Updated May 12, 2023
Difference Between cPanel vs Plesk
cPanel is a web-based hosting control panel and Linux-based that provides GUI and tools for automation to help users manage their websites and hosting accounts. With the help of cPanel, users can easily manage their hosting accounts and websites; otherwise, they need a lot of technical knowledge to maintain them. Plesk is a web-based hosting control panel for Windows-based hosting and servers. The easy configuration of Plesk allows users to manage thousands of virtual hosts on a single server. Plesk is best suited for Windows operating the system with better performance than cPanel.
cPanel
cPanel has a tired level structure with different access levels, like end-users and administrators, which can control various aspects through the browser’s graphical user interface. cPanel is best suited for Linux operating system users. cPanel offers plans at $425 per year and $45 per month. It has different upgrade plans and add-on functionality to existing plans. It has a simpler layout with more options for users to restart major services through GUI without remembering complex commands. In it, only scripts on the server can access the database, and we need to provide IP addresses through which we want to access the database; it is a time-consuming process as it requires maintenance, regular updates, etc.
Plesk
Plesk offers plans at $35 per month, which is best suitable for short-term users and a little expensive for the annual plan. It has different add-on functionality to the existing plan and upgrades plans based on user needs. It has a simpler layout and navigation best suitable for beginners and is categorized based on functions that will be available for developers. In Plesk, a database can be accessed by scripts residing in the server, and security is time-consuming as it requires maintenance, regular updates, etc.
Both cPanel vs. Plesk helps manage websites and host purposes as they fulfill the various needs of users. Users must decide which one to use based on their needs, like operating system and budget. We will see the key difference between cPanel and Plesk below.
Head-to-Head Comparison Between cPanel vs Plesk (Infographics)
Below are the top 5 differences between cPanel vs Plesk:
Key Differences Between cPanel vs Plesk
Both cPanel vs Plesk are popular choices in the market; let us discuss some of the significant differences:
- Operating System: cPanel, by default, supports Linux control panels of different flavors, such as CentOS, Red Hat, Cloud Linux, etc. It doesn’t support the Windows platform by default; we need to do some workaround to support whereas Plesk supports both Linux and Windows operating systems such as windows server 2008, 2012, server r2, and Linux distributions up to 14, such as CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu, etc.
- WordPress: cPanel needs to provide a lot of updates to WordPress Manager as it is not providing automatic updates like Plesk, whereas Plesk, by default, is equipped with a WordPress community and provides automatic updates to it.
- Architecture: cPanel has three-tier architecture; it will act as a private or dedicated server. Its architecture provides separate access to administrators, end-users, resellers, and server administration through a web browser. In contrast, Plesk has straightforward and useful architecture as it works on extensions and delivers new features without replacing the core through extensions such as new advisor, WordPress toolkit, REST API, Docker, GIT, etc.
- User Web Interface: cPanel GUI allows users to access and manage several tasks, such as FTP accounts, mailing lists, and more. It offers a command line, an API that automates administration tasks, whereas Plesk GUI was designed using UX/UI with JavaScript technology. It provides an interface through which we can code in most languages. It provides access based on role across all devices.
- Security: cPanel provides security by installing SSL certificates, IP address denials, password-protected directories, etc. It takes a lot of time to provide security fixes. In contrast, Plesk offers many security features such as email anti-spamming inbound and outbound, active directory integration, and fast fixes for security issues.
- Migration: cPanel provides tools and technical help to migrate websites from third-party control panels to cPanel. But there are some issues in metadata migration, whereas Plesk provides its migration system to migrate from one server to another. Moving Plesk from the old server to the new one is very easy.
- Database Access: cPanel provides access to PhpMyAdmin for managing and accessing databases, whereas Plesk provides database access through the web browser. It provides access to MySQL, MSSQL Server, etc.
- Marketing Support: cPanel provides access to its partner’s directory as it provides access to 14k potential customers, whereas Plesk provides partner support to the market consultancy with the help of content creation and marketing.
cPanel vs Plesk Comparison Table
Let’s look at the top Comparison between cPanel vs Plesk:
| Basis of Comparison |
cPanel |
Plesk |
| Loading | cPanel is the fastest loading among Plesk and cPanel as it achieves by reducing the number of RAM needs. | Plesk will take more time to load comparatively with cPanel. |
| Security | cPanel provides security fixes very slowly, which results in performance. | Plesk provides security fixes very fast, which has better performance. |
| Reliability | cPanel provides good reliability while creating account creation and management websites. | Plesk will take more time during account creation and management of websites. |
| Setup time | cPanel requires more time to set up, i.e., nearly 20 minutes, as it provides different logins for end-users and administrators. | Plesk requires less time to set up, i.e., nearly 7 minutes, as it uses the same login for end-users and administrators. |
| VPS performance | VPS hosting and cPanel, and WHM provide better performance than Plesk. | VPS hosting and Plesk have good performance but are not better than cPanel. |
Conclusion
Finally, it’s an overview of the differences between web-based website management hosting tools cPanel vs Plesk in terms of performance. I hope you will understand better after reading this cPanel vs Plesk article. As I said, both cPanel vs Plesk has advantages and disadvantages, such as good website management tools and simplifying workloads according to user needs. Both fit various end-user requirements and provide customization and easy management with the interface. Users must choose between these based on the operating system requirement, budget constraint, compatibility, and knowledge of the control panel tools.
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