The World of Web Hosting Control Panels: Plesk vs cPanel
Most of the end customers do not realize that they are using either Plesk or cPanel on their web hosting. Both of them are the market leaders when it comes to the web hosting control panel market.
Why are this important?
Most users just interact with cms, like WordPress, Magento, Drupal, etc., but not all tasks can be achieved using a CMS. Even though in recent times, WordPress has given a lot of methods to control the server, it still cannot do everything that software like Plesk or cPanel can achieve. There are situations wherein you need deeper control of your hosting, and that is where a web hosting control panel will come into the picture.
There is a misconception about Plesk, that it is limited to Windows, which is factually incorrect.
TL;DR
Both come with out of the box features which cover almost everything that a normal user needs, and some. If your usage is limited to just FTP, User Management, Email management, one-time CMS installation, etc. then either of the choices would make sense. If this paragraph answers everything that you would wish to know before making the decision, well you have your answer: go with whichever one has the better UI from the screenshots.
The History
Compared to Plesk, cPanel is a veteran, present in the market since 1996 compared to the former’s entry into the market around 2001. The current version, around 66th release as of writing this article, of cPanel is a combination of the erstwhile platform with WHM features for customer management. It was mostly privately developed till mid-2018.
In 2003, Plesk was sold to a company which later became Parallels in 2008, and the software was later sold to Oakley capital in 2015. Guess what happened in mid-2018, Oakley Capital bought cPanel as well, so the majority of the market is now controlled by two powerful products owned by the same parent company.
Historically they have been targeting the same market and have successfully captured almost the full market, so this investment did make sense for Oakley.
Let’s start with cPanel
cPanel is the most famous platform has to be given to the developers. It has been used for over 20 years now and has delivered on everything that the market has demanded till now.
What is cPanel?
It is a software which lets you control your hosting platform or server, by performing tasks via pre-set commands. Rather than using shell language to do tasks, it gives you a GUI menu where you can manage your databases, software applications, backups, mails-systems etc.
Why is cPanel so popular?
Majorly because it was built for Linux. As the majority of the web is based on Linux servers, cPanel becomes an easy decision. cPanel still is available only for Linux. Another reason why cPanel is very popular is the intuitive menu that it gives the users, most of the tasks for the majority of the users can be accomplished using the cPanel and you don’t have to use any other tool/software/language.
USPs
- Linux based hosting control panel
- Includes a wide set of features
- Provides simple installers for popular CMSs like WordPress, Magento, etc.
- Can even convert into a hosting business solution in combination with WHM
Price
- Generally is around $20-$40/mo at retail and is included in your hosting charges if you are getting a cPanel. Most of the hosting providers would add it in the cost and not mention it separately.
- For products like VPS, wherein many hosting services give options between control panels, the cost will be added to the VPS cost separately.
Onto Plesk
Even people who are working in the domain of hosting may think of Plesk as cPanel for Windows, but it is much more that. Also, it is not limited to Windows. Contrary to popular perception, Plesk is available for both Windows and Linux.
One of the things going for Plesk is that it is very intuitive with a CMS like dashboard built-in to the platform. It integrates the account management features directly, without the WHM requirement for cPanel. Because of this, it becomes really difficult to choose between the two products, as Plesk offers almost everything that cPanel offers.
USPs
- Supports both Windows and Linux platforms
- Includes both server and account management features
- Supports almost all the popular CMSs like WordPress, Magento, etc.
- Very intuitive UI/UX
- Has special WordPress related features which can be controlled external to the CMS
Price
- Plesk licence starts at around $9/mo and goes up to $40/mo at retail depending on the features.
- Lower priced licences don’t have account management features generally.
cPanel vs Plesk
Performance
cPanel has been built for optimized work, and thus loads fast(er). Plesk loads a little slower in comparison, but how many times are you going to access Plesk or cPanel?
Features & Tools
As mentioned earlier, all basic features and tools are covered in both the platforms, but here is where Plesk outshines cPanel. Plesk comes with few additional features which might be of use to a certain set of users.
Other than that, Plesk comes with over 200,000 Linux docker images which can be launched from within the web hosting control panel. Another useful feature is the Gitman extension which allows direct integration with Github. Both these features are possible on cPanel, but they are workarounds and need effort to set-up.
Security
As per the cPanel website
- Configure password-protected directories
- Setup IP address denials, SSL/TLS, and GnuPG key settings to restrict access.
- Protect your site with HotLink Protection, Leech Protect, and ModSecurity.
And as per the Plesk website,
- Fail2Ban: Protect Your Server from Brute Force Attacks
- Firewall: Control Network Connections
- ModSecurity: Prevent Web Applications from Attacks
- PCI Compliance Resolver: Satisfy PCI DSS to Protect the Transactions
- Restrict access to Plesk from a specific IP addresses
- Get SSL certificates. In particular, you can create a free SSL certificate for your domain using Let’s Encrypt which is available as a free Plesk extension.
- Protect mail from spam by using the SpamAssassin filter
Even though I have listed lessor features under cPanel, I am sure all the features available in Plesk are available in cPanel as well, maybe from a different brand or under a different name.
Distros or Operating System compatibility
This is where Plesk hits home run.
Unlike cPanel, Plesk is available for a much larger set of operating systems including Windows. cPanel is not available for Windows.
The latest version of Plesk for Linux/Unix supports multiple platforms including Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Red Hat Linux, CloudLinux etc. and obviously Windows.
On the other hand, cPanel is available for almost all major Linux distros.
Cost
Mentioned earlier as well, and will depend on the hosting provider that you choose. Plesk is generally cheaper than cPanel. The cost has been mentioned above.
The Summary
Unless you are a power user, the choice really won’t affect your usage, but if you have the intentions to do more than the just one-time-cms-install step, maybe this due diligence is needed.
As per me there are two categories:
- Windows Hosting requirement: Well, if you skipped the TL;DR, you shouldn’t have. You have only one recommended option, Plesk.
- Linux Hosting requirement: Both the web hosting management solutions have enough to deliver whatever is your need, it comes down to a few factors that differentiate them which I have tried to mention above including the price. If any of them helps you decide, you are done with the decision. Otherwise, test both the web hosting control panels, and decide as per your experience.
To be honest, you can not go wrong with either of the decision, but if you are still not sure, consult with the sales team of your web hosting provider and hopefully, they will help you decide between the two.
And feel free to comment below and I will try and assist you in your decision between the two.
