cPanel vs Plesk: Which Web Hosting Control Panel to Choose?

Choosing the right web hosting control panel for your project can be a daunting task. You would prefer to choose the one that is most popular and have great community support. This is where the cPanel vs Plesk comparison becomes relevant. These two are the most popular web hosting control panel software in the market, with cPanel being the most widely used.

Both the platforms are user-friendly and offer a wide set of features that will help users to simplify the process of web hosting. With this blog, we will be comparing both 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 software or a tool that allows you to effectively manage your hosting infrastructure. Most of the hosting companies provide their own hosting control panel. With the help of a control panel, you can monitor and manage all complex system processes with just a few clicks via the admin interface. Even the most advanced processes such as server migration, optimization, switching, etc can be done by using a control panel software, thereby saves a lot of time and money. Cost-effectiveness, community support, security are some of the other factors that you should consider while choosing a web hosting control panel.

You can get in touch with us if you need any help with Plesk Server Management and support.

Comparing two of the best web hosting control panel: cPanel vs Plesk

Both cPanel and Plesk have been in the market for quite some time now. Both of the platforms offer a wide set of unique features.

cPanel was first released in 1996 and went onto become the most widely used control panel tool. On the other hand, Plesk was released only by 2001 and since then it is used as the primary control panel for windows-based servers.

Interface and Usability

From our personal experience of managing both cPanel and Plesk, we find Plesk to have a pretty simple and clean Graphical User Interface (GUI). Plesk leads over cPanel as well when it comes to usability.

The interface of Plesk is heavily influenced by Windows. With icon-based displays, it resembles the windows control panel and makes it easier for users to navigate through it. In Plesk, all the features are grouped under corresponding categories in the left sidebar. This grouping also makes the interface look less cluttered and cleaner.

While in the cPanel dashboard, features aren’t organized and arranged well. This makes the interface look more cluttered compared to Plesk.
Operating System Support

Plesk is primarily used as a control panel for windows-based servers, even though it is available for both Linux distributions and windows. On the other hand, cPanel is only available for Linux distributions and is widely considered as an industry standard for Linux hosting plans. Hence if you are going with Linux-based hosting plans, it would be good to choose the cPanel platform.
Functionalities

Both Plesk and cPanel offer almost the same set of features required to effectively manage 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, log file access are some of the common and most useful features offered by both cPanel and Plesk.

Even though both support the installation of additional apps, it is easier to run Docker and Git on Plesk than cPanel. There are workarounds to run them on cPanel. but it is comparatively difficult.
Security

Both cPanel and Plesk offer numerous set of tools that help to keep your server secure and protected. cPanel allows you to set up Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates and renews them automatically. Password-protected directories, Leech protection, IP blocking, Hotlink protection, GNUPG keys, SSH access, two-factor authentication are some of the other security features cPanel provides to its users.

On the other hand, Plesk offers features like fail2ban (a tool that scans log files, prevents intrusions), email antispam, 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. Memory requirement is comparatively less in cPanel than Plesk and server management tasks can be easily and quickly done in cPanel.
Plans and Pricing

A direct comparison between the Plesk and cPanel pricing isn’t possible, since the final amount depends on the add-ons and other factors. However, when you consider the base plans, cPanel seems to price more than Plesk.

Here are the Plesk pricing plans and options.

Summary: cPanel vs Plesk

In this article, we did a comparison of two popular web hosting control panels in detail. Both the control panels offer lots of similar functionalities and features. Even though, there are certain factors such as operating system support, usability, pricing, etc that set them apart, the final decision to choose one entirely depends on the operating system your web server is using.
If it is a Linux-based system, cPanel is recommended. For Windows, Plesk is the best choice.

If you are looking for a partner who can assist you with cPanel Server management and support, we can be of help. Get in touch with us now!