Category Archives: Reseller Hosting

cPanel vs. DirectAdmin: A Comparison for End Users

Choosing a control panel can be as important as picking a suitable hosting provider. Two of the most popular and commonly used control panels in the web hosting industry at this time are cPanel and DirectAdmin. While both control panels aim to keep website management simple for users, there are differences in appearances, functionalities available, etc. In this article, we will break down the differences between cPanel and DirectAdmin to help customers make a decision.

What Are cPanel and DirectAdmin?

Let’s examine these control panels and why they matter in the selection before we proceed with a detailed comparison.
cPanel was started in 1996 as a feature-rich web hosting control panel, later becoming an industry standard. It provides a wide range of tools organized in a simple visual interface for managing websites, email accounts, domains, and more for users. It mainly targets beginners and small to medium-sized businesses.
DirectAdmin, on the other hand, was created in 2006, a decade later, as a lightweight alternative that focuses on simplicity and speed. It gives all the essential features you need to manage your websites and emails effectively out of the box, while some advanced features are missing when compared to cPanel. It can be extended using third-party software. DirectAdmin is a favorite among advanced users and hosting providers looking for a cost-effective solution.

User Interface: Simplicity vs. Functionality

cPanel: A Familiar and Intuitive Design

cPanel is known for its clean and colorful interface. It arranges all features into separate categories: email management, file management, security, etc. Each service or function will have a distinct icon, making it easy for beginners to navigate and remember.
For example, if you want to create an email account, simply click on the "Email Accounts" icon, follow the easily noticeable buttons and options, and you’re done. In addition to easy-to-arrange icons, cPanel also provides a search bar, which is handy when you’re in a hurry and can’t locate a specific feature.

DirectAdmin: Minimalism at Its core

DirectAdmin takes a different approach with a simpler and more streamlined interface. It doesn’t provide users with too many options at once, which can make it less intimidating for those who appreciate minimalism. However, compared to cPanel, it might take a bit longer for beginners to get comfortable with its layout.
One advantage of DirectAdmin’s simplicity is its speed. It feels snappier because it’s not loaded with as many graphics and extras, especially on low-resource servers.

Performance: Speed and Resource Usage

Performance is a key consideration, especially if you’re running a server with limited resources.
cPanel is more resource-intensive due to its extensive feature set. While it works well on larger servers, it can slow down on smaller setups.
DirectAdmin is lightweight and optimized for performance. It’s designed to use fewer system resources, which makes it an excellent choice for VPS (Virtual Private Server) and dedicated server environments with limited capacity.
A small hosting provider running 50 websites on a single low-end VPS might struggle with cPanel’s resource requirements but find DirectAdmin, due to its low overhead, to be a perfect fit.

Features: The Breadth of Tools

Both cPanel and DirectAdmin offer the essential tools you need for managing websites, but they differ in their approach.

cPanel: Feature-Rich and Versatile

Over the years, cPanel has developed many features, making it a go-to tool for all your hosting needs. Here are some options available:

Email Management: This option allows you to create and manage email accounts, set up spam filters, and direct access to webmail on one page.
File Management: cPanel provides a simple way to upload, edit, and organize your website files using the built-in file manager.
Backup Tools: A single click full account backup or partial backup can be taken without much complexity in the cPanel using Backup Wizards.
One-Click App Installers: Tools like Softaculous make installing WordPress, Joomla, or other popular applications simple.

These features, along with several others, including additional third-party module support, make cPanel a better choice for users who want everything on one page. However, many options can be confusing for beginners.

DirectAdmin: Focused and Essential

DirectAdmin offers fewer features than cPanel, but it covers all the basics:

Email and domain management
File and database management
DNS configuration
Backup and restore options

What DirectAdmin lacks in advanced features, it makes up for with speed and reliability. This makes it an excellent choice for experienced users who don’t need all the extras.

Pricing: A Game-Changer

Since cPanel introduced new pricing structures in 2019 and keeps increasing prices yearly, pricing of every Control Panel and comparing them has become a hot topic over public venues.

cPanel’s Licensing Costs

cPanel shifted from a flat-rate pricing model to a per-account model, significantly increasing costs for hosting providers managing multiple accounts. For example:
– A hosting provider managing 100 accounts would now pay much more than before, which has led many smaller businesses to reconsider their options.

DirectAdmin: Affordable Alternative

DirectAdmin, on the other hand, has retained its affordable pricing. It offers flat-rate licenses, which are particularly appealing to budget-conscious users. This makes DirectAdmin a popular choice for small hosting companies and individuals running multiple websites.
If you’re on a tight budget or managing numerous accounts, DirectAdmin is the more cost-effective option.

Security: Keeping Your Data Safe

Both cPanel and DirectAdmin prioritize security, but they take slightly different approaches.

cPanel’s Advanced Security Tools

cPanel offers a range of built-in security features, including:

AutoSSL: This option automatically installs free Lets Encrypt SSL certificates for your websites.
cPHulk: Protects your server from brute-force attacks.
ImunifyAV : A free malware tool is available for scanning your files.
Two-Factor Authentication: Adds an extra layer of protection for your accounts, so losing credentials might not allow hackers to get in.

Also, the platform’s large user base means vulnerabilities are quickly identified and patched. The cPanel ecosystem has a very active support team and community as well. Support for a wide range of third-party modules, like Imunify360, adds more tools to its security arsenal.

DirectAdmin’s Robust but Simple Security

DirectAdmin might not have as many advanced security features as cPanel, but it’s inherently secure. Its smaller market share makes it a less attractive target for hackers, reducing the likelihood of attacks. Additionally, DirectAdmin supports essential features like SSL certificate installation and firewall configuration and extends its functionalities using third-party tools like Imunify360, making it fully secure for a hosting company.

Migration: Switching Between Platforms

Migrating between cPanel and DirectAdmin (or vice versa) can be a mixed bag.

From cPanel to DirectAdmin: DirectAdmin provides built-in migration tools to help streamline the process.
From DirectAdmin to cPanel: This process can be more complex due to differences in how the two systems handle data. cPanel has robust import tools to assist in the process. However, the cost of cPanel might deter some users from switching.

If migration is a significant concern, consider consulting your hosting provider for assistance.

Real-Life Scenarios: Which One Is Right for You?

To make the comparison more relatable, let’s look at some real-life scenarios:

Small Business Owner:
If you’re running a small business website and value ease of use, cPanel might be a great choice. With its feature-rich yet intuitive design, cPanel makes website management a breeze.
Hosting Provider:
For hosting providers managing multiple accounts, DirectAdmin’s low licensing costs and lightweight design can significantly improve profitability.
Tech-Savvy User:
DirectAdmin is worth considering if you’re an experienced user who prefers a simple and efficient control panel. If you know your way around a server, you won’t miss the extra features of cPanel.

Which one is the right control panel for you

There is no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to recommending cPanel or DirectAdmin. Your choice will depend on your specific needs, budget, and technical expertise in managing websites and servers.

Select cPanel if you’re looking for a feature-rich, user-friendly solution and ready to pay a premium.
Go for DirectAdmin if you need a lightweight, affordable, reliable control panel.

Both tools have their strengths and weaknesses, but depending on what works best for you is the decision factor. Take your time to review your hosting requirements, try out both platforms if possible, and make a decision that aligns with your goals.

In this article, we just covered the customer or end-client features of cPanel and DirectAdmin. The administrative end is quite complex for beginners. We will compare the administrative or server-side settings in another article.

Happy hosting!

Reseller Web Hosting – Reseller Hosting vs cPanel Addon Domains

When to choose reseller hosting over addon domains

Reseller web hosting and shared web hosting plans often include cPanel for managing your websites & domains. When you have multiple domains, you must decide on whether reseller hosting or a shared hosting plan is a better fit.

Reseller Web Hosting

master dashboard to control multiple cPanel accounts
ability to create multiple cPanel accounts
each cPanel account has a separate login; username & password
resources are allocated to each cPanel (memory, cpu, processes etc)

Shared Web Hosting

single cPanel login
uses “addon domains” (directories) for additional domains
no separate login for websites
resources are shared among all websites on the account

When do we recommend using a reseller web hosting plan?

If you have more than a few domains that you’d like to host, we recommend a reseller hosting plan to keep each domain isolated via their own cPanel account. The two biggest issues with addon domains are the use of resources such as memory, cpu & processes and then security concerns. Addon domains within cPanel are not inherently insecure, but since the directories reside under the same system user, there is no isolation between them. Unfortunately, this means if for example, a WordPress website becomes compromised, it can potentially spread to other addon domains.

While the addon domains & security does pose a risk to other websites residing on the same hosting plan, we do not see a higher ratio of compromised websites simply due to the fact that addon domains are being used. As long as the website(s) being hosted on the addon domains (and parent cPanel account) are properly secured, we see no issues with using addon domains.

Are you a web agency or providing website hosting services to customers?

If you’re providing website hosting services to customers or are hosting a large number of websites (from a web agency for example), we most definitely recommend using a reseller hosting account over a shared account with addon domains. There’s a few reasons for this, the main three being security, resources & accessibility. Having each domain on its own cPanel means that there is also a separate login.

You certainly would not want to have addon domains in this case as you would have to provide the same username/password to each customer in order for them to access anything within cPanel (which we HIGHLY do not recommend). Additionally, keeping each customer isolated from one another will ensure that in the event one site becomes compromised, it does not affect another customer site.

Lastly, resources are assigned per cPanel account, so having each website on its own cPanel means the resources are not being shared by any other account/website except for what resides on that cPanel account.

With addon domains (on a single shared web hosting account), if your cPanel account has 1GB of RAM available to it and you have 10 domains/websites via addon domains, all 10 of those websites are going to have to share that 1GB of RAM. With busy websites, this means contention, each website will fight one another for resources.

When to use addon domains?

If you have a shared web hosting account and would like to simply add a few personal or hobby type sites, we most definitely recommend addon domains for this. The concept of addon domains from cPanel is good however, when the websites being hosted using addon domains are customer websites or are busy sites, we don’t recommend using addon domains. Addon domains are another option that can be used for staging sites also, but we recommend using subdomains for that.

Are your sites income based or monetized sites?

If your websites are generating any type of income, we recommend that you at least host them on separate accounts. This could be a reseller hosting plan OR separate shared hosting plans if you don’t plan to add more sites over time. Shared hosting accounts can always be moved into a reseller account down the road if you add more accounts.

The biggest reasons we recommend multiple shared hosting cPanel accounts or a reseller account when you have multiple sites that are monetized is both performance and security.

If one of your monetized sites becomes compromised (let’s say a WordPress exploit from a bad plugin) and it spreads to your other site (via an addon domain), there’s a possibility that the platform being used for monetizing the site could pull the site from their platform. In instances like this, we feel the risk is simply too high and increases the possibility that the issue could interfere with the income being generated.

What are the Differences Between Shared, Semi-Dedicated, Reseller and VPS Hosting?

There are many types of web hosting plans offered by hosting providers. When you add in the marketing terminology, it can become very confusing and difficult to compare. In this information blog post, we’ll try to help you better understand the various types of hosting services so you can make an educated decision based on your web hosting needs.

Shared
- Designed for small to medium websites.
- Can have multiple websites under one account.
- If one site is compromised the other sites can become compromised.
Semi-dedicated
- Designed for larger websites.
- Can be more cost and time effective than a Virtual Private Server (VPS). You manage your website and the provider manages the OS (patching, administration, security, etc.).
- If one site is compromised, the other sites can become compromised.
Reseller
- Designed for multiple websites owned by different people or businesses.
- Multiple accounts vs. one account with Shared Hosting.
- If one website under that account is compromised other websites under the other accounts will not be.
Virtual Private Server (VPS)
- Designed for any size website or application where isolation, OS and application customization, or corporate policy dictates.
- Can scale well beyond the resource limits of other hosting types.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting plans are “single user” plans designed for single website applications. This is the preferred choice for a small business with a single website or an individual looking to host their portfolio site, blog site, forum, or to start learning how to do website development.

Shared hosting plans can also host multiple websites using what’s called “addon domains.” These are simply sub-directories under the main account with DNS maps that point to them. While hosting multiple sites on a single account may sound like a good option, there are security and performance issues that can arise:

Security: Let’s say you have a shared hosting account with 10 addon domains and one of them was to get hacked. Now the hacker has access to all the websites residing on this account.
Performance: Each account (cPanel account or shared account) is allocated a certain amount of resources (memory, CPU and disk IO). Every additional website added to this single hosting account consumes more of the finite resources that are available. As more websites are added, they start to compete against each other for memory, CPU and disk IO (commonly called contention) which ultimately will slow down all of the websites hosted on the account.

If you plan to host multiple websites, a Reseller account will be the better choice.

Semi-dedicated Hosting

Semi-dedicated hosting is on the same platform as Shared Hosting but includes additional resources tailored for large, high-traffic, or resource-intensive websites and applications. Semi-dedicated plans are a great alternative to a Virtual Private Server (VPS) when:

you don’t need isolation, OS and application customization, or have corporate policy mandates.
you don’t have the experience or staff to administer, patch and secure your own VPS.

If you’ve outgrown Shared Hosting, consider Semi-dedicated before moving to a VPS.

Reseller Hosting

A Reseller account is not just for those interested in reselling web hosting. Its primary function is to properly partition or separate multiple hosted websites into their own “containers.”

Reseller hosting is similar to shared hosting with one major difference: You have a dashboard to manage multiple accounts. This means you can create multiple “shared” style hosting plans and use a single dashboard (WHM) to manage them. As additional websites or customers are added, each can be assigned to its own cPanel account. Each account has its own unique login, username and password, email accounts, and most importantly, its own resources. This ensures each site is more secure and has access to its memory, CPU and disk IO.

In addition to simply using a Reseller plan for hosting multiple websites, many hosting resellers utilize reseller plans from a parent provider such as VeeroTech to sell web hosting to their clients. You can utilize the included billing software (WHMCS) to automatically bill your clients, provide a support desk, and provision hosting accounts from automated ordering.

Reseller hosting accounts are also great for web designers, development firms, and companies that need to host multiple website accounts.

Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting

A Virtual Private Server is similar to a physical server except that it is virtual. We utilize very powerful datacenter-grade physical servers that host multiple virtual servers on high speed RAID 10 SSD disk arrays with many disks for safety and performance. A VPS is a solution for those who require one or more of the following:

Custom application or application stacks
Custom scripts
Specialized server settings
Larger amounts of resources
Company policies/guidelines that require isolation

VeeroTech offers three types of VPS solutions:

A fully managed VPS is a virtual server that is fully managed by our staff. Our engineers monitor, tune and maintain each VPS and respond to any issues that may arise. We handle all of the server-side tasks, daily backups, as well as customer requests that may need to be completed. The most common operating systems deployed on a VPS are flavors of Linux like CentOS and Ubuntu. A managed VPS is ideal for those who require an isolated solution or larger amounts of dedicated resources but don’t want the hassle of managing a server. Our managed VPS’s also include a licensed version of cPanel & WHM, firewall, Softaculous script installer, R1Soft backups & more.

A self-managed VPS (also known as unmanaged, droplet, root access, or instance) is managed by you. The hosting provider ensures only the virtual server is online, not the OS. It also does not include backups, control panels or any type of maintenance. A self-managed VPS is a good solution for those who have the expertise and resources to manage, secure, and maintain their own servers.

Although this is a cheaper option, it can quickly become compromised or break due to the knowledge required to maintain and secure the server. If you’re running a business, this is an important factor to consider.

A storage or backup VPS is a great alternative to other “cloud storage” options because, not only is it your data, it is on your server. This provides an extra layer of security, privacy, and management.

Starting with a Shared, Semi-dedicated or Reseller Hosting plan can be a more cost-effective solution to handle most needs, unless yours require a VPS. If you are still unsure which option to choose, feel free to ask us.