cPanel vs. Plesk

What Is a Hosting Control Panel

This gives you a Browser based interface to manage your hosting account. The interface is a graphical user interface so no coding is needed. It allows you to do most of the complex system admin processes in just a few clicks from the Admin interface

Easy to use User Interface

A control panel should provide a user interface that is easy to learn so that users can manage all aspects of their hosting accounts. The most common features with a control panel are
• Manage domain names
• Manage files for your website
• Create and manage email accounts
• Manage SQL databases
• See website stats such as visitors
• Install apps or software like WordPress

Most Popular Control Panels

When it comes to which control panel you should use for controlling your website, the debate usually comes down to the 2 most popular

Plesk vs. cPanel

These 2 GUI Panels have been the industry standards for administrative web panels, and they give you the best options when it comes to managing your websites

Let’s take a look at these two control panels and then do a comparison to see how they stack up against each other

Both of these Panels have been around for many years and dominate the website hosting interfaces

cPanel

cPanel, has been around longer. Introduced to the Internet market in 1996. Since it was introduced first, those who started with it have continued to use it simply out of tradition and comfort
Also see our cPanel Frequently Asked Questions

Plesk

This is the newer of the two platforms, introduced in 2001. the panel has gone through different iterations and has continued to evolve over the years. The Plesk GUI

Comparison

When comparing these two control panels, you should look at the different features to see which one meets your own needs. Next we list the breakdown of features, interfaces, operating systems, and performance

Main Features

When it comes to the most used features, both cPanel and Plesk has the support you need
• Domain management - Add configure and manage domain and sub domain names
• File management - Upload, edit, delete files with backups and restores
• Email management - Set up new and manage email accounts. Access webmail. Configure spam filters. Mailing lists. Forwarders
• Database management - Set up databases with phpMyAdmin or with cPanels Data Base Wizard
• Website Stats - See the volume of traffic the website is receiving
• Security SSL Certificates, SSH access, IP blockers, etc.
• Software installers - Easy installations of popular web scripts such as WordPress, Joomla, and others

Both Panels have the same basic features. Tools to manage your email accounts, run File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and manage your databases. but remember you can add extra apps to both and here is where they begin to differ
Plesk’s add-on apps tend to be better than cPanels. For example, Plesk supports Docker and Git with little to no difficulty
cPanel, can use these apps but you have to do some configuring to make them work together. In this instance the advantage goes to Plesk

Interfaces

This one is no doubt a opinion. Some users believe that cPanel’s interface is too cluttered and difficult to navigate. Other believe that Plesk is considered to be the “cleaner” look of the two when it comes to the appearance

Although cPanel can be customized so that you can clean up the interface yourself and group features as you need them. As a matter of opinion, we will call this one a tie

Operating System

Both being similar, this category will come down to you and you knowledge of different operating systems

cPanel is available for the Linux operating system. There is a workaround that can let you load it on a Windows server, but officially, cPanel is Linux only

Plesk is available for Linux or Windows operating systems

Again a matter of opinion on which you prefer

Performance

With performance we look for reliability as well as speed

cPanel has cut down on the memory is used, this lets the pages load faster. Account creation and management tasks are also noticeably faster

Plesk overall can be slower to load especially in the account creation and management areas

In this category we will say that cPanel wins on performance and speed

Security

Both solutions boast a variety of features designed to make servers bulletproof. Or at least, safe from incursions by nefarious bots and their human handlers

cPanel:
AutoSSL – automatically installs and renews Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates
cPHulk brute force protection
Support for CSF (ConfigServer Security & Firewall)
Each user also gets to use: SSH access, IP blocker, hotlink protection, leech protection, ModSecurity, two-factor authentication
Email spam filters

Plesk:
Plesk Firewall – Plesk’s custom firewall that you can configure
AutoSSL – automatically installs and renews Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates
ImunifyAV – intelligent antivirus and monitoring tool; one-click malware cleanup, domain reputation monitoring, blacklist status checking
fail2ban Wwhich prevents intrusions, active directory integration, and spam defense for email

Plesk vs cPanel: Distros

Plesk runs on both Linux and Windows Server. cPanel is Linux only. You can achieve Windows Server compatibility, but only via certain tweaking and fiddling

cPanel vs. Plesk – Who Really Wins?

When it comes to cPanel versus Plesk, both systems have Pro's and Con's. Some of the features, such as interface, are purely objective, such as the OS's availability is really something for you to decide
We hope that this article has put this into perspective so that you can make the best decision about your hosting needs with a Website Control Panel

RSH Web Services uses cPanel to power all our Websites
Looking for power speed and reliability for your website?
Consider our cPanel Hosting Accounts

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