Choosing the right web hosting control panel for your project can be a daunting task. You’ll want to choose the most popular one with great community support.
Both platforms are user-friendly and offer a wide set of features to help users simplify the website hosting process. In this article, we will compare the two platforms to find out what makes them the best control panel software.
What is a web hosting control panel?
A web hosting control panel is a software or tool that allows you to effectively manage your hosting infrastructure. Most hosting companies provide their own hosting control panel. With the help of a control panel, you can monitor and manage all the complex system processes with just a few clicks through the management interface. Even the most advanced processes such as server migration, optimization, replacement, etc. can be done using the control panel software, thus saving a lot of time and money. Cost-effectiveness, community support, and security are some of the other factors that you should consider while choosing a web hosting control panel.
Comparison of two of the best web hosting control panels:
cPanel vs. Plesk
Both cPanel and Plesk have been around for quite some time. Both platforms offer a wide set of unique features.
cPanel was first released in 1996 and became the most widely used control panel tool. On the other hand, Plesk was only released in 2001 and has been the primary control panel for Windows-based servers ever since.
Interface and usability
From our personal experience managing both cPanel and Plesk, we find that Plesk has a fairly simple and clean graphical user interface (GUI).
Plesk also leads over cPanel when it comes to usability.
The Plesk interface is heavily influenced by Windows. With icon-based displays, it resembles the Windows control panel and makes it easy for users to navigate. In Plesk, all features are grouped under appropriate categories in the left sidebar. This grouping also makes the interface look less cluttered and cleaner.
In the cPanel dashboard, the features are not well organized and laid out, making the interface look more cluttered compared to Plesk.
Operating system support
Plesk is primarily used as a control panel for Windows-based servers, although it is available for both Linux and Windows distributions. On the other hand, cPanel is only available for Linux distributions and is widely considered the industry standard for Linux hosting plans.
Hence, if you are going for Linux-based hosting plans, it would be good to choose the cPanel platform.
Go to the extended article: What is Cpanel?
Functions
Both Plesk and cPanel offer almost the same set of features required for effective management of a server system. Domain Name System (DNS) management, database management (MySQL, PostgreSQL), file management, additional software installations, backups, email account management, SSL certificate management, SSH access, and log file access are some of the most common and useful features offered by both cPanel and Plesk.
Although both support the installation of additional applications, it is easier to run Docker and Git in Plesk than in cPanel. There are workarounds to run them in cPanel. But it is relatively difficult.
security
Both cPanel and Plesk offer a rich set of tools that help keep your server secure and protected. cPanel allows you to set up Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates and renew them automatically. Password-protected directories, leech protection, IP blocking, Hotlink protection, GNUPG keys, SSH access, and two-factor authentication are some of the other security features that cPanel provides to its users.
On the other hand, Plesk offers features like fail2ban (a tool that scans log files, preventing hacks), anti-spam, and Plesk firewall support to its users.
Performance
Being a web hosting control panel, cPanel offers much better performance than Plesk. cPanel is fully optimized to load pages faster. The memory requirement is relatively less in cPanel than in Plesk and server administration tasks can be performed easily and quickly in cPanel.
Plans and pricing
A direct comparison between Plesk and cPanel pricing is not possible, as the final amount depends on add-ons and other factors. However, when you consider the base plans, cPanel seems to be more expensive than Plesk.
In conclusion: cPanel vs. Plesk
In this article, we have compared two popular web hosting control panels in detail. Both the control panels offer many similar functions and features. However, there are certain factors such as operating system support, usability, pricing, etc. that differentiate them, the final decision to choose one depends entirely on the operating system your web server is using.
If it is a Linux-based system, it is recommended to use cPanel.
For Windows – Plesk is the best choice.
The article was translated from Hebrew to English.
The article was written by Server Admins.
Photos by:
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
