Series - part 2 of 4

The Ultimate Comparison Guide to VPS Hosting Control Panels


In this three part blog series we are going to deep dive into the world of VPS control panels in a heads up battle of the panels. cPanel, Plesk, ISPConfig, and Virtualmin. Lets compare them!

This post is part of the Server Control Panels series

When you use standard shared or reseller web hosting, the panel used is dictated by the host. You usually have no choice whatsoever. It’s almost always a choice between cPanel and Plesk, though certain (in)famous hosts use inferior homebrew panels.

But when you’re using  VPS or dedicated, you’re not confined to using only cPanel or Plesk. 

Other popular GUI-based control panels exist for managing servers. Virtualmin and ISPConfig are very popular choices … that you’ve probably never heard of!

At EuroVPS, we want to help you tailor your server to your needs. Sometimes that means using cPanel, and sometimes that means using one of the others. (Or even no panel at all!). 

To help you choose, we present this comparison on cPanel vs. Plesk and ISPConfig vs. Virtualmin and Directadmin vs. them all.

Why Use A Control Panel?

For most modern-day webmasters, the prospect of having to manage a server is undesired. They’re “webmasters”, not server admins! 

But our DIY tech world often forces them to become one.

Server control panels are designed to allow website owners control of their hosting without requiring expert knowledge.

A GUI control panel takes away much of the complexity of server administration and makes it a straightforward task. All it takes is a web browser, and you’re an instant server admin. 

Even many highly-skilled server admins prefer to use panels, due to easy of use.

Which Control Panel?

Most people are familiar with cPanel. In fact, many people think that “cPanel” is what you call a control panel, and don’t realize that’s only the name of one specific product! 

But you have choices. 

Some are excellent, and those are what we’ve covered in the article. Others are terrible, and we’ve purposely omitted them from our list. 

To be frank, there is no straightforward answer to this.

cPanel is the market leader, and thus most popular, but Plesk has many loyal users. Others would cast their vote for Virtualmin,  DirectAdmin, ISPConfig, or even some we’ve not mentioned. 

In general, all the panels allow you to perform certain basics functions. But some have more advanced features. 

What you can do with a control panel:

  • Domain and SSL management tools
  • Add/edit/delete users and domains
  • File management
  • Database management
  • Advanced email functions to fight spam
  • Server monitoring, log files, and more.

So what sets them apart?

All the server control panels available in the market are capable of doing the above-mentioned tasks. 

So what really sets them apart? 

Check out the next posts in this blog series to find out!