Types Of Free And Paid Web Host Control Panel Programs

Today there are plenty of web hosting control panels out there. Linux and Windows both have a selection of panels suited to different server environments. Both operating systems also have a number of both free and paid solutions, so there is indeed a panel for every aspiring web host out there.

One of the most popular Unix web host control panels is cPanel. This control panel is a proprietary system- and licenses can run as much as $425 per year. Developers of cPanel have also created a mirror software platform that runs on Windows, so it can be used by virtually any server type. cPanel has a low learning curve, making it perfect for first-time web hosts.

The benefit of choosing Webmin over cPanel is the fact that it is a free solution. Since it is open source, it is also widely and indefinitely supported by the community. This Unix based platform may not be as robust as cPanel, but for the price it is hard to beat. Modules are easy to install, and custom modifications to the system are easily done.

It’s good to see that some web hosting panels are working in modern features into their inner core. An example would be with GNUPanel, which allows hosting managers to accept online payment processors automatically. Other packages such as cPanel may be able to do this with third party software, but it isn’t built into the system. GNUPanel is based on PHP 5, so it’s also a rather mainstream and easy to pick up code base. GNUPanel supports many features cPanel does, such as one-click installation of Joomla!

Perhaps one of the few true competitors to cPanel in terms of licensed panels is Plesk. Plesk is said to be more user friendly because of its interface, but the true decision should be left up to the end user. Plesk is very comparable to cPanel otherwise: being able to do just about anything equally as well, with the same sense of security. The interface and licensing fees are the two main deciding factors for new web hosting managers.

A large website will quickly grow out of the shell that most web hosting panels create. A large website needs to be able to balance a load of traffic among many servers- perhaps hundreds or thousands in some rare cases. This is done through special web hosting panels such as that of InterWorx. This web hosting panel specializes in clustered servers and managing them to create a stable environment. InterWork and panels like it are only for the leaders in Internet industry, however, and common website owners don’t need it.

In Conclusion

There are many control panels to pick from. Whether you need a specific price, server environment, or feature set- there are free demonstrations available from all reputable panel developers. Take the time to try out each one and make a solid decision on who to pick.

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