cPanel: Powerful web hosting control panel for server administration
March 01, 2019
cPanel: Powerful web hosting control panel for server administration
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with cPanel
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 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.
The typical alternative to cPanel when purchasing a hosting control panel option is Plesk. I have very little experience with Plesk, but there are different versions of it available depending on the features you need. The Webhost Edition, which seems to be most comparable to cPanel, is priced higher than cPanel is. I've been using cPanel for at least eight years and I've never seen a reason to move to a competing product.