the right resources etc. We prefer to offer cPanel/Linux as it most popular and we know it better compared to DA/Plesk/Windows.

No doubt you have bigger support team than us. 

Chris


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## datarealm (Mar 28, 2014)

If cost is a concern, there's always webmin/virtualmin.


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## Packety (Mar 28, 2014)

Just go with cpanel, easy to setup, easy to use.


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## Everyday (Mar 28, 2014)

I assume you are referring to running this on a VPS and not using it to do VPS hosting since neither support the latter.


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## oneilonline (Mar 28, 2014)

OP is talking about a control panel for web hosting on a VPS? Or is he asking about a control panel for VPSs?

I guess since he mentioned cpanel, we assumed he was talking about web hosting on VPSs.

CPanel is definitely the way to go. Solus for VPS control.

Is what I prefer...


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## marlencrabapple (Mar 28, 2014)

I'm more interested in where to start with a control panel. I feel like it would have to run as root to be able to do anything at all. How would one go about putting something like this together without it being a massive security risk? Not only would the script have root access, but there'd be an entire instance of Perl, PHP, or whatever you wrote the control panel in running as root which could allow for even more damage if an attacker was able to run code in it.


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## oneilonline (Mar 28, 2014)

So...you're talking about creating your own control panel!?! That is a HUGE undertaking. And from the sounds of what you are describing you don't know much about coding....

The control panel doesn't need to run as root to be able to execute commands. For example PHP has CLI where via the CLI code the command logs in as an executable user to execute the command. It involves a mash of many different coding languages. You have the HTML code, the bash code, and everything in between to get it to do what you want.

Many of the "tweaks" we have done with our control panels and interfaces implement CLI directly with remote servers.

So it IS possible


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## marlencrabapple (Mar 29, 2014)

oneilonline said:


> So...you're talking about creating your own control panel!?! That is a HUGE undertaking. And from the sounds of what you are describing you don't know much about coding....
> 
> The control panel doesn't need to run as root to be able to execute commands. For example PHP has CLI where via the CLI code the command logs in as an executable user to execute the command. It involves a mash of many different coding languages. You have the HTML code, the bash code, and everything in between to get it to do what you want.
> 
> ...


I already have a working knowledge of everything but the PHP/whatever language I'm using -> bash/running actual shell commands part. I've only screwed around with this in Perl, but logging in as another user -from- a Perl script is pretty much impossible if you're aren't running the original script as root. Is CLI any different than what Perl offers?


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## KuJoe (Mar 30, 2014)

Coding your own control panel is not hard and does not take a lot of time/knowledge/effort. You don't need to know coding to code a production control panel. 

I spent more time working on flowcharts and spreadsheets than I did actually coding.


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## Aldryic C'boas (Mar 30, 2014)

KuJoe said:


> You don't need to know coding to code a production control panel.


After seeing Solus and.. some others, this does indeed seem to be sadly true.  But, this is a market where you don't have to know how to actually administer a virtualization platform to "be a _provider_", so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.


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## KuJoe (Mar 30, 2014)

Aldryic C said:


> After seeing Solus and.. some others, this does indeed seem to be sadly true.  But, this is a market where you don't have to know how to actually administer a virtualization platform to "be a _provider_", so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.


I didn't even think of it like that but that's a good example also. LoL.

I was talking mostly about my (lack of) coding skills where I still need to use Google to understand how arrays work and get basic Javascript pop-ups (I also learned how to use MySQLi while coding Wyvern which was new to me). The only reason I even considered using my own code in production is because it's locked down tight and user input is limited to 3 fields which are easy to sanitize and keep track of.


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## marlencrabapple (Mar 30, 2014)

I'm just curious how it all works. Luckily I've already put together a few somewhat large pieces of software for work and on my own time and have pretty much been programming nonstop for 2 years now, so I guess I'm already better off than some of the established giants, but when it comes to creating a control panel for managing even a single server I feel like there are a ton of things I need to take into account and protect against.

Also, I looked into setuid yesterday and it seems like its exactly what I need for the bash scripts my control panel will be calling. That along with some pretty strict rules about what kind of input I accept from the user (and passing args as a list directly to whatever I'm calling rather than opening a new shell) should take care of shell injection. I already use PDO for everything so SQL injection isn't a big deal, and barring any huge holes in whatever framework and language combo I choose I think I'm a position to put together something that isn't terrible by default.

Just so I know, am I on the right track with setuid for this stuff? Does cpanel do something similar? Besides running my actual web interface as root its all that stood out to me as the right choice. If both essentially get me to the same place, why not just run the script as root and do everything there?


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## leto12 (Apr 7, 2014)

For me plesk is the best.

Work great and easy to use to start a company


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## thedediguy (Apr 7, 2014)

cPanel the rest are no way near as good, or webmin free directadmin is worth offering though


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## S4S-UK (Apr 8, 2014)

cPanel is stander for lot of users, you can offer it as a addon it will be good for you.


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## AreebMajeed (Apr 9, 2014)

cPanel is much better than Plesk. Easy to use and popular. A lot of people prefer "cPanel Hosting".


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## jhadley (Apr 9, 2014)

Plesk 11 is ok but I would still go with cPanel. Get as large a server as possible so that the $11/month or whatever spread thinly over your accounts,


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## Thelen (Apr 13, 2014)

cPanel is pretty universal, but personally I prefer webmin packages. It doesn't root itself into the server/vps, and you can also manage some things manualy (SSH) if you want to.


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## wlanboy (Apr 13, 2014)

datarealm said:


> If cost is a concern, there's always webmin/virtualmin.


Or VestaCP/Ajenti for smaller projects.


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## HostSailor (Apr 28, 2014)

It's definitely better to offer the clients the options, for example none free panels: direct admin, and cpanel, free panels: webmin and kloxo, in the end of the day what might seem good for you isn't really good for someone else.


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## vps24.net (May 4, 2014)

Hi

We are trying to fight now with ISPConfig3 - which provides quite nice functionality, and is opensource - so no additional licences required.

There is a little bit work to be done for proper instalation - but You can treat it as Your cost - and do not transfer it to customers 

regs.

http://www.vps24.net


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## zionvps (May 8, 2014)

the problem with these free panels are they are often target of hackers due to the projects usually being open source/ unencrypted and issues listed publically in github


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## sz1hosting (Jun 25, 2014)

We offer webuzo 1 click install and it is free!


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## irishwill2008 (Jun 28, 2014)

Cpanel in my opinion is more popular and is easy to use and everyone has experience in it i think. So i would highly recommend using Cpanel.


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## AThomasHowe (Jun 29, 2014)

marlencrabapple said:


> I already have a working knowledge of everything but the PHP/whatever language I'm using -> bash/running actual shell commands part. I've only screwed around with this in Perl, but logging in as another user -from- a Perl script is pretty much impossible if you're aren't running the original script as root. Is CLI any different than what Perl offers?


You know PHP isn't only for the web and can basically accomplish anything Perl can? There are actually hundreds of languages you could use for any piece of this project.

Not very many developers would advocate using Perl in 2014 either unless you're working with legacy systems or a lot of text. It's not that it's a bad language but coming to it from something more modern is just going to be confusing, it has a lot of syntax and noise.

If you want to use PHP and something for auxiliary parts, I would use Python or Ruby. I also quite like the idea of a 100% NodeJS panel, I have played with the idea a little myself.

KuJoe is right, control panels aren't exactly rocket science - you're just tying together parts of other well established systems.

You can also make it so that you don't need a password to sudo certain commands (e.g, you could allow the controlPanel user to execute sudo sh /bin/customscripts/restart.sh with no password - no real huge security risk outside a boot loop. You can also create a separate, hardened application specifically for safely interacting with config files, restarting stuff etc

Based on your posts though I think you still have a little while to go before you should start on a project like this. It sounds like you have a grasp on one or two languages, now it's time to try and learn some programming theory that you can apply to other languages.


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## Aldryic C'boas (Jun 29, 2014)

I use perl daily.  PHP is a sloppy, incomplete language that teaches horrible coding habits - the primary reason it's so popular is because it's so "easy" to learn.  At the cost of learning good coding practices.  It's a competent enough language if you already know what you're doing, but I would always recommend someone start off on a real language, rather than end up a lazy scripter after PHP's coddling.


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## AThomasHowe (Jun 29, 2014)

In 2014 PHP is as much of a real language as Perl if not more. I don't really think PHP teaches you anything either, the way you interface with the language and/or the tutorials you use teach you bad habits. There's a lot of bad design decisions in PHP but it's not that bad really, not much worse than other weakly typed languages. 

That said, PHP is pretty ill suited to general scripting tasks and I still recommend Python or Ruby for that. I'm a huge fan/advocate of CoffeeScript but I'm not sure we have any fans here. If I could choose I would usually go for PHP or CoffeeScript for any non GUI/non webUI project out of preference probably.


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## Aldryic C'boas (Jun 29, 2014)

I never said it wasn't a real language.  I said it was a sloppy, incomplete language - poor implementation, no solid structure, no solidly defined procedures.  It has nothing to do with tutorials - when a language lets you be lazy with implementation, then you become lazy with your work.  If you want proof of concept, just compare people that start with a rigid language and learn PHP later ("Huh, this is kinda weird, but easy enough") to people that start on PHP and then move to more advanced languages ("omg this is haaaaaard why can't I just do it like thiiiiiiiis").

That said - for all my gripes with the language, it's functional, and I will use it for web-based applications (that's what is was original designed for, after all).  I see _#!/usr/bin/php_ and I just want to choke someone, however.  It all boils down to personal preference - people will naturally seek to justify their language of choice (I am no exception to this).  But, PHP has its strengths, and it should stick to those - those strengths do not lie in efficient command line application.


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## DomainBop (Jun 29, 2014)

> I see _#!/usr/bin/php_ and I just want to choke someone, however. ...  But, PHP has its strengths, and it should stick to those - those strengths do not lie in efficient command line application.


If you're planning on choking someone start with the people over at Piwik who insist on using command line PHP for their archiving cron...grrr.  I'm in total agreement that PHP is not very efficient for command line applications.



> I will use it for web-based applications (that's what is was original designed for, after all).


I use it with "off the shelf" web apps but I prefer Java, Ruby, and Python .  On the command line Perl or Python.


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## Aldryic C'boas (Jun 29, 2014)

Perl, Python, tcl and bash on the command line, aye..  I haven't messed with Ruby much, but I have an intense _HATE_ for Java, primarily due working with a very inefficient Java coder in the past, and being forced to work with absolutely horrid Java applications at Coke.


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## BlaZe (Jun 30, 2014)

Go with cPanel. Its your only option.


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## SharkServers.co.uk (Jul 22, 2014)

We're using DirectAdmin. For those who say that cPanel is easy to use - how did you come up with that? It might be easy for those who have used it for years and never tried any other panel. However, for a new user cPanel is overloaded with features that just confuse the customer and are rarely (if ever) used.

As from sysadmin's standpoint, you can say all you want that cPanel can be used to configure almost anything on the server, but I'd rather use my beloved shell to do that.


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## pravint (Jul 24, 2014)

Better to use cpanel.


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## peetscott (Jul 25, 2014)

Plesk is more something for Windows based hosting...

But CPanel is still cheaper so go with cpanel


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## jamaica (Aug 12, 2014)

If client has money - Cpanel

If no money - Ajenti.


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## Clouvider-Dom (Aug 12, 2014)

I really recommend a cPanel or DirectAdmin, if you want to cut the cost. DirctAdmin has a great 'Code 500' license for VPS when you partner with them.


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## syncrohost (Aug 12, 2014)

You should start off with CPanel first and then slowly introduce other platforms.  Try to get comfortable with one and then move to the next.


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## SkillerzWeb (Aug 13, 2014)

If you're gonna offer shared-hosting services i'd bet everyone would just say "Cpanel". But Directadmin is decent too.. It doesn't hurt much to give it a go.

But for personal use there are many good control panels like :

1. Virtualmin - It got many features including ftp backup's which i find very useful when migrating.. Tho the users who migrate from other control panels find the ui a bit messy.. But this is gonna be the best free control panel for a user with a bit of technical knowledge.

2. Zpanel - Regardless of its bad reputation about exploits, Its a decent panel for personal use and the ui is pretty good too. So its worth trying too.

These are the panels got into my mind after seeing this thread..

-Thanks-


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## MonsteR (Aug 13, 2014)

We use cpanel, our target market isn't low end, As our base prices are higher, But we are always happy to drop a few offers to the low end market.


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## CentralHosts (Aug 18, 2014)

We have been using Cpanel for years and really enjoy it, test Cpanel and Plesk out yourself and see which meets your needs.


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## MeanServers (Aug 22, 2014)

I honestly can't believe DirectAdmin doesn't get more love. It easy to use, it's fast, and has just as many features as cPanel does. Kind of disappointing since it's been around for years now too.


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## farhanideas (Jan 20, 2015)

Cpanel will be best control pannel were you easy mange your files and websites


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## Licensecart (Jan 26, 2015)

Well I'm going to add this here because a lot of you all say cPanel: http://files.rack911labs.com/whitepapers/RACK911_Labs_-_Year_In_Review-2013.pdf From a security expert's view.

Cpanel takes a month to fix a security issue... Now that's what I call a good control panel  opcorn:


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## RTGHM (Jan 26, 2015)

WetPi said:


> This is a question for small to medium VPS providers. Which control panel would you use, while keeping the costs as low as possible.
> 
> Cpanel??
> 
> ...


Could do what I did for my company, bought a VPS for a year, and have enough cash in my account balance to pay for the small cPanel/WHMCS fee I encounter totaling about $22 a month


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## winnervps (Jan 28, 2015)

Licensecart said:


> Well I'm going to add this here because a lot of you all say cPanel: http://files.rack911labs.com/whitepapers/RACK911_Labs_-_Year_In_Review-2013.pdf From a security expert's view.
> 
> Cpanel takes a month to fix a security issue... Now that's what I call a good control panel  opcorn:


/omg...........speechless 

But nothing to say at the moment, since we have no choice, no competitor other than Cpanel, right?

We do have virtualmin or plesk or named it, but it couldn't be compare to Cpanel.........so we should have wait wait wait and be patient until the one showed up  who knows it when and what? I wish it would be a surprised and soon


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## d2d4j (Jan 29, 2015)

Hi


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## d2d4j (Jan 29, 2015)

Hi 

Sorry hit wrong button

There is interworx which we use interworx.com

I believe this is a real contender, easy to use, has one of the fastest install times, variant licence types, and has been stable on our production servers since 2012. 

The IW support is awesome as well

I know licensecart sells interworx licences as well. 

To those who know me, they could say I'm biased, as I mod on IW forum

Many thanks

John


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## Licensecart (Feb 1, 2015)

d2d4j said:


> Hi Sorry hit wrong button There is interworx which we use interworx.com I believe this is a real contender, easy to use, has one of the fastest install times, variant licence types, and has been stable on our production servers since 2012. The IW support is awesome as well I know licensecart sells interworx licences as well. To those who know me, they could say I'm biased, as I mod on IW forum Many thanks John


Hey John  Not biased good experience and experts say they take issues seriously.



winnervps said:


> /omg...........speechless
> 
> But nothing to say at the moment, since we have no choice, no competitor other than Cpanel, right?
> 
> We do have virtualmin or plesk or named it, but it couldn't be compare to Cpanel.........so we should have wait wait wait and be patient until the one showed up  who knows it when and what? I wish it would be a surprised and soon


There's InterWorx as John said, there's even DirectAdmin (some love that even though I don't as it's bare, but they have improved it).


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## winnervps (Feb 3, 2015)

I heard a lot of good things for Webuzo and VestaCP (especially webuzo with its nginx combination).

I think they are suitable for 'lowend' market as they are Free (very low price). Anyone have tried them?


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## GS-Dylan (Feb 3, 2015)

I always run cPanel on any server serving web pages, its simply the best and easiest to use for managing those types of servers. If however I don't plan on running an websites on it I typically don't use cPanel as it uses resources I could otherwise use and prefer just using SSH and bash for management. I haven't managed a windows server with a panel always strictly through RDP.


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## key900 (Feb 7, 2015)

VestaCP seems good but not sure if they still alive!


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## Criot (Feb 8, 2015)

cPanel is probably one of the most popular but there are certainly other alternatives such as InterWorx which seems to have become slightly more popular as of recently.


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## haloelite3 (Mar 4, 2015)

I would recommend Cpanel due to how clean and great it is to use due to its simple but effective interface which alot of people like.

However the cost of the license is sometimes an issue and can really effect the prices of your offers and deals.


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