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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
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    Florida
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    287

    Question DirectAdmin Market?

    Just wondering from any host who uses directadmin, is there much of a market out there for it right now?
    Mark

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    127.0.0.1
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    Since cPanel is used on most popular hosts, the majority of users don't get to try DA. Those have used DA usually prefer it because of how easy it is for their own clients. Also, it's very reliable and FAST.

    I would like to see a large directory of DirectAdmin hosts (single & resellers).

    If I were going to operate a smaller server (spec wise) or target 1st time webhosting clients, I would certainly go with DA. That would be the perfect target (but not limited to). Outside of that, I don't know..cPanel is so popular people ask for it just because (like pop music bands).

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    942
    DirectAdmin is nice, though so many people are used to cPanel. It lacks a UI for some of the key features (ie. installing SpamAssassin), but when bundled with Installatron it is very able to compete. In my tests a stock DirectAdmin install consumes about 1/3 of the memory of a stock cPanel install. Of course usage and tuning can affect that greatly.

    With us I am noticing perhaps 1 DA customer for every 30 cPanel (and we are listed all over the DA forums too!) if that helps you with your marketing.

    WE still love DA and definitely will continue to offer it, hopefully it will pick up momentum with the users though.
    Matt Ayres - togglebox.com
    Linux and Windows Cloud Virtual Datacenters powered by Onapp / Xen
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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
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    The South
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    95% of the customers who ask for "cpanel" really mean "a control panel" most people don't give a care what control panel it is, as long as they can create email addresses and maybe a database or two. Seriously only a small portion of people I've found -really- care, most people simply mean "do you have a control panel". Anytime someone asks "do you have cpanel" I reply with something like "we use an extremely popular control panel solution called Directadmin and our customers are extremely fond of this control panel <link to a demo>". Only once in a while will someone reply back "oh I really wanted cpanel" most are like "oh so you have a cpanel?" or "oh so there is a control panel then?"

    Just my experience.
    Gary Harris - the artist formerly known as Dixiesys
    resident grumpy redneck

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Posts
    447
    yup, "cpanel" has become the generic name for "control panel" (great for cpanels marketing )

    The clients I have on DA that have moved from CPanel all prefer DA, especially the speed of it however it is tough to get resellers to try it out as most resellers still want to offer cpanel to their clients.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Southwest UK
    Posts
    1,175
    Isn't marketing great - have market share, and mindset and everyone follows, bleating. Isn't this exactly why the majority of people have Intel and Windows everywhere?

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
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    127.0.0.1
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    Originally posted by Dixiesys
    Just my experience.
    For the new guys around here let me just say, Gary (dixiesys/8-95) was one of the first hosts to offer DirectAdmin a few years ago (I think even before 1.0). Sure did beat the pants off the old Ensim system

    They are a perfect example of a successful DA web host that went with it right from the get-go and haven't looked back! Many "control panels" have had ups and downs, but I think DA has pretty much been solid all the way through.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Bay Area -USA
    Posts
    1,740
    Another nice thing about DA is the price.
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  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    330

    Re: DirectAdmin Market?

    Originally posted by XiON
    Just wondering from any host who uses directadmin, is there much of a market out there for it right now?
    That's exactly what I have been wondering, I am glade you asked


    DirectAdmin is a great product and priced really to get it into the bigger nocs. I wish i knew how big the market was for DirectAdmin but I am seeing it being offered all over the place now, which is great to see.
    CPSkins.com | WHMXtra.com
    12 cPanel Skins, 52 WHM Skins, 12 DirectAdmin,
    60+ Plesk Scripts Linux & Windows & 70 cPanel Auto-Installers

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Posts
    447

    Re: Re: DirectAdmin Market?

    Originally posted by igy
    That's exactly what I have been wondering, I am glade you asked


    DirectAdmin is a great product and priced really to get it into the bigger nocs. I wish i knew how big the market was for DirectAdmin but I am seeing it being offered all over the place now, which is great to see.
    It certainly helps with people like yourself offering skins for the DA. Alot of cpanel addons are now available for DA making it more attractive to alot of people.

  11. #11
    I used cPanel for a short while, now have two servers with DA. I prefer DA.
    Dan Grossman - dan @ awio.com
    My Blog | Affiliate Program for Web Hosts

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Spokane, WA
    Posts
    262
    I think DirectAdmin probably does have a market. While there are a lot of customers who are beginning to wise up on what each control panel brand does, many just look for ease of use, completely oblivious to what DirectAdmin, CPanel, Helm, etc mean. They just want good functionality.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    287
    I sure hope it grows. the demo is very fast. Plus the DC pricing of $9/mo or $49 one time fee per licensing is rediculously cheap. William's radiance skin is also quite enticing, even though he will be releasing it for cpanel soon

    To all of the DA hosts out there, do you find it complicated to administer? I know there are a lot of stupid little problems with cpanel, most of which have easy scripts to fix them. Do you run into a lot of wierd problems like those also?
    Mark

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    127.0.0.1
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    135
    Originally posted by XiON
    I know there are a lot of stupid little problems with cpanel, most of which have easy scripts to fix them. Do you run into a lot of wierd problems like those also?
    Mostly associated with the casual "bugfix" syndrome.

    Click here for helpful DirectAdmin roadmap

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Directadmin Core
    Posts
    770
    We've got DirectAdmin running on 38 servers now - and customers couldn't be more pleased. There's a few things it's missing (jailed SSH comes to mind) but otherwise a GREAT panel, well supported (John @ DA is great with helping out).

    I wonder what their market share really is... interesting thought.
    http://www.hostpc.com
    DirectAdmin servers for hosting, resellers and your dedicated needs.
    Hosting, Resellers, Dedicated Managed and Unmanaged servers
    Hosting since 11/98 - Specializing in DirectAdmin since 8/03

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2002
    Location
    San Diego CA
    Posts
    1,478
    What I can tell you is that the Directadmin market is small.
    Its nothing compared to cPanel's. I did some research when I was thinking about going into the DA skin market.
    After sizing up the market, I decided that its not worth it.
    Apart from the small market , smaller purchasing power in general is also lacking as a lot of people are drawn into DA because of the low pricing.
    I estimate that the ratio of cpanel to DA users is like 10:1 to be conservative.
    Say out of 100 server owners, I guestimate that:
    70 will be on cPanel
    20 will be on DA
    10 will be on Plesk

    If you visit hosting forums that has sections for each control panel, you will see that cpanel will always be the busiest section, the rest are literaly forums graveyard. I spoke to datacenters about it too. People are willing to pay $25/mth for Cpanel in spite of being offered free DAs. You go figure.

    Personally I really like DA very much but they have a lot of catching up to do. cPanel is far far ahead in terms of market share, they have built quite a momentum over the years. They screwed up lots of times (sometimes in a major way), people rant and complain but they will somehow stick to it instead of moving to something else.

    At least DA is doing way better than other control panels such as Plesk , HSphere and Ensim due to aggressive market pricing. Plesk is doing themselves a disservice by making people pay up for addons that are available in cPanel for free. e.g. spam assassin, postgreSQL, Tomcat, etc . HSphere is darn stable and powerful but the pricing scheme is just unattactive. In this age of unlimited everything, everybody wish for the ability to create unlimited accounts, HSphere's per-per-user pricing is going against the flow.
    ENSIM is rarely heard of, but they are doing OK at the enterprise level. I still see that they are the preferred choice by some really major hosting companies.

    In this market, its not the best control panel that wins but the one with the best position (coming in early, pricing, marketing).
    What you can do with Cpanel ------------------> |||||
    What you can do with Cpanel XP+CpanelAPP -------> ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

    Your competitors are cashing in with Cpanel XP & CpanelAPP, are you?

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
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    Thanks for all the info guys. I guess Cpanel just has so large of a market share that people are constantly exposed to it, and thus wish to use it despite it's many flaws.

    I think I will be trying out a directadmin server soon and see how customers like it.
    Mark

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    The South
    Posts
    5,408
    Well you can make up all the statistics and percentages you want about things like market share and demand, bottom line is, I don't use Cpanel, I use Directadmin, I have 100 servers online, about 70 of them Directadmin the rest are Plesk and Ensim servers that I'm retiring as fast as I can and converting into Directadmin, and the bills are paid and I make a living off of Directadmin based servers.

    That is all I care about
    Gary Harris - the artist formerly known as Dixiesys
    resident grumpy redneck

  19. #19
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    330
    I am noticing more and more people moving to DA everyday. I actually really liked developing skins for DA as it's so quick to go through and so well organized. I can only see DA getting bigger and bigger as the work gets out in threads like these.
    CPSkins.com | WHMXtra.com
    12 cPanel Skins, 52 WHM Skins, 12 DirectAdmin,
    60+ Plesk Scripts Linux & Windows & 70 cPanel Auto-Installers

  20. #20
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Sunny California
    Posts
    1,679
    We have 35 DirectAdmin servers and our clients love DA. In fact, here's a quote that appeared in my email today from a new customer:

    "i had been using [a web hosting company that uses cPanel], and i am very impressed with how much cleaner your interface is and how easy it is to find my way around. not to mention, with simpli, i click and get right to the next page."

    Like Gary, I make a living (and employ 3 other people) based on DirectAdmin. We will definitely continue to offer and support it.
    Erica Douglass, Founder, Simpli Hosting, Inc.
    »»» I founded Simpli Hosting, and sold it in 2007 to Silicon Valley Web Hosting after over 6 years in the business.
    Now I'm blogging at erica.biz!

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    The South
    Posts
    5,408
    Originally posted by Simpli-Erica
    We have 35 DirectAdmin servers and our clients love DA. In fact, here's a quote that appeared in my email today from a new customer:

    "i had been using [a web hosting company that uses cPanel], and i am very impressed with how much cleaner your interface is and how easy it is to find my way around. not to mention, with simpli, i click and get right to the next page."

    Like Gary, I make a living (and employ 3 other people) based on DirectAdmin. We will definitely continue to offer and support it.
    A perfect example, it doesn't sound like the person who sent you the kudos knows or cares what the "name" of the control panel is.

    i am very impressed with how much cleaner your interface is

    "your interface" the average customer could care less what "your interface" is called, they care about - can I login and create emails, can I find my way around easily, is my site UP that's about it really. Call it cpanel, directadmin, or foojooee they don't care, they just want their site and stuff to work with as little muss and fuss as possible.
    Gary Harris - the artist formerly known as Dixiesys
    resident grumpy redneck

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    Las Vegas
    Posts
    799
    Originally posted by Dixiesys
    95% of the customers who ask for "cpanel" really mean "a control panel" most people don't give a care what control panel it is, as long as they can create email addresses and maybe a database or two. Seriously only a small portion of people I've found -really- care, most people simply mean "do you have a control panel". Anytime someone asks "do you have cpanel" I reply with something like "we use an extremely popular control panel solution called Directadmin and our customers are extremely fond of this control panel <link to a demo>". Only once in a while will someone reply back "oh I really wanted cpanel" most are like "oh so you have a cpanel?" or "oh so there is a control panel then?"

    Just my experience.
    Agreed with you gary.

    I get asked daily

    We had cpanel @ one point then moved over to DirectAdmin as i think is the best CP out there now.

  23. #23
    Can't agree more with you. We changed from cPanel to DirectAdmin only some months ago and our customers were like "oh you guys changed the layout, looking good", heh.

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    287
    I still perform a lot of server management tasks through whm because its much easier. Does DA have many helpful tools in this area? It doesn't look like there is mail queue managment from within DA, which sticks because exiqgrep is a PITA.
    Mark

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    PA
    Posts
    1,914
    Have several clients who swear by DirectAdmin myself.

    Have to agree with the fact that what clients really care about is the ease of use regardless of the name of the panel.

    -Justin

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