Hm~~~ I am about to sign up with a dedicated server and the company recommended me to use Trustix with CPanel as they said it is most user friendly for newbies. After doing some research, I am more kind of like DA, not only it;s cheaper but it also looks better. um~~~ just thinking which would you guys recommend me? Especially those that have the same situation as me (newbie searching for first server).

I absolutely love DirectAdmin. Its very easy to use and its not a resource hog. Ive tried cpanel, plesk, ensim and directadmin, and i would definitely recomment directadmin over all of them .

I would HIGHLY recommend DA Over cPanel.

I have found in personal Experience:
DA Is more Secure, Faster Panel Page Loads, More Stabil, easier to manage, and easier to use, and Much lower inpact on the server (less reasources used).


I used cPanel for a few months, and would never touch it again.

GlobalDC.com

DirectAdmin without a question.

We use it exclusively and it is just beautiful how fast it is.

Although I gett accused sometimes of being biased towards H-Sphere ....

DirectAdmin is very good for single server installation. In comparison, I found cPanel overly complex for doing basic tasks like adding domains.

DirectAdmin has a very active user forum.

-HostGuy2004

I happen to like cPanel better, that could just be because its the first control panel I've used though

Btw, I still use cPanel on a private box we have, even before using DA. So just wanted to let the OP know I'm not posting my preference because I'm a zealot for DA, I actually use both.

DirectAdmin handls down.......

I think that asking about favorite control panel questions are not going to give you the answer you need. It's all just a personal opinion. I happen to prefer cPanel over all others and so do my clients. Although I have not exposed them to other control panels. You would need to find some people who have clients that have used both control panels extensively. If you talk to a plesk host, his clients will say they like plesk because they have not been exposed to others. Same with any other control panel. It's all about what works best for you.

We offer cPanel, DirectAdmin, and Plesk and the demand is the order I listed them. cPanel is the most popular by far, DirectAdmin is second, and finally Plesk.

I think once DirectAdmin gets some key features such as SpamAssassin support in the interface, interface access for e-mail users, and a full auto-update of system/panel software it will be pushed a lot more. Until then those are some key features it is missing. The new enhanced skin is definitely VERY nice though.

So far I'd recommend DirectAdmin. We install both on our customers' boxes and we have much fewer support requests from the client who get DirectAdmin, and it actually seems to work in every case. I can't say the same about CPanel.

It's really up to you - go through their respective demos, and decide for yourself. I've used both, and like their interfaces. I'm trying to learn how to use Plesk Reloaded today, and hate the interface compared with CPanel and DA - And Plesk's documentation isn't good either, so that's complicating things.

Thanks for the opinions. Um~~ I have tried DA demo, it;s really simple to understand. CPanel's site needs to have a server in order to use the trial, so i can't use it yet. However, I have used a lot of times of it with some shared web hosting plan I bought in the past. The reason I dont like it is becuz yes, it;s slow and it doesnt look as good as DA. Hehe..

Um~~~ What I cant decide now is, whether DA would set a newbie like me free of stuff like getting server down, etc, u know? hm`~

A ton of my customers are coming to me from other cPanel hosts, for this reason cPanel is preferred control panel of my customers. If I had my way I would use DA (<< That rhymes. :D)

If only there was an easy way to turn cpanel accounts into directadmin accounts, and a way to easily turn backups of accounts on other cpanel servers into directadmin accounts.

I've used CPanel through 2 crappy providers and one good one. Since I always make backups, when the server went down, the CPanel backups were awesome, allowing me to move the 20 or so sites to other servers as soon as the DNS would transfer.

I would have to say, Directadmin!

All my 9 servers are cpanels. I just know more on how to custom a system using cpanel than any other panels. So I would say it's based on your preferences.

i like DirectAdmin very much but my customer like cPanel.

We have been finding more and more dedicated server customers asking for DirectAdmin, which is why we have just decided to start offering it. It is definitely growing in popularity!

A nice benefit of DirectAdmin is the well documented API. Great for programmers that want to script actions in the control panel. We have a customer that uses it extensively.

DA, love it.

MagiCat, your sig can be quickly misread into something else.. heh.

I'd give the nod to DA also....cPanel just never impressed me very much.

If only there was an easy way to turn cpanel accounts into directadmin accounts, and a way to easily turn backups of accounts on other cpanel servers into directadmin accounts.


I saw a script on DA forums to convert CPanel user backups to DA backups.

You might want to take a look at it.

Originally posted by illogix
I saw a script on DA forums to convert CPanel user backups to DA backups.

You might want to take a look at it.

It messes up the mail box formats.

Since he asked as a newbie~~
Isn't DA better for newbie? More straight forward for me. Could be presonal. All the features in Cpanel people talking about does not apeal to the newbie.

Interesting. I'm finding cPanel to just be a little too complex for the tasks I need, and have been looking for alternatives. Just curious, does DirectAdmin offer log rotation features, such as specifying that the server rotate logs daily, and keep only 1 week's worth of logs?

Originally posted by GeorgeC
Interesting. I'm finding cPanel to just be a little too complex for the tasks I need, and have been looking for alternatives. Just curious, does DirectAdmin offer log rotation features, such as specifying that the server rotate logs daily, and keep only 1 week's worth of logs?

the answer is yes

I think DA is great for hosting matters. It's simple and stable. Good for most costumers.

Cpanel is more powerfull an let you not only manage hosting sites but also whole server (install software for example). It's very nice tool for admins - save a lot of time.

You have to remeber that a control panel does not replace a system admin. What I like about DA is that everything si clean and I can customize and secure our servers without being afraid of breaking something.

DA sounds quite good, I might give it a go sometime. Can it be uninstalled? (with cPanel you can't!)

Originally posted by illogix
You have to remeber that a control panel does not replace a system admin. What I like about DA is that everything si clean and I can customize and secure our servers without being afraid of breaking something.

Can't agree enough. DA does uses it's own binaries and such, so you can basically update/upgrade almost everything on the box without breaking anything.

Originally posted by GideonX
Can't agree enough. DA does uses it's own binaries and such, so you can basically update/upgrade almost everything on the box without breaking anything.

I agree as well. So how did CPanel get to be so popular?

Originally posted by sea otter
I agree as well. So how did CPanel get to be so popular?

DA is quite new compare to cPanel

Originally posted by mygethosted
DA is quite new compare to cPanel

Ah! Didn't even think of that. :dunce:

i've only ever used cpanel. would to try direct admin in the future though as it looks good.