cPanel or Plesk?

[woolwich]

Thinking of becoming a PowerVPS customer. Don't know how to choose between cPanel and Plesk for a VPS. Is there much betwen them?

Thanks.

[ndndixie]

I've had both but CPanel is my favorite. It's much simpler for your customers to use IMO.

[Hvu]

Depends on your preference and what your customer base wants. I personally use Directadmin over all of those. Its simple for customers and clean. Extremely fast and light on resources. Another advantage for Directadmin is its loose integration with services, you do not have to wait for them to update their repository. If you want MySQL 5, just rpm it and your running in 5mins, or Apache2 build it from the customapache script and your done.

[asterisk]

CPanel is my favourite as well. The best thing you can do is to try out the demos at the respective company sites for these Control Panels. I think you don't even have to try out all the functions if time is limited. Just from first impressions alone, I reckon the various control panels are already vastly different.

http://www.cpanel.net/

http://www.swsoft.com/en/products/plesk/

http://www.directadmin.com/

[charles]

We get this question a lot and it really boils down to your needs and then personal preference. My advice is to write down all your requirements and sort them from the most important to the least important. Flag the ones that are "must have"s (they should be on top). Then visit the demos and make sure all the big items are met, and i'm sure you'll bump into the others on the way. It will become clear pretty quickly if they meet your needs and if the interface is intuitive to you.

hth
charles

[Carlos Camacho]

OK, I'll jump in and vote for Plesk.

When Cpanel was starting to make waves, I used it. I recall security issues, a clunky interface, though it came with many one-click apps. The next CP I used was Ensim. It wasn't bad, but I think they have taken a nose dive. I have been using Plesk since version 2.5 and I have to say I am very content with it. Like others, I recommend playing with the demos. Asking which CP to use is like asking which OS you should use -- you'll get numerous answers.

In general, I feel the following about Plesk...

* The VPS software (Virtuozzo) is made by the same company. While that doesn't mean cPanel, Direct, etc run bad, it gives me a certain amount of confidence knowing that the same dev team/company is behind both. Interface, I think the combination of both is very seamless. I suppose the last point will depend on whether you have clients or not.

* Sw-soft (makers of Plesk/Virtuosso) like any CP company goes though its ups and downs (ie buggy releases), but I must say that the last couple of versions have been very good.

* Development is timely, and "usually" not so painful to upgrade (I suppose more of an issue for PowerVPS)

* The interface is clean and LOGICAL IMHO.

A friend who just signed up here mentioned the last point, but also pointed out that as a default, Plesk doesn't come with heaps of one-click apps. Frankly, if you don't have clients, I think it wiser to install phpBB, Mambo, etc by hand. Though I can see the interest in this feature if you have clients. Plesk requires $$ in order to get all those "free" apps. I do believe their is an alternative commerical and freeware offering so that you can have one-click app installation within Plesk.

It would be a REALLY neat thing to see a TRUE review of all CPs running on the same hardware. I want to see 1) resources used 2) speed of GUI use 3) security comparisons.

Until such a review is made, I think the only was to get a true answer is to get a tech like Charles drunk and have him speak off the record, since people like him deal with disk images and server setups 23 hours a day.

:D

Cheers,

[charles]

It would be a REALLY neat thing to see a TRUE review of all CPs running on the same hardware. I want to see 1) resources used 2) speed of GUI use 3) security comparisons.

Until such a review is made, I think the only was to get a true answer is to get a tech like Charles drunk and have him speak off the record, since people like him deal with disk images and server setups 23 hours a day.


Honestly our techs know them far better than I do. For the most part I only get involved in the automation of setup etc. and if there are any sticky issues.

When comparing them, please try compare apples to apples. For example, the heavier panels are heavier because they run more *stuff*. The more features you add the more resources you'll need/use. So if you do compare them you need to outfit them with the same set of features.

A comparison would be nice though :)

charles

[KimmiKat]

I've delt with both and I prefer cPanel. Plesk has left a bad taste in my mouth from my dealings with it.