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cPanel

cPanel

Overview

What is cPanel?

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.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Users of this product have found it to be extremely versatile and useful in a variety of scenarios. One key use case is for hosting …
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Easy to use and support

10 out of 10
January 17, 2020
Incentivized
We use cPanel as a web hosting control panel. We offer it to our clients to help manage their websites easier. I also personally use it to …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

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Pricing

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cPanel Solo

$15.99

Cloud
per month for 1 account

Admin

$24.99

Cloud
per month up to 5 accounts

Pro

$35.99

Cloud
per month up to 30 accounts

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://cpanel.net/pricing

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Starting price (does not include set up fee)

  • $15.99 per month
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Product Details

What is cPanel?

cPanel Competitors

cPanel Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsAlmaLinux OS, Ubunto, CentOS, CloudLinux
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

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.

cPanel starts at $15.99.

Plesk are common alternatives for cPanel.

Reviewers rate Support Rating highest, with a score of 8.3.

The most common users of cPanel are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(38)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Users of this product have found it to be extremely versatile and useful in a variety of scenarios. One key use case is for hosting websites, whether it's customer sites or their own personal sites. With this product, users can easily set up and manage their hosting environment using cPanel. They have full control over their litespeed hosting server, allowing them to manage instances of WordPress, emails, DNS, and databases with ease.

Another common use case is for managing shared hosting environments. Users rely on cPanel to handle the backend administration tasks for both their own projects and their clients' projects. It provides a centralized location for managing websites, email accounts, domain landing pages, and more. The user-friendly interface of cPanel makes it simple to navigate and find the desired function quickly.

In addition, cPanel has become the go-to solution for hosting WordPress sites due to its seamless one-click installation process. Users can quickly set up and deploy their WordPress sites without any hassle or technical expertise. It simplifies the administration of these sites and ensures smooth performance.

Furthermore, cPanel plays a crucial role in managing the backbone infrastructure of larger networks. For instance, it is used by a network of over 1500 Tripawds Member Blogs to handle file hierarchy, database functionality, domain management, and email deliverability. This demonstrates the scalability and reliability of cPanel for managing complex hosting environments.

Overall, cPanel is widely adopted as the standard software for managing web servers due to its efficiency in administering various aspects like databases, FTP users, files, domains, and more. It provides users with a comprehensive set of tools to support client websites in areas such as brochure site management or hosting services for content management systems like Joomla and Mautic. Whether it's hosting customer sites or managing multiple domains within a portfolio, cPanel serves as an essential tool for web administrators worldwide.

Advantageous Integration with Various Software: Users find the integration with various software like Softaculous to be advantageous, as it allows for easy creation of new instances of WordPress and email management for domains. Multiple reviewers have stated that this integration has made their website and email management tasks much more efficient.

Highly Appreciated DNS Changes and Server Access: The ability to make DNS changes, view website errors, and access and modify databases and files on the hosting server is highly appreciated by users. Several users have mentioned how this feature has allowed them to easily troubleshoot issues and customize their websites according to their needs.

Top-Notch Email Hosting: Users find the email hosting provided by cPanel to be top-notch. Many reviewers have expressed satisfaction with the reliability, security, and user-friendly interface of cPanel's email hosting service.

Outdated Interface: Several users have found the interface of the software to be outdated and in need of an update. They feel that a modernized interface would greatly enhance their user experience.

Difficult Navigation: Some reviewers have mentioned that the interface can be difficult to navigate, especially for less technical individuals. They believe that improving the navigation system would make it easier for all users to find and access the desired features.

Lack of Help and Tutorials: A number of users expressed a desire for more built-in help or tutorials to assist new users in learning the software. They feel that having comprehensive resources readily available within the software would facilitate the onboarding process and reduce frustration.

Based on user reviews, users commonly recommend the following for Cpanel:

  • Use Cpanel for easy server management. Users highly recommend Cpanel as a tool for managing servers and websites. It is considered user-friendly and easy to use, making it a great choice for simplifying server hosting and management, especially for those who are new to website making and hosting.

  • Optimize security and stability. Users suggest running Cpanel on a private server to enhance security and stability. They also advise installing additional security layers such as a firewall and Cxs to avoid potential attacks. It is recommended to fully understand how each option in Cpanel works before using it and to create a test environment before going live.

  • Benefit from email management and domain-specific email creation. Users find Cpanel to be a useful tool for email management and creating domain-specific emails. They appreciate its features for handling email accounts efficiently within Linux-based web hosting environments.

It is important to note that while many users highly recommend using Cpanel for its ease of use, server management capabilities, and email functionality, a few users do not recommend using it due to personal preferences or frustrations with certain aspects of the interface.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-14 of 14)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Josh Collier, Website Designer | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I host customer sites as well as my own sites with a VPS that uses cPanel. I have many instances of cPanel accounts on my server. I use actually WHM which has the ability to run individual cPanel accounts. I am able to make resellers and able to issue SSLs and really have full control over my litespeed hosting server. I can quickly make a new account for a new customer and then am able to deal with new instances of WordPress, emails, DNS, databases, and many other things.
  • It integrates with many software like Softaculous to easily spin up a new instance of WordPress.
  • It allows me to make emails for the domain and use the server to send and receive email.
  • It allows me to make all dns changes needed in case I am not using Cloudflare CDN.
  • It allows me to see errors that have happened on a website.
  • It allows me to look at the databases and make changes.
  • It also allows me to look and change all files on the hosting server.
  • Mainly the actual interface doesn't seem to have been updated in quite a while at least the standard one.
  • They moved to cPanel licenses per new cPanel account on the server where it was unlimited so it got quite a bit more expensive.
  • It can be quite complex so there can be a large learning curve so maybe more built in help for newbies.
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.
April 02, 2021

Web Hosters Relax!

Matthew Ingram | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use cPanel to host websites and email for ourselves and our customers. We also use it for relaying email from various services and hardware that we monitor. It provides a nice central location to manage these types of things. We probably do not use it on the scale that a full blown website hosting company would.
  • Email hosting is top notch.
  • Website hosting is very flexible and secure.
  • Not a big fan of Exim but it does work well.
  • I wish it could backup directly to S3 instead of a folder that is then uploaded to S3.
Anyone hosting websites and email, this is the perfect product. Multi-tenancy is awesome as you can have reseller accounts that can control many regular accounts. Customers rarely need to access the command line, so that saves on support calls. We are more of an IT company, so we use it for other things related to IT. It you do not have the means to justify the cost of cPanel, I would look at other solutions.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
We use cPanel to manage shared hosting environments for our and our clients' projects.
  • So many tools and features.
  • Variety of 3rd party integrations.
  • Easy to use interface.
  • Speed improvements.
  • Security improvements.
  • Reporting improvements.
cPanel is best suited for Linux-based hosting environments because of its compatibility and performance. cPanel can be operated and managed by a novice to expert level personnel.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I have been using cPanel to manage web pages and emails. cPanel has allowed me to have a single point of administration for the many of the tasks I'm responsible for. Our organization used to host and maintain our brochure sites which was very tedious. cPanel has made the administration of our brochure sites simpler.
  • 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.
  • If errors occur, the statistics in the logs are sometimes difficult to decipher.
  • The licensing costs are a bit high and could be more reasonable for the usage we need it for.
  • The dashboard doesn't look right when looking at it on a small screen like a phone or tablet. It would be nice to be able to dynamically hide are of the screen that you don't want to see.
I would recommend cPanel as it is a good tool for a medium-sized business. The licensing costs can be a bit high but you mostly get what you pay for. If you have a bit more of a large or complex web site/structure, there is a bit of a learning curve for administrators. Once you know what you're doing, it does what it does very well.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
cPanel is being used by our Technology team to maintain and provide services to websites. It has a user interface that makes us do administrative tasks faster and easier. It even enables non-tech users to make simpler tasks like creating FTP users, MySQL databases, backups, and more.
  • Create and manage databases
  • FTP administration
  • Mail accounts administration
  • Server resources monitoring
  • SSH access
  • Backups management
  • DNS configuration
It's perfect for shared hosting solutions since it provides a very easy way to manage simple websites that are developed in HTML or PHP (even CMS like WordPress). If you're not a DevOps or an experienced IT professional, you'll be able to understand and set up your host as you need.
September 22, 2020

My cPanel Review

Ryan Connolly | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
As a web development company, we regularly use cPanel when supporting new client websites. cPanel has been used by all members of my team. cPanel does not really address any problems we have as generally, we can achieve most tasks quicker and more efficiently through straight SSH and/or other tools.
  • Allows modules to extend functionality
  • Provides lots of server management options
  • Displays server statistics
  • Design could use an update
  • User Experience could use lots of improvement
  • Needs to be easier for less technical people to use
cPanel can be well suited for a non-technical person to manage their own server. However, the confusing and outdated UX would still make it difficult. Smaller shared hosting companies that want an easy way to offer a control panel to their customers could be well suited to use cPanel since it is one of the most well-known control panels.
David Faustina | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
With over 180 domains in my portfolio, I use cPanel to manage websites, domain landing and emails for each domain. The option to use cPanel is not available with all hosting providers, and since I prefer it to other platforms, it makes selecting a host all the more important. cPanel is a great solution for hosting WordPress and the one-click install is an easy way to get online fast.

For managing multiple sites this is a great solution that offers a robust set of features all needed to make your web presence effective to your bottom line.
  • One-click WordPress install.
  • Domain name management.
  • Backups.
  • Multisite WordPress install.
  • Offer more customizable dashboards.
  • Better email client offering.
Any website owner will find managing the website inside cPanel is a breeze. cPanel is the most used hosting management platform and it makes sense from a user perspective due to the ease of use. If you are looking for more control over the hosting server environment, then perhaps there would be no need for this solution. But a majority of users will find this solution to be very complete and easy to learn.
Jim Nelson | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use cPanel to manage the backbone infrastructure that keeps our network of 1500+ Tripawds Member Blogs online and performing smoothly. With dedicated server hosting for Tripawds and our various other websites, cPanel is a must have for managing file hierarchy, database functionality, domain management, email deliverability, and so much more.
  • DNS management.
  • File management.
  • Performance tuning.
  • SSL deployment.
I only recommend cPanel hosting plans to any of my website development clients and colleagues. While the learning curve may be steep for some new users, the functional capabilities for managing website infrastructure are superior to anything else I have tried. My ease of use after just a few installations allows me to quickly and easily address many issues clients may experience.
January 31, 2020

Reliable and easy to use

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
We use cPanel and WHM for all web hosting solutions provided to customers, with some customers having direct access whilst others just have us (MSP) deal with changes as required.
  • DNS hosting.
  • Web hosting.
  • Built-in backup solutions - support remote backup locations at a cPanel level, not just WHM.
  • Templates for DNS, e.g. Google MX, O365 MX, etc.
Web hosting is definitely the strongest area that cPanel focuses on. They do this well and any aspects relating (FTP, MySQL, Emails, etc) are reliable. WHM itself is also very reliable and doesn't require much maintenance ensuring the customer experience is second to none.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
cPanel is being used by my coaching and training company to manage hosting services for our Joomla websites. Using cPanel makes it easy to make changes to the hosting services, such as updating database files and php versions, without having to know code. We also use cPanel to install, create and publish content management systems such as Joomla and Mautic.
  • cPanel makes it easy to update PHP versions on my website.
  • cPanel makes it easy to manage my email accounts. I can easily change my storage quota, password, get IMAP settings and more.
  • 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.
cPanel is well suited for the novice, or intermediate computer user who needs to take on the task of web administration. The graphical interface is easy to use and many of the titles are self explanatory. There are also tons of videos to help you since it is a popular software.
January 17, 2020

Easy to use and support

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use cPanel as a web hosting control panel. We offer it to our clients to help manage their websites easier. I also personally use it to manage my own servers and clients' websites. It easily allows us to manage DNS and offer email with hosting in a single easy to manage solution.
  • Manage DNS.
  • Manage email.
  • More web mail options.
  • More themes.
cPanel is best for managing different domains its WHM master control panel is great creating sub cPanel accounts. It’s great for hosts or designers managing clients. It allows easy separation of data so manage individual accounts easier with separate logins. If you have a single domain is also a great option.
.Kim Murphy | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
We use cPanel as the web hosting interface to our end users' web hosting accounts. cPanel works nativity with WHM (Web Host Manager) to organize and manage our customers' cPanel accounts. cPanel organizes all of its main functions on one main screen grouped together with icons, so the user can easily find the function that they are looking for. Simply scroll down the page to the grouped category of functions that you want, then click on the appropriate icon. Everything else is pretty much self-explanatory on your screen.
  • cPanel nicely organizes functions into categories on its main first screen for easy location.
  • cPanel works nativity with WHM (Web Host Manager) to easily create new web hosting accounts.
  • cPanel integrates well with common website technologies like WordPress, Joomla, or Magento.
  • cPanel does not have a standard automatic backup solution. This is the one thing most web hosting end users need.
  • cPanel's email interfaces are not as modern as Outlook or Gmail.
  • cPanel domain/DNS functions can be a bit confusing.
cPanel is is a great solution for many small or medium website design or hosting companies to provide to their end users an easy-to-use interface. If your customers are somewhat tech-savvy, cPanel is the way to go, especially if you don't have many accounts to manage, and especially if they are low-maintenance accounts or websites. If your end users are not tech-savvy, or they have complex website or email needs, then cPanel might not be the best solution.
Justin Roodman | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
cPanel is the software which allows us to manage the back end of our web server. cPanel is the de facto standard for a server interface/software for me any time I do almost any kind of server administration. There are many individual modules which allow me to quickly and productively do what I need to do. cPanel allows you to administrate databases, FTP users, manage your files, admin your domains, and more.
  • Database management. Easily create and edit databases and users with a simple interface. You can make edits to the content using phpMyAdmin which is also a very powerful tool.
  • File management. Create FTP user accounts and restrict access to specific folders. There is also a file manager app which provides a graphical interface with a folder system that is very similar to how the file manager on Windows works.
  • Domain control. Point domains to specific directories and add addon domains or subdomains. Implement SSL with an advanced module or using a wizard.
  • There is a ton of features to learn in cPanel, some you may never use. The learning curve for cPanel is not small, even if you're using just a few features.
  • Hand in hand with the larger learning curve, cPanel features are not always intuitive for use. New users may spend a bit of time looking up tutorials on how to use specific modules. The upside is that there are many helpful resources on the web.
  • Ruby is not installed on the system by default. This isn't a problem for us since we use the PHP framework, but it's worth noting for Ruby devs.
cPanel is ideal for experienced web administrators who need an (overall) easy to use interface for a back end server work. Most of the modules are intuitive and independent so you can do specific tasks. The software is well documented so it can be readily learned by anyone who is willing to put in the time and effort. The learning curve can be steep though for anyone just jumping into using cPanel.
Fedor Paretsky | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We used cPanel in the earlier stages of our company for centralizing basic web admin tools before we migrated to G Suite and serverless services. cPanel allowed us to manage files locally, set up Apache configurations, monitor emails, and local databases, as well as manage domains and certificates for websites. In the end, we switched to G Suite for the hosted services, DigitalOcean for our domain management, and Certbot/Python/Nginx for our certificates and security.
  • Centralized service: cPanel has *a lot* of support out of the box for providing a comprehensive list of self-hosted services, like email, files, etc.
  • Easy setup: The process of setting up service like this was super easy, the documentation is well-written, and there is lots of support through forums and tutorials.
  • Pricing: Having a centralized service like this allows for being charged a fee monthly for the entire package, rather than per-user fees like hosting competitors.
  • The interface isn't the best. It's a bit outdated and hard to get around. At times, there are lots of settings and options in one place, that can make interface quite cluttered.
  • For servers, the pricing can be quite high, and become out of the range for smaller companies and early-stage companies.
  • Learning how to use to the admin settings and interface can be quite tough, this is where the interface could use the most improvement. The documentation and tutorials for these features don't really help much, either.
For companies looking for easy self-hosting alternatives and centralizing hosting services in one place, cPanel is a great option with wonderful support for other apps. For groups of users that aren't ready for a command-line-only interface and need to install other services and 3rd-party integrations on their servers, cPanel is probably not the best software to get this done.
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