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  1. #1
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    cPanel or DirectAdmin

    I am going to sign up for VPS acount today but have a simple question. Would you recommend cPanel or DirectAdmin. I have experience with cPanel but I have heard alot of positives reviews of DirectAdmin. If it was you, what would you recommend.
    James Edmonds
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  2. #2
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    Depending on factors such as what you use your VPS for and your knowledge level, you might want to stick with cPanel since you know it. Many people hold that it requires more memory, though some knowledgeable people dispute that.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Hosting Team View Post
    Depending on factors such as what you use your VPS for and your knowledge level, you might want to stick with cPanel since you know it. Many people hold that it requires more memory, though some knowledgeable people dispute that.
    cPanel does require more memory to run. You can't dispute that. However, you can disable services to lower what memory is needed. Honestly, that is pointless unless you have a multiserver setup.

    I personally used cPanel for about 10 years. I switched to DA recently and would NEVER go back. Yes, cPanel offered soooo much more, but when talking with my users and knowing what I needed, cPanel didn't offer anything necessary.

    So far my clients are loving DA.

    Also, let us know how much ram you are deciding to have for your machine.
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  4. #4
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    if you make a search, you will see many topics discussing about this. All of them were ended with personal ideas. Some love cPanel, some love DA (count me in). But in your case, using a VPS, as other mentioned above, how many RAM do you have on your VPS? DA is using less memory than cPanel

  5. #5
    I'd go with cPanel because of it's features.

    And psychologically it seems that people tend to purchase hosting moreso from those who provide cPanel. It's just been that way from past experience.
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  6. #6
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    Directadmin is value for money and is simple and neat. With plugins such as Installatron and Sitezen, it can give Cpanel a run for the money. I would prefer DA to Cpanel. Been using DA for quite sometime, it runs great!

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Internet54 View Post
    I switched to DA recently and would NEVER go back.
    Same experience here. While cPanel is a great product, it is very convoluted by comparison to DA. WHM reminds me of a teenager's bedroom--everything is there, but scattered all about. One can work faster and more efficiently in DA, once acclimated to the way it is organized.
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  8. #8
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    Oct 2007
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    I've used both control panels before, and like them both.

    cPanel has more features, which can be good but at the same time bad for the customers who don't know how to use all of them. More so if they have no idea how to create a sub-domain when there are a stack of buttons ect.

    Direct Admin isn't bad, but is more user friendly.

    cPanel demo;
    http://www.cpanel.net/products/cpwhm/cpanel11/demo.htm

    Direct Admin demo;
    http://www.directadmin.com/demo.html

    Overall I would prefer cPanel, personal choice.

  9. #9
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    The other factor is memory, especially on a VPS. Cpanel is a memory pig compared to directadmin. DA is all C/C++ compiled code and can run with a 256 MB memory footprint. Cpanel you will have a slightly hard time with at that memory level.
    Larry Ludwig
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  10. #10
    I'd go with cPanel. I like the Clustered DNS Feature, it's free and it works . The RoR support and built in Pear/Perl Module Management is a + too!

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
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    But with DA, don't you have to do a lot more from the command line? I have only used cPanel because I like the user interface and I rarely need to do command line upgrades. The rest my management company does.

    I have been looking at DA for quite some time, but have not been able to determine if it has the automated update feature cPanel does.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by jdk View Post
    But with DA, don't you have to do a lot more from the command line? I have only used cPanel because I like the user interface and I rarely need to do command line upgrades. The rest my management company does.

    I have been looking at DA for quite some time, but have not been able to determine if it has the automated update feature cPanel does.
    To update DA itself? no, via their web interfact.

    To update stuff like PHP, apache, etc... it's command line. IMHO these things are way too complicated to be just a web gui.

    Honestly if are using Unix and do not feel comfortable using a command line you shouldn't be using Unix. As an admin you are going to have to use the command line no matter how hard you try to avoid it.
    Larry Ludwig
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  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by empoweri View Post
    To update stuff like PHP, apache, etc... it's command line. IMHO these things are way too complicated to be just a web gui.
    I assume you haven't seen or tried cPanel's new web interface to upgrade Apache, PHP ect. It's actually really well done and features almost all the common modules you would need and probably more that no one ever uses.

    I'd prefer to setup the entire thing through cPanel's interface then mess around with a command line to do what all it does. Real time saver
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  14. #14
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    Jul 2004
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    Thanks. I think I may get an extra server to try out DA for my personal sites, but it seems most of my clients like cPanel. Thanks for the reply.

  15. #15
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    It all depends on what the users do. If the users only check email in their control panel, then you could even go without a control panel and run horde or something.
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  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by TonyB View Post
    I assume you haven't seen or tried cPanel's new web interface to upgrade Apache, PHP ect. It's actually really well done and features almost all the common modules you would need and probably more that no one ever uses.

    I'd prefer to setup the entire thing through cPanel's interface then mess around with a command line to do what all it does. Real time saver
    I completely agree with you, I'm quite compitent at managing a server, but I would much rather use a web GUI than have to download a seperate package, extract to the libraries folder, and restart apache.
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  17. #17
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
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    I've got both right now. I'd say that my clients prefer DirectAdmin but as an admin, I prefer cPanel / WHM a bit more.

    Updating services is a bit more complicated with DirectAdmin as you have to edit and run scripts.

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by DataDork View Post
    I am going to sign up for VPS acount today but have a simple question. Would you recommend cPanel or DirectAdmin. I have experience with cPanel but I have heard alot of positives reviews of DirectAdmin. If it was you, what would you recommend.
    I have always used cPanel. I find it to be an easy, yet professional software. It is by far one of the world's most popular web control panels.

  19. #19
    I have been with Cpanel for more than 3 years now & agreed that it takes more memory usage. But the features are really awesome. DirectAdmin also seems to be a nice option.

  20. #20
    I have been with DirectAdmin for a little over 4 years now and vote John & Mark all the way.
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  21. #21
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
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    Toronto, Ontario
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    I've been using cPanel for 5+ years now, and I recently took over another hosting company that is using directadmin, and while it is cheaper in terms of licensing cost, I would not recommend it over cpanel, I am looking at how to migrate from directadmin to cpanel smoothly.
    Kevin

  22. #22
    I believe they are pretty close in price range? Cpanel has an actual billing manager included as well(I think)?

    Kevin - There are shell scripts out there to convert DirectAdmin backups to Cpanel and visa versa.

    Just out of curiosity what is DirectAdmin lacking in other then being cheaper(in price) in your mind?
    Last edited by budman714; 01-08-2008 at 01:33 PM. Reason: (in price)
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  23. #23
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by Internet54 View Post
    cPanel does require more memory to run. You can't dispute that. However, you can disable services to lower what memory is needed. Honestly, that is pointless unless you have a multiserver setup.

    I personally used cPanel for about 10 years. I switched to DA recently and would NEVER go back. Yes, cPanel offered soooo much more, but when talking with my users and knowing what I needed, cPanel didn't offer anything necessary.

    So far my clients are loving DA.

    Also, let us know how much ram you are deciding to have for your machine.
    You may also wish to go to WHM -> Server Configuration -> Tweak Settings -> System and check "Conserve memory at the expense of using more cpu/diskio." if memory consumption is a primary concern.

    Note this new Tweak Setting is still propagating through the builds.
    David Grega
    cPanel Technical Product Specialist

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario
    Posts
    651
    Well,

    With DirectAdmin from what I can see in this client-area there is a fee less than $100 , one time life-time license cost, the one-time cost with cpanel is considerably higher and generally the minimum MRC i have seen is $20/month for a cPanel license.

    I don't want to convert backups, because there a huge amount of accounts, I am actually looking at ways to do an in-place migration, no moving of data from server to server etc, if i had to move each account manually, there will certainly be too much interruption to the users , and the labour costs will make the transaction meaningless to our company and leave a wake of unhappy people...



    Quote Originally Posted by budman714 View Post
    I believe they are pretty close in price range? Cpanel has an actual billing manager included as well(I think)?

    Kevin - There are shell scripts out there to convert DirectAdmin backups to Cpanel and visa versa.

    Just out of curiosity what is DirectAdmin lacking in other then being cheaper(in price) in your mind?
    Kevin

  25. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by budman714 View Post
    I believe they are pretty close in price range?
    DirectAdmin (DA) is about a thousand dollars cheaper per server, based on lifetime license cost versus cPanel/WHM.

    Just out of curiosity what is DirectAdmin lacking in other then being cheaper(in price) in your mind?
    DAis very comparable on user panel end, but is streamlined in the Admin panel when compared to WHM. The day-to-day admin options are there, but one does use shell more often than WHM root users. For those times, DA provides an extensive knowledgebase which details any necessary shell commands.
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