GIVEAWAY by AdminBolt & RackNerd! 100x FREE VPS FOR A YEAR + 20x LIFETIME LICENSES. LET'S TALK!

BaiYi

R8 winner here — won the 4GB LA VPS, thanks @dustinc and RackNerd!

Installed AdminBolt from the ctrl panel's One-Click Apps; a few minutes later the box came back as a fresh AlmaLinux 9, wizard done in two clicks, trial active until Nov 12.

AdminBolt honestly feels like a brand-new take on hosting panels — nothing like the ones I've used before. Domain setup, database setup, all the common stuff is built right in. I didn't have to go hunting on other sites for tutorials or piece things together manually — it's genuinely out of the box.

My favorite part as a beginner: the AI assistant built into the panel. I can just ask it hosting questions instead of digging through docs or opening tickets. For someone like me who isn't a server expert, that alone is worth a lot.

Going to move a small site over next and try the one-click WordPress install. Thanks for the VPS and the license — will report back once there's real traffic on it.

oobb

AINT-NO-PARTY-LIKE-A-RACKNERD-PARTY!

zhangdashan

AINT-NO-PARTY-LIKE-A-RACKNERD-PARTY!

bolt28724

Thanks to @dustin and RackNerd for the giveaway

Just finished testing out AdminBolt after deploying it through ctrl. While the initial one-click setup took a little while to pull down all the packages, the panel itself is well worth the wait.

The UI is snappy, modern, and uncluttered. Really liking the built-in web server switcher (especially OpenLiteSpeed support), the straightforward domain/database management, and how lightweight it runs at idle compared to traditional panels. Very promising control panel!

coolmanx

AINT-NO-PARTY-LIKE-A-RACKNERD-PARTY!

Dulliri

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sonder

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AchylsWu

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Hover365

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yyheart

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coderzx

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woodchen

YES, WE'RE HERE! 🙌 WE'RE READY FOR MORE RACKNERD AND ADMINBOLT GIVEAWAYS! LET'S GOOO!

ADMINBOLT - THE MODERN WEB HOSTING CONTROL PANEL!

woodchen

AINT-NO-PARTY-LIKE-A-RACKNERD-PARTY!

Chris_AdminBolt

@morgan44 said:
I won a vps and tried the adminbolt. I tried it for couple of hours: this is my small feedback:

Installation time exactly 10 minutes.
Prearranging the panel was easy and straightforward.
The panel missing one main nice feature: I think so many will use it. Docker. Node or python apps are there in the panel through a module
But as an alternative for cpanel: you can say it is like some nice copy paste. So any user used cpanel, will find it easy to fit here in no time.
And as some other said: the design is nice, but not fully professionally published. It looks like it has some ai touches.
There is one thing, ram using after installation about 1.3 GB, which is too high. Some other panels I tried have about 1 GB with apps and docker running. So 1.3 GB without anything used it too high.
Other thing is the pricing: I know it won't be expensive as cpanel licenses. But, For example of one service or one website will be used on the vps, 20 Eur a month with a deal vps with yearly price like this one, is too high. So consider having a different pricing patterns, for different uses.
tldr: AdminBolt is a good alternative for cpanel, specially for old and not experienced users. For advance users/developers, it need some work.

Thank you @dustinc @adminbolt @Chris_AdminBolt for this chance.

@morgan44 thanks for putting a couple of hours into it and writing this up!

• Docker: the panel doesn't support Docker today. Node.js, Python and Ruby apps run through Applications, as you found.
• RAM: fair point, 1.3 GB at idle is a lot when you only host one site.
• Pricing: the VPS licence is a flat $20/mo with unlimited accounts and domains. For one or two sites there's Standalone: $7/mo, one server, up to 2 accounts. It's available only through our hosting partners.
• Design: noted.

8806333

AINT-NO-PARTY-LIKE-A-RACKNERD-PARTY!

Chris_AdminBolt

@dustinc said:

@subkii said:
Thanks RackNerd and AdminBolt for the giveaway!

Installed AdminBolt v1.9.2 from the One-Click Apps in RackNerd ctrl, no SSH needed. Free myboltip.com subdomain came with working SSL right away, which was nice.

Good:

• Firewall, Fail2Ban and auto SSL already on out of the box
• phpMyAdmin, Roundcube, file manager, backups and the AI assistant all just worked

Issues:

• WordPress install failed on default settings ("Found: index.php"), worked after ticking "Clean existing files"
• Mail to Gmail bounces (SPF/DKIM fail). Zone Editor has the records, but on the free subdomain only the A record is public, and DNS Health still says Healthy
• Backups page says to contact the provider, but manual Filesystem Backups work fine

Overall feels like a fast, modern cPanel alternative. Looking forward to updates!

Hi @subkii -- You're very welcome! Glad the one-click setup within ctrl got you going smoothly, and appreciate you sharing where things worked well and where you hit a snag.

@Chris_AdminBolt -- could you take a look at the mail/DNS behavior on the free subdomain and see if the backup message can be fine-tuned to eliminate confusion? Thanks for including those details @subkii

@subkii thanks for the clear write-up, and @dustinc for the ping!

• Mail on the free subdomain: public DNS for myboltip.com subdomains answers only the A record, as you saw. The SPF and DKIM records in Zone Editor stay on your server, so Gmail can't see them. DNS Health checks that local zone, not public DNS, which is why it says Healthy. For mail, use your own domain and publish its SPF and DKIM records where its DNS is hosted.
• WordPress: a new domain starts with a placeholder index.php, which blocks the install unless you tick "Clean existing files". That option deletes what's already in the folder, so it's fine on a fresh domain but check first on one with content.
• Backups: on your own server, "your provider" means you as the admin. Filesystem Backups are on-demand archives of domain files only. The Backups page runs full account backups, scheduled or manual, and needs an active backup policy covering the account. In the admin panel, add a destination under Backups > Destinations, then a policy under Backups > Policies, e.g. "All accounts", and the notice goes away.

VGL

A sincere thank you to @dustinc, @adminbolt, @Chris_AdminBolt, RackNerd, and the AdminBolt team for this opportunity!
Installing AdminBolt through RackNerd ctrl was quick and straightforward. My first impression was very positive: the interface is clean, modern, and well organized, and the initial setup wizard is clear and helpful.
For a relatively new panel, AdminBolt already has a solid foundation. Domain and DNS management are well presented, the Cloudflare integration is very convenient, and the built-in support for PHP, databases, email, SSL, backups, and multiple web server options is impressive. I also installed WordPress through the panel, and the entire process was fast and smooth.
There is still room for improvement. I would love to see first-class Nginx support, integrated Docker and Docker Compose management, and a broader application ecosystem in future releases. I also appreciate that AdminBolt supports Node.js, Python, and Ruby applications through its application runtime system on supported server configurations. It would be great to see this expanded with more developer-focused tooling, such as guided dependency management, more advanced process monitoring and controls, automated Git deployments, and deployment guidance for common application frameworks.
Overall, AdminBolt is a promising platform with a great start. Thanks again to RackNerd, Dustin, and the AdminBolt team. I’m looking forward to seeing how the panel continues to develop!

a549250828

@dustinc ou no！ Whenever I sit at my computer refreshing the page for three or four hours, there are no giveaways at all; yet the moment I step away, the event starts immediately. It happens every time—it seems good luck always just slips right past me.

Chris_AdminBolt

@PuDLeZ said:
I originally won on Friday and Dustin was all over mailing winners and even giving them the prize! I even mentioned in the mail that I don’t think I even blinked since I gave him my racknerd email address and it being added! I originally planned on checking it out Friday night/over the weekend but a friend was passing through town and they took priority.

So, install and setup was painless though I did find it a little annoying that it requires a first and last name. I mean, it’s not the end of the world as I did my default of throwing PuDLeZ into both fields but I think it should be optional or just have one ‘name’ field to be filled out.

I do love that it basically has everything for web hosting out of box and also includes fail2ban and firewall rules by default. The signed SSL cert by default is also nice though could you also include a cert for the IP by default? It could be included with the DNS one if you want/is easier but ideally it should be its own cert.

Metrics->Visitors: I noticed it shows errors/404 count which is nice but I think I should be able to click on the number and basically get the list with timestamp and url of the 404/error or at least be sent to a log page. I’dunno, just feels weird seeing the number and not being able to click it to “investigate” it more.

PHP versions: There’s several versions installed out of box which I’m sure I nice for folks but I also noticed there’s ones past EOL. Maybe only install the latest or still supported versions by default and make installing the others optional? That way, if an EOL version is required, a user has to manually click install or enable it and get a warning about using EOL versions?

I still have yet to test out the whole email thing, mostly I just don’t want to mess with some domain settings yet but I will eventually get around to it since my plan for this VPS is just trying out adminbolt (basically how I use these panels/things since I'm more of a playbook/script/manual type of guy for things).

Overall, very nice cpanel alternative that I’m excited to see how it evolves with time!
@dustinc @adminbolt @Chris_AdminBolt

@PuDLeZ thanks for the detailed write-up, and enjoy the VPS!

• IP certificate: the panel doesn't issue a certificate for the server IP today.
• Visitors: the 404 count isn't clickable. You can inspect access-log entries in the client panel under Domains > Access Logs, with timestamps, domain and date filters, and keyword search.
• PHP versions: you can uninstall the ones you don't need under Settings > PHP > PHP Versions. If a website still uses a version, the panel names it and won't remove that version.

We'll add your suggestions to our backlog and try to address them in future releases: optional name fields, a trusted certificate for the server IP by default, clickable error counts, and only supported PHP versions installed by default, with EOL ones as opt-in behind a warning.

murcie

AINT-NO-PARTY-LIKE-A-RACKNERD-PARTY!

Chris_AdminBolt

@tansel said:
Thanks to RackNerd and AdminBolt for the giveaway!

Good:

• Several commonly used website management and security tools come preinstalled.
• The AI assistant is a useful tool that provides helpful guidance on using the panel.

Issues and suggestions:

1、It would be helpful to add a guided setup so that users who have never used cPanel or AdminBolt can quickly create a publicly accessible webpage.
2、Sometimes I can’t log in with my admin account. I have to run bolt-cli admin-sso-generate to log in and then reset my password.
3、Fail2Ban should display the number of banned IP addresses under Bans. Otherwise, it looks like no IP addresses have been banned.
4、Could AdminBolt be installed without reinstalling the server’s operating system? Users may already have their own files and data on the server before installing it.
5、Could we choose the database type when creating a database, such as MySQL or other open-source databases?
6、The layout of /client/password-and-security could be improved. I suggest using a two-column layout.
7、When creating an email account, entering aaabbb111 as the password should not result in a “strong password” rating.
8、The collation dropdown on /client/apps/phpmyadmin/ contains a lot of options. Could you make it searchable so users can quickly find the collation they need?

Thanks again to @dustinc @adminbolt @Chris_AdminBolt for organizing this event!

@tansel thanks for the detailed list!

1. Guided setup: the wizard on first admin login covers this. Pick "Host my own websites" and it creates your first hosting account on a free temporary address, then sets up the website in the background.
2. Login: if you picked "Host my own websites", the wizard gave you two separate logins: server admin at https://<server-ip>:8443/admin and your hosting account at https://<server-ip>:8443/client. If the admin login fails again, post the exact error and the address you used, and we'll look into it.
3. Fail2Ban: the Bans tab has no counter, but the page lists banned IPs with their jails.
4. Existing servers: the installer sets up its own web, mail, DNS, database and firewall stack, so it's meant for a fresh AlmaLinux 9 or Rocky Linux 9 server.
5. Databases: MariaDB is the default. PostgreSQL is an optional module: install it under Modules, add the PostgreSQL Databases feature to the hosting plan, and clients pick the engine when creating a database.
6. Password and Security layout: noted.
7. Password meter: you're right, it only counts length and character types, so aaabbb111 scores as strong. That's a bug on our side.
8. /client/apps/phpmyadmin/ is phpMyAdmin itself, so that collation list comes from phpMyAdmin, not from the panel.

wrenn

Thanks @dustinc, @Chris_AdminBolt and the RackNerd & AdminBolt teams for the giveaway! Here's my honest feedback after trying AdminBolt on my giveaway VPS.

What I liked:
- The one-click install from RackNerd ctrl was painless and just worked.
- The interface feels modern and clean.
- The documentation is thorough and answered every question I had.
- Small touches show real hosting experience: the admin can jump into any hosting account with Login instead of juggling passwords, and you can generate a one-time admin login link over SSH if you ever get locked out.
- A built-in MCP server is a genuinely forward-looking idea.

The first-run wizard created a hosting account for me automatically, and I ended up with quite a few credentials: ctrl, root SSH, the installer's temporary password, the admin account and the hosting account. It took me a moment to figure out which one was for what. Once I understood that /admin runs the whole server (like WHM) and /client manages a single hosting account (like cPanel), it all clicked, and the separation makes a lot of sense. Anyone coming from cPanel/WHM will feel right at home. I deleted the auto-created account and now only keep the admin login.

AdminBolt is clearly built for hosting providers, resellers and site owners, and for that audience it looks very well thought out. I'm a solo developer: I mostly live in SSH and run my blog behind Caddy, so I'm not really the core target user. But if I ever need to host sites for friends or clients, it's one I'd seriously consider.

A few small suggestions:
Debian/Ubuntu support. Most of my servers run Ubuntu. I know it's already on the roadmap, so just adding my vote.

Overall, it's an impressive panel for such a young project, and the pace of development is great to see. Thanks again, and good luck with AdminBolt!

Chris_AdminBolt

@dustinc said:

@mzltest said:
Tested out a little bit,the mobile version
have some off margin area.

And having native wordpress support is good but I am expecting something like softaculous installer that can install other scripts.

Also having python/nodejs support will be great since most of my apps do not host by php. Maybe I am more suited to ssh myself.

Still, a good cpanel competitior and the icons look cpanel style.

Hi @mzltest -- Thank You for giving it a try and sharing your feedback! Appreciate you including a screenshot of the mobile layout issue too

Tagging @Chris_AdminBolt for this.

@mzltest thanks for testing, and for the screenshot!

• Mobile: you're right, the cards on Home run past the right edge of the screen. That's a bug on our side - Can you share exact mobile model with me? Can be done by DM.
• Other scripts: Softaculous is available as a module. The admin installs it under Modules, and clients then find it under Software > Softaculous.
• Python/Node.js: clients can run Node.js, Python and Ruby apps under Domains > Applications, if their hosting plan includes Applications. On Apache, the admin first installs Phusion Passenger under Modules.

Chris_AdminBolt

@wrenn said:
Thanks @dustinc, @Chris_AdminBolt and the RackNerd & AdminBolt teams for the giveaway! Here's my honest feedback after trying AdminBolt on my giveaway VPS.

What I liked:
- The one-click install from RackNerd ctrl was painless and just worked.
- The interface feels modern and clean.
- The documentation is thorough and answered every question I had.
- Small touches show real hosting experience: the admin can jump into any hosting account with Login instead of juggling passwords, and you can generate a one-time admin login link over SSH if you ever get locked out.
- A built-in MCP server is a genuinely forward-looking idea.

The first-run wizard created a hosting account for me automatically, and I ended up with quite a few credentials: ctrl, root SSH, the installer's temporary password, the admin account and the hosting account. It took me a moment to figure out which one was for what. Once I understood that /admin runs the whole server (like WHM) and /client manages a single hosting account (like cPanel), it all clicked, and the separation makes a lot of sense. Anyone coming from cPanel/WHM will feel right at home. I deleted the auto-created account and now only keep the admin login.

AdminBolt is clearly built for hosting providers, resellers and site owners, and for that audience it looks very well thought out. I'm a solo developer: I mostly live in SSH and run my blog behind Caddy, so I'm not really the core target user. But if I ever need to host sites for friends or clients, it's one I'd seriously consider.

A few small suggestions:
Debian/Ubuntu support. Most of my servers run Ubuntu. I know it's already on the roadmap, so just adding my vote.

Overall, it's an impressive panel for such a young project, and the pace of development is great to see. Thanks again, and good luck with AdminBolt!

@wrenn thanks for the honest write-up, and glad the admin/client split clicked!

AdminBolt installs on AlmaLinux 9 and Rocky Linux 9 today. We have multiOS on roadmap, and it'll land someday in future

Chris_AdminBolt

Thank you all for the feedback, the praise and the criticism alike!

We're noting down everything you report and suggest: the bugs, the feature ideas and the small interface details. We'll go through all of it together as a team.

Testing a hosting panel takes hours: installing it, clicking through it and then writing up what you found. We appreciate that you spent that time on AdminBolt, and that you were so specific in your posts. That makes them much easier for us to work with.

We're glad the response has been this positive. Thanks again, everyone!

thinking

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TAEL

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vvvv

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sushant12345

ADMINBOLT - THE MODERN WEB HOSTING CONTROL PANEL!

sushant12345

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