Web hosting control panels are used by hosting companies to manage their clientele. They are necessary to manage websites, databases, email, FTP accounts, limiting bandwidth, and server resources. Lucky for webhosts, there are paid and free options available.
It’s hard to review web hosting panels without mentioning one of the giants: cPanel. The cPanel development team have created a fine Unix-based platform for all web hosts to take advantage of. The only problem for some is that the licensing fees can be a bit steep for those just starting out- several hundred dollars each year. Some discounts may apply during promotions or when buying in bulk, however.
The open source movement is everywhere- and that includes the web hosting community! Webmin is an example of an open source software package for Unix systems. Webmin also has modules such as Virtualmin and Usermin to extend the functionality of the core hosting panel. Users agree that making modifications to Webmin is painless- and it’s selling feature.
Automatically installing a software package like WordPress is easy enough with GNUPanel- a web hosting panel that has many neat features. Other content mangement systems and blog packages can be installed just as easy: meaning web hosts can easily direct clients to this functionality to get their website up and running near instantly. It’s also a good selling feature to potential clients who don’t know web development and web design standards. GNUPanel is easy to pick up, and also equally as easy to deploy.
Perhaps one of the few true competitors to cPanel in terms of licensed panels is Plesk. Plesk is said to be more user friendly because of its interface, but the true decision should be left up to the end user. Plesk is very comparable to cPanel otherwise: being able to do just about anything equally as well, with the same sense of security. The interface and licensing fees are the two main deciding factors for new web hosting managers.
InterWorx is a unique web hosting control panel, in that it is able to support multiple servers at once. It specializes in load balancing in a cluster server environment, so that high-traffic websites can still function despite intensive server usage. InterWorx is a proprietary system, but has competitive pricing that allows users to pay by the month, quarterly, or annually. Paying more for a custom installation or custom support options is also available to those who need a little extra from their web hosting control panel.
In Conclusion
Web host control panels are many in number. Depending on what you need, you could side with one over the rest and do better with it. Thus, it is best to use demos available by each software package to see which one will best suit the needs you had in mind.
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