cPanel vs. Plesk

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
cPanel
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
cPanel headquartered in Houston provides website hosting providers with workload and server automation, as well as a management console for creating and launching websites, managing email and web files, and other administrative tasks.
$15.99
per month
Plesk
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Plesk is a server control panel, providing a solution that enables usres to build and manage multiple sites from a single dashboard. Users can also run updates, monitor performance and onboard new prospects all from the same place. Plesk also boasts a robust toolkit for Wordpress management, and supports other CMS. It is available on the public cloud of the user's choice.
$12
per month
Pricing
cPanelPlesk
Editions & Modules
cPanel Solo
$15.99
per month for 1 account
Admin
$24.99
per month up to 5 accounts
Pro
$35.99
per month up to 30 accounts
Premier (on cloud)
$53.99
per month up to 100 accounts
Premier (on metal)
$53.99
per month up to 100 accounts
Web Admin Edition - Dedicated
$12
per month
Web Admin Edition - VPS
$12
per month
Web Pro Edition - VPS
$18.50
per month
Web Pro Edition - Dedicated
$18.50
per month
Web Host Edition - VPS
$30.50
per month
Web Host Edition - Dedicated
$54.50
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
cPanelPlesk
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details—Discounts available for an annual subscription.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
cPanelPlesk
Considered Both Products
cPanel

No answer on this topic

Plesk
Chose Plesk
I've only ever really used cPanel-type web host control panels. CPanels are very cumbersome and clunky. They don't allow one to update all their hosted website's CMS, templates, and plugins, from within their system. This is a SERIOUS time- and headache-saver, in my opinion! I …
Chose Plesk
Both cPanel and Plesk are similar, however Plesk was choosen because it of it's ease of use and available extensions. The administrator can create client and site templates, which essentially is allocating resources for domains and/or clients. Also, Plesk is designed to …
Chose Plesk
I've found cPanel to be much more intuitive than Plesk over the years. Both have had very clunky interfaces, however a great deal of development by both Plesk and cPanel has been done in this area. I feel that cPanel at the moment has an easier interface to work in (however it …
Top Pros

No answers on this topic

Top Cons

No answers on this topic

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All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
cPanelPlesk
Likelihood to Recommend
9.2
(14 ratings)
9.1
(9 ratings)
Usability
7.0
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.3
(9 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
cPanelPlesk
Likelihood to Recommend
cPanel
I personally use it for any website hosting I do for me and others. There are a few others but I have stuck with the old tried and true and it always works for me and I know how to get around it so it has become a breeze for me. For those who are extremely new to websites and hosting or to those with very little technical know how cPanel could be very overwhelming and they might want to do like a managed WordPress hosting where they don't really have to see or deal with cPanel. I also probably wouldn't use it for straight email hosting. If you have thousands of cPanel accounts it may get very expensive and that could be a factor.
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Plesk International GmbH
Plesk is well-suited for website creators who have been developing websites on a regular basis. If one is new to website development, Plesk could be a bit confusing and difficult to navigate. However, if one has experience on another type of platform, like CP (Control Panel) which is used by other web hosts out there, then it will be much easier to navigate the Plesk panel. Keep in mind there is definitely a learning curve, as Plesk really is quite different. Overall, new users will learn to love the ability to have more control over their websites.
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Pros
cPanel
  • The dashboard is very intuitive. Even beginners can figure out how to do things without very much help.
  • The online community is very helpful and the online documentation makes administering any tasks a lot easier.
  • User creation and administration for FTP access is also very simple.
Read full review
Plesk International GmbH
  • Automatically update the CMS, plugins, and templates of all your websites, depending on your CMS, all at the same time, with just a few strokes of your keyboard.
  • Enables one to set up a schedule to back up your websites, automatically, and easily download/save the backup files off-site, for safety.
  • Makes it easy for users to use a backup file to reinstall a website, with just a few strokes of the keyboard. Excellent service!
Read full review
Cons
cPanel
  • The costs can be a limiting factor for some businesses if you are not using a web hosting company that uses it. I have been experimenting with Cloud hosting, which can be very daunting for the novice. There is an option to install it on the cloud but it is expensive.
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Plesk International GmbH
  • Interface Improvement: It is a bit hard to find specific functions
  • Additional integration with third party services would be great
  • categorization of services to make management easier
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Usability
cPanel
Although it can be a little bit bloated with a lot of options and configurations, it's very straightforward to use and maintain. So it's a great option even if you don't have large experience in hosting configuration. The WHM tool is more suited to heavy users since it requires more expertise, so it has a steep learning curve to better understand how to use it.
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Plesk International GmbH
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
cPanel
The support comes in the form of an extensive library of how to articles and community input. For most situations this will give you plenty of information and resources to trouble shoot. Live support really then would need to default to the hosting provider who provides the cPanel for your use.
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Plesk International GmbH
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
cPanel
The direct server management tool access provided by cPanel hosting accounts is far superior to any shared or "standard" web site hosting packaged offered by any of the numerous web host providers I have used and or evaluated over the 20+ years of my experience working in the internet industry.
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Plesk International GmbH
Plesk has a much more intuitive platform that allows for customization and scalability within an organization. It has the advantage when it comes to the ability to adapt to the current state of the company and grow with it organically. There are a few limitations that would make me choose a competitor, and there is good value for the price.
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Return on Investment
cPanel
  • cPanel makes back end server administration easy. This saves time and overall effort.
  • cPanel is readily available with most hosting packages. It integrates with both Apache and Nginx.
  • cPanel allows you to perform some of the same functions as WHM, but with an easier interface.
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Plesk International GmbH
  • We're spending less on server costs by having Plesk manage multiple clients on one server.
  • We're spending less on support costs as Plesk is doing all the heavy lifting for us.
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