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cPanel vs Directadmin: Why cPanel?
thecreator_
Member
in General
Hi guys,
cPanel has again increased its license fees. (After 100 accounts, $0.39 per month per account. $0.22 for partners)
I guess I won't be using cpanel anymore and I'll turn to alternative panels like directadmin.
So can you tell me what is in cpanel but not in directadmin? Why do all companies insist on cpanel?
Are there any directadmin shortcomings for hosting users? Is it adequate? And is the resource consumption high?
Comments
Mostly because of people didn't start to host their stuff yesterday and migrating several thousands clients websites and other stuff based on old control panel isn't as easy as changing underwear.
So directadmin can actually do everything that cpanel can do? Is it just a habit?
Yes DirectAdmin can do everything cPanel can do. Even sometimes it's perform better and have much more faster (regular) updates than cPanel..
For me the only advantage of cPanel is it's more user-friendly than DA and it's old so people very much used to it..
I'm glad cpanel raised their pricing as I thoroughly enjoy using directadmin more now. They have a ton of api functions which basically makes whmcs useless to me as well.
Where are you using API ?
Actually the new design of directadmin looks quite user friendly. I can even say that it looks better than cpanel. Demo address: https://directadmin.com/demo.php
ss: https://prnt.sc/CfnehRj3DNid
If directadmin is reliable and provides better performance than cpanel, it's time to support it..
I don't like DA's new theme at all..
I like simple themes like DA had previously and even cPanel present theme is awful as well than their previous simple theme..
However my vote for DA just because it's more lightweight and feature rich
Largely down to familiarity. Most people who know even a little bit about hosting know of cPanel - and want it for that reason. A bit like choosing Google as a search engine - people go to it because that's what they know.
DirectAdmin is an excellent option. We now have [a lot] more licenses with DirectAdmin than we do with cPanel, and we're continuously opening more tickets with cPanel - largely due to errors and things not working as they should. I think we've opened maybe 5 tickets in the last year with DirectAdmin (hundreds of licenses), which speaks volumes about the quality of DirectAdmin, I'd say.
cPanel has always felt like a product of 2004 to me, both in UI and functionality. Like for example, why are additional domains put in subfolders of the main directory? Why don't plugins like softaculous integrate better into the UI? I used DA for the first time a month ago or so, after a BF deal, and so I'm still pretty inexperienced with it, but it does seem more user-friendly from the bit I've done so far (just shared hosting management). Either way competition is good, and if cPanel is increasing prices, more hosts will/should probably be offering DA as an option.
Cpanel unfortunately is what customers expect. If you can convince them to use DA, then you've got it made.
Not an easy transition...
mail user... I dont think DA can do this
https://imgur.com/a/yQ1HZ10
You can suspend an account, from your user panel. But that covers the whole account (sending AND receiving)
cPanel has nice interface and easy to use. Haven't used Directadmin for hosting, only used it on Mxroute email hosting. But worst is the SPanel, full of bugs and lacks features.
I think you're talking about paperlantern theme, Please update yourself and try Jupiter theme and let us know.
Even a public toilet seat is cleaner and good than that shit.
I don't like Jupiter. Paperlantern was better.
I prefer Directadmin.
Reason: Better pricing. Can do most things.
Paper Lantern was so much better. I feel like Jupiter has just so much wasted space and the icons are harder to distinguish.
The simple reason is mate, cPanel has been around for ages, and everyone used it. People don't like change, I've known people whose asked clients and they said they want cPanel not a cheaper alternative.
So it's the customers and hosts which make cPanel what it is today.
Still doesn't beat X3
I use it with wordpress/woocommerce. I've linked woocommerce products with my directadmin packages. That way I can have multiple payment gateways and auto account creations in DA after payment was made. It helps with clients who pay via bank transfers as well.. I also use namesilo api to sell and renew domain. This is my site overmill.com
I would like to see people distinguish between whether they are a provider or an end user. The two groups have different perspectives.
I am an end user. I have a shared hosting account with cPanel, and an MXroute (email) account with DirectAdmin.
For shared hosting, I prefer Plesk over cPanel because Plesk let me create separate Plesk accounts for my children and restrict them to their own domains, while I retained the overarching capability for our account. The next shared hosting provider had the far-more-popular cPanel, where the accounts have full access. By then, my children were mature enough to trust them.
cPanel offers the end user good and capable backup options. I back up email forwarders frequently, as I create them often.
DirectAdmin offers the end user NOTHING regarding backups. Sure, providers can backup user accounts, but the end users do not get anything. To me, backups and restorations are a must-have feature, and I am still waiting for someone to explain why they are not baked-in the DirectAdmin for end users. It makes no sense to me.
For my MXroute account with DirectAdmin, I have concluded that the only solution is to write my own backup and restoration code using the DirectAdmin API. I have good coding experience, but there will be a significant learning curve, and I should not have to work that hard to have a backup capability. I value the MXroute account and its reliability. I want to migrate my email from the expensive shared hosting with cPanel to MXroute with DirectAdmin, so the work is worth the effort to me.
False, there is the option for user backups in DA, just look for the create/restore backups option.
That's not true. End users always had the Site backup/restore option in their accounts, and it works very well. If you cannot find it in your account means your provider disabled it but DirectAdmin provides this function.
I've researched spanel a bit but there aren't many resources. I'm intrigued and will create an account and give it a try.
So can I sell web hosting with spanel and whmcs? So is it possible to create end user account and reseller account?
I've never seen a company use spanel before. (I just found scala hosting.)
Personally we try and avoid Cpanel as much as possible. If a customer orders it sure we will provide it but we rather support Direct Admin. Granted we have a boat load of owned licenses from 10+ years ago.
Cpanel will keep jacking the pricing up, Direct admin supports more OS's and is just overall better product if you ask me. Customers just dislike moving to something different when they're used to Cpanel. That being said almost all once they get use to it like it a lot more. Plus the cost savings is nice for them.
Cpanel can login to ssh directly from cpanel. No additional software needed.
Directadmin has that feature with pro pack iirc.
I just looked again just to be sure. The DirectAdmin interface for my MXroute account has no means of backing up any of my account information. When I discussed my intent to write my own backup code, Jar commented that it seemed the correct approach. If a user managed backup capability existed, I am sure that @jar would have mentioned it.
Keep in mind that MXroute is an email service. Perhaps that is the difference.
I'm not aware of the DA backup system working for users. Resellers sure, not regular users. It wouldn't be in my custom menus anyway so maybe I missed a change somewhere?
Few differences in both panels:
Location directory
Features/Buttons/Links are aggregated differently in the GUI.
If you start using directadmin with icon theme you'll notice its like 90% similar to old cPanel lantern theme which is loved by 99% of cpanel users up till now.
Some features behind the hood might be different, and so the support for third-party plugins and software.
But what 95% of cpanel users require: set up domain, set up subdomain, ssl, email/webmail, mysql database, php selector, and one-click apps like wordpress, and sometimes backups/jetbackup. All these features are there in directadmin. Just one or two clicks here and there. that's it.
So once you start using directadmin regularly, you'll somewhat hate cPanel for asking more money for not much improvements in last 10 years, except their patches, and few features.
Moreover, directadmin is loved by web pros like me, while cpanel is loved by any one who wants to get started with hosting their single page to ecommerce sites!