Plesk vs cPanel: Which one is better for you?

When choosing between web hosting control panels, Plesk and cPanel are the primary contenders.

Released in 1996, cPanel is the original contender, and as such has a high number of legacy users. We offer you the ultimate release! Modern versions of cPanel are actually a combination of cPanel and WHM (Web Host Manager) interfaces.

Plesk has been around since 2001, with the current stable release being Plesk Onyx.

Plesk vs cPanel: User interfaces

Of the two web hosting control panels, Plesk is widely considered to have a cleaner graphical user interface (GUI), and is a bit easier to use. The Plesk interface is more streamlined and has features grouped in a list down the left-hand side.

The cPanel interface, however, does not group the features and tools as helpfully, and is often seen as being more cluttered. cPanel does allow for customisation of the home screen to make it a bit easier to find things as well.

Plesk vs cPanel: Performance

Generally, cPanel loads faster than Plesk. cPanel is the web hosting control panel that has really focused on optimising the performance. By focusing on reducing the amount of memory required, cPanel developers were able to speed up the page-load times within the panel, as well achieve faster times for account creation and other server management tasks.

Plesk vs cPanel: Features and tools

Out of the box, Plesk and cPanel both provide users with the same primary features for server and account management. Both can be used to configure DNS settings, manage email accounts, run FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and manage databases. Although it is possible to add extra apps to cPanel, Plesk comes with support for more useful apps and extensions straight from the box.

Plesk has support for Docker on Linux, with a catalogue of over 200,000 Docker images that can be launched from within the Plesk web hosting control panel. Plesk is also compatible with Git through the Gitman extension. There are workarounds to get Docker and Git running with cPanel, but they’re much more complex than with Plesk.

Plesk vs cPanel: Security

Both Plesk and cPanel are heavily focused on security. Although the features are different, Plesk and cPanel both come with numerous security tools.

cPanel security tools include: Automatic SSL certificate installation, password-protected directories and IP address denials.Plesk security features include: fail2ban intrusion prevention, inbound and outbound email antispam and active directory integration.

Plesk vs cPanel: Distros

One major difference between the Plesk and cPanel web hosting control panels is that Plesk is available on both Windows Server and Linux distributions, whereas cPanel is only available on Linux operating systems (although some backdoor methods are available to run cPanel on Windows servers).

The Linux distributions that support cPanel are CentOS, CloudLinux and RedHat Enterprise Linux operating systems. On the other hand, Plesk is available on 14 Linux distributions including CentOS, Ubuntu and Debian, as well as being available on Windows servers.

Which web hosting control panel you choose will often depend on which operating system you’re running on your server.

Plesk vs cPanel: Cost

Plesk is more expensive than the Cpanel, but that does not mean it’s worth less for your needs. Prices may vary and are not mentioned in this article. Check out the current prices on our website.

Choosing between Plesk and cPanel

Your decision could be based on which web hosting control panel is available to your operating system, but most likely it will come down to which panel you find easier to use. Whichever control panel you choose, they are both available on dedicated servers and cloud servers from Fasthosts.