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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

(37)

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

(1-5 of 5)
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.
  • It has made adding WordPress to the sites and getting it setup a breeze and quicker so I have time to do other things.
  • It also makes it easy for me to get a site up and running as I don't have to wait for the customer to buy hosting and give me the info all I need is for them to buy the domain and that is easy and fast and they don't have to go through all the options of hosting.
  • It has made it so I can have the sites from my company as well as the white labeled sites I create for my sister's company all with different branding.
Really there aren't many options. There is a free one that I haven't used but from what I hear is that it is very limited on functionality. I also have tried Plesk, never bought but tried it. It seemed easier in a few things but also seemed more simplistic and I like my workflow with cPanel better and it works well with litespeed server.
For me it is quite easy to use, though it really is feature rich so if you don't know what you are doing it can be quite overwhelming and you could mess something up. I like all the features but there are plenty that I don't use. I would like to see a little better help or a large tutorial for newbies.
  • If you have softaculous with cPanel it is quite easy to get a WordPress installation up.
  • Making new emails are quite easy and pretty self explanatory.
  • If you know DNS using that function is pretty straightforward.
  • Their analytics for traffic are really essentially unusable. You should always use Google Analytics.
Yes
I believe it does but I only use it every once in a while and don't remember that being very great. I would always use it on my desktop or laptop, just because there are so many features fumbling through on the phone I don't see as efficient. Just stick to a computer if you can.
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.
  • cPanel made possible administrating multiple brochure sites in one location which has cut down on the amount of time switching between sites.
  • Consideration is occurring about how the licensing costs are going up and the possibility of moving to another platform.
  • Anyone hired that is not familiar with cPanel needs to spend time learning and figuring out how to use the tool which eats into the time they could be doing the actual work.
The online community has been the main source of support. The online documentation and tutorials in YouTube are also a big help.

Using these resources has helped with figuring out the basics of cPanel. If more complex tasks for administration are required, the online community is more helpful as they can directly address the issue you're having provided you explain it well enough.
In general, cPanel is easy to use once you get over the learning curve. The initial learning curve is a bit steep. Once you know what you're doing, cPanel makes administering web sites and anything related to them very easy. The dashboard is intuitive enough to make getting tasks done simpler. It is also good for consolidating tasks into one place.
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.
  • We're able to do more and spend less time doing hosting management.
  • Even less-experienced professionals can do some configuration.
  • It's modular so you can enable/disable some features as you need.
cPanel interface is not as appealing and straightforward as other hosting solutions, but it offers more features and is certainly more flexible in that regard.
Since it's widely used by a lot of hosting companies, cPanel has a great community and it's very easy to find support for common issues and questions you may have. Also, they provide a specialized support team that is very skilled and able to help you when you need it.
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.
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.
  • Slows down workflow
  • Makes it too easy for clients to break their site unintentionally
  • Adds an extra layer of software to manage
cPanel is my least favorite option compared to others like Plesk and custom solutions developed by other companies such as Kinsta. However, my preference is towards serverless website builds but when a traditional server is required I prefer to directly manage it or use options other then cPanel that I've had a better experience with.
I've never reached out to cPanel support, but I assume it's good enough.
I don't find cPanel to be very user friendly at all. I feel the design is very outdated and the user experience is quite overcomplicated. The whole UI and UX would need some rethinking and a major update to change my opinion on it. It's a little confusing who they are trying to cater to.
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.
  • Saved hundreds of hours of labor and expense due to the excellent backups of each site. Sites crash so backups are a must and this platform delivers.
  • Streamlined domain management allows me to quickly put up sites and profit.
  • Eliminated the cost of outsourcing monitoring websites with the tools inside the panel.
cPanel offers a more friendly to beginners experience compared to Ajenti. The latter is feature rich but you will need more technical know how to navigate. cPanel is more accessible and universal and for those reasons a great solution for my business needs. cPanel works best with shared or VPS hosting. Ajenti seemed to be a great solution for VPS management.
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.
The solution just works and once I got the hang of it and learned the features, it has only become a stronger platform. For most users this will provide more then enough features to make the hosting environment a success. Manage domains, services and email all inside one easy dashboard.
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