Best Web Hosting Control Panel

There are many different web hosting control panels for you to choose from. Most are designed for either Windows or Linux web hosting services, and the most popular control panels such as Plesk and cPanel are used by larger web hosting providers to help them offer their shared and reseller web hosting services. As well as being available as standard on lower end web hosting package, web hosting control panels can also be purchased as extras for VPS servers and dedicated servers; in the case that your web hosting provider can’t offer you the control panel that you would like for your VPS server or dedicated server, you can easily purchase your own license for use with the server concerned. Judging control panels to see which is the best web hosting control panel available is a case of looking at all the features that each control panel is able to offer as well as your own personal requirements; for example a Linux web hosting control panel may not be classed as the best by a Windows system administrator, whereas it may be by a Linux system administrator. Each control panel is able to offer different features, and it is the features on offer that you should base your judgment on which is the best web hosting control panel; other factors which y0u may want to consider could include cost and the minimum server requirements for each specific control panel, but in all honesty most web hosting control panels cost around the same price (except for those which you may want to purchase add-ons for).

What should I be considering in a web hosting control panel?

There are many different factors you should be considering in any web hosting control panel to allow you to make an unbiased decision on which web hosting control panel you think is the best. The main factor which you should be considering in any web hosting control panel is the GUI (graphical user interface); a web hosting control panel needs to have an easy to use GUI, but at the same time it needs to be visually appealing. Other factors which you need to consider are also based around the user experience, but you also need to take into consideration the technical abilities of a web hosting control panel since web hosting control panels need to live up to their purpose of being used to manage different aspects of web hosting accounts. Web hosting control panels should be compatible with a wide range of web hosting related technologies, this includes DNS servers, database servers and web servers; without being usable with such technologies, you ca effectively render a web hosting control panel useless. However, everyone has different expectations of web hosting control panels; some people may wish to use a control panel to manage every aspect of their website which includes the management of databases and file permissions; on the other hand, you get more technically capable users who may wish to use more advance desktop programs to manage their web hosting account and web space. Other things which you should consider in a web hosting control panel include:

• System compability – some web hosting control panels are only compatible with one operating system, whilst others are available in separate editions for different server operating systems – most users have a preference when it comes to server operating system, most people choosing to use either Linux or Windows web hosting packages – many different control panels are available for both operating systems, and if you are going to base your opinion on what is the best web hosting control panel on this one factor then you should take into consideration the number of operating system specific features that are included
• Third-party features and integration – it is common place now for web hosting control panels to make use of third party software and components somewhere, or if that’s not the case then to at least have the ability to be integrated with third-party software – something like this is important for web hosting providers who may wish to integrate a web hosting control panel into their billing system so that they can automatically provision web hosting accounts – if a web hosting control panel us unable to provide this basic integration then it will be rendered useless by some
• Usability – as previously mentioned, you should take into consideration the GUI that is offered by a web hosting control panel since this will ultimately judge how usable a web hosting control panel is – however, you should also take into consideration the general layout of a web hosting control panel as well as where everything is located, for example all features of a web hosting control panel should follow the ‘three click rule’ meaning that all features of a web hosting control panel should be available within 3 clicks from the homepage/login screen.

Such factors will help you to decide on which is the best web hosting control panel for your needs. You should look for a web hosting control panel that is able to offer you each factor, but you should always have your original requirements in mind to ensure that you are able to find the right control panel. Depending on the form of web hosting you go with, you may be restricted as to which control panel you can use; with shared and reseller web hosting services you will have to use the control panel that your web hosting provider offers you, but with VPS server hosting and dedicated server hosting you can easily install a control panel of your choice.

What control panels are there to choose form?

It is widely accepted that the best web hosting control panels around are the ones that are used the most. Most web hosting providers tend to use the same control panels, apart from larger web hosting companies who have their own control panels which have been developed in-house; although this means that there may not be much room for competition within the control panel industry, there are still a number of different control panels available for you to choose from. The control panel that you choose will mainly be based on the server operating system that you are using since a majority of web hosting control panels are only designed for use on one specific platform; however, if you are running both Windows and Linux web hosting servers then you will need to choose a Linux web hosting control panel and a Windows web hosting control panel. The main control panels that you should be considering for your VPS server or dedicated server include:

• cPanel – this is classed as the most popular control panel for Linux web hosting services and as such is seen as the best web hosting control panel for Linux based servers – as cPanel doesn’t rely on any backend database as such, the control panel is able to load pages faster than other control panels that are available for Linux servers – the fact that it has been around for over 10 years means that it has it has a prominent place within the control panel industry, and it’s soon to be released Windows control panel is polled to be the best web hosting control panel available for Windows web hosting servers
• Plesk – this can be used on both Linux and Windows web hosting servers and Parallels, the parent company of Plesk, produces the Virtuozzo VPS daemon which is why you will find many web hosting providers not only using it on their own servers but also providing it for free on their VPS servers and in some cases on their dedicated servers – as Plesk is the only serious contender for the Windows web hosting control panel market, it is seen to be the best web hosting control panel available for Windows web hosting services as others that are available are just too unreliable.

cPanel and Plesk are regarded as the best web hosting control panels available; this is not just because they both provide very easy to use and intuitive GUIs, but they also provide a number of features that will allow web hosting clients to manage nearly every aspect of their web hosting package from the web using either control panel. Although Plesk may have the monopoly when it comes to Windows web hosting control panels, the Windows version of cPanel is being regarded by many as a very serious contender and could easily knock Plesk off the top spot.

In conclusion, the best web hosting control panel available is going to be either Plesk or cPanel in the eyes of many purely because they are the most widely used web hosting control panels and both boast a number of advance features. It is important to note that if you choose to go with a form of shared hosting, you will have to use the control panel that your web hosting provider provides you with; if you have your own VPS or dedicated server then you can consider installing a third-party control panel of your choice, although your web hosting provider may be able to offer you cPanel or Plesk for free.