Web Hosting Reviews & Ratings

January 21, 2011

A Review of Four Popular Control Panels

The control panel is often referred to as the backbone of the web hosting account, providing a robust administrative interface that centralizes website construction, management, and promotion. There is currently a plethora of control panels to choose from on the market, with new open source control panels being developed each month.

Control panels are usually bundled with web hosting accounts, so it is important to consider the what type of control panel is being offered before purchasing a particular web hosting plan. It is also important to know the various features and benefits of each control panel, in order to begin your search for the most suitable web hosting plan for your web website administration needs. The following paragraphs briefly review four of the most popular control panels available today – cPanel, Plesk, Webmin, and ISPconfig.

cPanel

cPanel is by far the most popular control panel, currently included with the majority of web hosting plans offered by major web hosting providers. cPanel is known for being extremely user-friendly, well organized, and for having a full feature set and overall robust functionality. Within the administrative interface of cPanel, each section represents a different aspect of server and website management, making it easy to organize, schedule, and execute daily administrative tasks quickly and easily. Some of the modules included within cPanel include e-mail accounts, FTP accounts, spam prevention, redirects, and domain management.

Plesk

Plesk is a close second to cPanel in terms of popularity, and with its extensive settings and control preferences, it is just as capable as cPanel in terms of overall functionality. Although Plesk and cPanel are very similar, Plesk is more geared towards business or enterprise class webmasters. Plesk is slightly more complicated than cPanel, and is therefore more ideal for intermediate users with greater server and website demands. Unlike cPanel, Plesk is not commonly included with a conventional hosting plan, however it is possible to find VPS (virtual private server) hosting plans that offer Plesk by default.

Webmin

Webmin is by far one of the easiest control panels to use, simply adding webpage interfaces to create basic low-level control for novice webmasters and site owners with low site needs. Unfortunately, this simplicity comes at the cost of a general lack of features in comparison to the two aforementioned control panels, which are far more capable. Webmin is different from other control panels because it can be installed in packages, with each package adding a new basic interface devoted to a particular administrative task.

ISPconfig

ISPconfig is an open source control panel that is continually being improved, expanded, and developed by a knowledgeable community of web developers. This control panel is free to install and use, and can easily be patched and expanded with the appropriate development knowledge. ISPconfig is not currently offered in any web hosting plan from any major web hosting provider, so if you'd like to use it you would need to lease a dedicated or VPS server and install it on your own.

Tags: control panel,  cPanel,  Plesk,  Webmin,  ISPconfig