Greetings,

If possible, let's take a look at the various control panels from a user perspective. So, if you were a first time web client user with a site, which control panel would be most effective all around?

Thanks!

Oh, I realize that people have posted this questions before. But I want to look at it from a new perspective, not from the same old stale one that we always look at it from.

Don't just vote based upon your preference. Thanks.

You didnt include DirectAdmin :P

I voted Cpanel, simply because the ease of navigation compared to others is far superior for beginners.

I voted plesk as i have no idea what the others are like...:cool:

I have voted Cpanel as it's easy to migrate, manage and setup. Support is great too.

Missed out Helm too, which would get my vote.

cPanel is the best imho

I've compared it to Plesk and its better.

This poll isn't valid since no one is addressing the question or providing backing to their answers.

This is asking which CP is best for USERS not ADMINS.

Plesk is clearly the best--it has the nicest looking interface, and is streamlined. While cPanel seems easiest right off the bat, deciphering between cPanel/WHM/etc is confusing for a new user. With Plesk, it's just Plesk regardless.

plesk crashes after 4000 accounts
cpanel dosent

and if you are a client with one website you will never have to decipher WHM because all you will have is the child, cPanel

It is terribly easy to learn.

MediaHound, who would honestly have 4000 accounts on the server? And don't say parked domains, since you can afford a dedicated server if you have a few thousand domains.

Now, imagine a Plesk user that decides to move to a reseller level. In Plesk they get bumped up a level, with cPanel they need to learn WHM. [Which isn't terribly hard, but annoying.]

i Voted CPanel.. i find it extremly easy to use. Its good with Fantastico aswell

Hi!

Once again, this poll is missing my panel (DTC), and many other solutions (commercial or not).

Another point. One says that there shouldn't be more than 4000 account on a server. WHY ??? Let's say I use a cluster environement and I have a very powerfull machine, with a lot of bandwidth, for sure, I'd like to be able to have more than 4000 accounts. And if that bug has been found, it's because someone DID have more than 4000 accounts and needed it.

I've recieved once, a mail from a guy that told me he couldn't use Qmail internal cdb, and he had to use the MySQL pluggin because it was too slow with his 100 000 mail accounts... (yes, he did that using my GPL hosting control panel !).

Thomas

I really like cPanel and that is why I use it. Simple to use, but professional looking. But Plesk is really getting nice and in the future who knows how far it will go.

gplhost, Plesk has clustering add-ons. The 4000 account limit is probably with a single unlimited license. And if you do cluster, wouldn't you have more than one box with Plesk on it anyways? If that one box goes down, you now have 4000+ domains offline.

If you need clusturing, you can do this:

http://www.gplhost.com/?chap=2&rub=softwares&sousrub=dtcdoc#2.8

Regards,

Thomas

Originally posted by DanX
The 4000 account limit is probably with a single unlimited license. And if you do cluster, wouldn't you have more than one box with Plesk on it anyways? If that one box goes down, you now have 4000+ domains offline. [/B]

Yes, my situation was a dedicated server at RackSpace running Plesk - as soon as I had 4,000 domains added to the server it choked on all the processes and the server went down, needed major repairing / reworking of the panel.. RackSpace support (they're managed servers) was very optimistic about getting it back online but after several days of the server down I had enough ($$ out the window) and leased a new server elsewhere.

A vanilla Plesk install needs hacking to accommodate more than 4K domains on one server. (not talking about clusters)


Anyhow, back the the initial question again, I may be biased towards cPanel cause it's what I know and love. I've tried Plesk, as you can see, but I guess whatever your using is going to be the best for you. Whatever your first host stuck you with and made you learn will be the most natural for you, and probably your favorite. It's all a matter of opinion, and my vote has been cast. I hope this thread stays active, cause over time it will be nice to review and see how it progresses.

What other panels arent included in the poll?
Webmin (comparable to the ones listed)
xPanel (not in the same category as these panels, but a panel nevertheless)

What other panels could one consider when choosing a panel?

Speaking as an end user: Interworx/Siteworx isn't up there (it's okay but I'm not a fan, I feel like I'm playing hunt-and-peck). I used H-sphere before, liked that fine. The mere mention of Plesk makes me run screaming because it simplified doodlysquat and I felt like I had < doodlysquat control.

Cpanel's my favorite actually. It has tons of things I never use but with the many skins I could pick a less-busy fast-loading skin and have what I needed just at a click rather than having to hunt... hunt... hunt. I could easily walk people who were newbier than me through creating e-mail forwards or databases via Cpanel without a hitch and I am for crap at explaining things because of wordiness tendencies.

I picked a favorite with relatively little headache and I'm one of those kind of people who shorts out their brains from indecision!

Creating databases with cPanel is the worst part of it. To a newbie, there's loads of erraneous information on the page, and then when you create it, you have to know to prefix it with your username.

huh? it adds the prefix for you
- or do you mean when your hardcoding your script config file to remember to add the user_?

More the latter. If someone has never really worked with mysql before, and they go to configure phpBB or some piece of software, it isn't apparent to add the prefix in the config file.