The difference between DirectAdmin and cPanel
If you have ever faced with web hosting, you have probably noticed that most common control panels are DirectAdmin and cPanel. Control panel is one of the most important web hosting technical part. It gives you such features like managing users accounts, controlling and monitoring services and many more features that can be used for web hosting company needs. In this blog post we will be targeting on the difference between DirectAdmin and cPanel.
The first control panel that we will be looking at is DirectAdmin. It is paid software and to use it you will need to buy the license. If you are wondering is it worth to pay for the license, the answer would be yes. It is better to have paid control panel than free. Ask why ? It’s simple. With free panel you will not get such stable and trusted product. Also, with paid panel, you will get all security updates.
Now going back to the point of DirectAdmin, it’s more than easy to work with this control panel. Once you will click login you will see how everything is simple. All features and options located where they should be. We could say that DirectAdmin design is divided into three parts: top menu, main part and the right side column.
From the top menu we can quickly access server webmail, change password, get answers to the frequently asked questions or go t o File Manager. The last button if this menu is “Logout” which lets you to leave server control panel. We can see that it’s simple and not complicated.
In the main part we will firstly notice the ability to find domain or user in one click. Just type in domain name or user name and click to search. This feature is really handy and saves the time while listing all accounts and searching for the one you need. If you are logged in as an administrator, you will get all required rights and options to manage the server. Wondering what options is included in the admin level? Take a look at the main part.
Without admin level, there are also reseller and user levels. All levels can be reached from the right side column. Just click on the chosen level and you will be switched to its home page. Also, there is also an option to view system messages. Those messages are being automatically generated by the system when something unusual occurs. For example, when server load gets higher, system sends the message with load warning. Also, we can see some statistic how much disk space, bandwidth is used and how much domains, users and resellers is created.
Another great control panel is cPanel. Probably most premium web hosting providers supports this software for their clients. This panel is also paid and it needs the license in order to run properly. You can also try the trial license, but remember that you will not get all features that is included in the full license.
Once logged in as an admin you will probably notice that main menu is little bit mixed. Some might like bunch of features in once place, some might get confused by searching one particular function. In the main menu, we can find such options from Server Configuration, Account Information to Plugins. So we can see lots of features included in this control panel and design is much different from DirectAdmin.
If it’s not enough options in the main menu, take a look at the left side column. There you will notice even more features included. Probably it could take ages to list and describe those features. There we can make a clear point that cPanel will not look good in the slower server. In order to get the server running smoothly with this control panel, you will definitely need to think about more resources to handle all the functions. Believe it or not, but this is a fact from our own experience in providing web hosting.
So what we can say about DirectAdmin and cPanel. If you are running a low budget or even free web hosting server like Host1Free, it’s definitely better solution to choose DirectAdmin for server control panel. As we have noticed it’s not overloaded with unused functions and is easy to manage for the beginners. Looking from cPanel side, it is for more commercial projects. It provides a bigger variety of functions that can be used for your business.
Hope this blog post has explained which control panel and for what purposes better to use.
Modestas has gained a big experience in web hosting and online business by being a member of Host1Plus.com for almost two years. Modestas is now able to consult in creating and optimizing websites, identifying servers and sites problems and more. Current living location is Kaunas, Lithuania.
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hi..I read your post and found it very Interesting. Thanks for writing such usefull blogs
Please keep blogging about this stuff. all the best