License and Operating system support
Free/Libre Control Panels
Control panel | Licence | Free | Open Source | Alive (last release) | BSD | Linux | Windows | Frontend | Backend | Plugin Support | VCS | IPV6 Support | Multiserver Support |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aegir | LGPL | Yes | Yes | 2013/07/22 | Yes | Yes | No | PHP, AJAX | PHP,MySQL/MariaDB | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Ajenti[1] | LGPL | Yes | Yes | 2013/1/2 | FreeBSD 8.0+ | Yes | No | Python | Python | Yes | Yes | No | |
Baifox | GPL [2] | Yes | Yes [3] | 2009/04/19 | No | Yes | No | PHP | PHP, SQLite | ? | ? | ? | |
Domain Technologie Control | GNU LGPL | Yes | Yes | 2013/04/04 | Limited FreeBSD support | Yes | No | PHP | ? | ? | git | No[4] | ? |
Gnupanel | GPL | Yes | Yes | 2012/03/21 | No | Yes | No | PHP | PHP, PgSQL | ? | ? | ? | |
i-MSCP | GPL | Yes | Yes | 2013/01/07 | Limited FreeBSD support | Yes | No | PHP | Perl | Yes | Yes | No | |
ISPConfig | BSD | Yes | Yes | 2013/02/22 | No | Yes | No | PHP | PHP, MySQL | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
ispCP | GPL | Yes | Yes | 2010/11/24 | Limited FreeBSD support | Yes | No | PHP | Perl | No | No | No | |
Kloxo (formerly named Lxadmin) | AGPL | Yes | Yes | 2011/11/13 | No | CentOS (6 not currently supported) or Red Hat EL 5.x [5] | No | PHP | PHP, MySQL | No | No | Yes | |
OpenPanel[6] | GPL, Plugin API LGPL[7] | Yes [8] | Yes [9] | 2013/02/20 | Planned[10] | Debian [11] | Planned [12] | C++, AJAX | Core: C++, Modules: Any language | Yes [13] | Mercurial | Partial [14] | Planned [15] |
SysCP | GPL | Yes | Yes | 2010/05/11 | Yes | Yes | No | PHP | PHP, MySQL | Yes | Yes | No | |
Froxlor | GPL | Yes | Yes | 2012/05/07 | Yes | Yes | No | PHP | PHP, MySQL | Yes | Yes | Partial | |
Usermin | BSD style | Yes | Yes | 2012/09/22 | Yes | Yes | No | Perl | Perl | ? | tarball | ? | ? |
Virtualmin | GPL | Yes | Yes | 2012/08/23 | Yes[16] | Yes | No | Perl | Perl | Yes | tarball | Yes | Partial[17] |
Webmin | BSD style | Yes | Yes | 2013/02/03 | Yes | Yes | Partial | Perl | Perl | Yes | tarball | Yes | Yes |
WebsitePanel[18] | BSD style | Yes | Yes | 2012/11/28 | No | No | Yes | ASP.NET | ASP.NET, MSSQL | No | Yes | Yes | |
ZPanel[19] | GPL | Yes | Yes | 2013/01/01 | Yes | Yes | Yes | PHP | PHP, MySQL | Yes | Yes | No | |
Webuzo[20] | EULA[21] | Yes | No | 2013/07/01 | No | Yes | No | PHP | PHP | No | Yes | No |
Proprietary Control Panels
Control panel | Licence | Free | Open Source | Alive (last release) | BSD | Linux | Windows | Frontend | Backend | Plugin Support | IPV6 Support | Multiserver Support |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
cPanel | Proprietary | No | No | 2013/07/09 | FreeBSD | Yes | Yes (Enkompass) | Perl | Perl | Yes | No | Yes |
Plesk | Proprietary | No | No | 2012/11/29 | No | Yes | Yes | PHP | PHP/MySQL | ? | Yes | ? |
DirectAdmin | Proprietary | No | No | 2012/11/27 | Yes | Yes | No | C++ | C++, scripts,PHP | Yes | Partial | ? |
H-Sphere | Proprietary | No | No | 2012/12/11 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Java | Java | Yes | ? | Yes |
HDE Controller X | Proprietary | No | No | 2011/11/01 | No | Yes | No | PHP | PHP | ? | Yes | Yes |
XO Panel | Proprietary | No | No | 2013/05/18 | Yes | Yes | Yes (Beta) | PHP | C/C++ | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Hosting Controller | Proprietary | No | No | 2011/09/05 | No | Yes | Yes | .NET | MSSQL | Yes | No | Yes |
InterWorx | Proprietary | No | No | 2013/04/12 | No | Yes | No | PHP | PHP,MySQL | Yes | Yes | Yes |
ISPmanager | Proprietary | No | No | 2012/06/19 | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Server Management Tool | Proprietary | No | No | 2012/09/1 | No | Yes | No | PHP, Perl | PHP, Perl | No | No | Yes |
ServerPilot | Proprietary | No | No | SaaS | No | Yes | No | Backbone.js,CoffeeScript | Python, Go | No | Yes | Yes |
Virtualmin Pro | Proprietary | No | No | 2012/08/23 | Yes[22] | Yes | No | Perl | Perl | Yes | Yes | Partial[23] |
Remote access
Some control panels allow shell (console) access to the underlying OS through a Java applet, requiring that the client-side computer use Java Virtual Machine software. Other control panels allow direct access using telnet or secure shell (SSH).
Control panel | FTP | Anonymous FTP | Terminal | File Browse/Upload/Download using HTTP frontend |
---|---|---|---|---|
Baifox | Yes (only Pureftpd) [24] | ? | ? | ? |
cPanel | Yes | Yes | SSH, Java Applet | Yes |
DirectAdmin | Yes | Yes | SSH | Yes |
Domain Technologie Control | Yes | ? | SSH | Yes |
Gnupanel | ? | ? | SSH | ? |
H-Sphere | Yes | Yes | SSH | Yes |
HDE Controller X | Yes | Yes | SSH | Yes |
Hosting Controller | Yes | ? | ? | Yes |
i-MSCP | Yes | No | No | Yes |
InterWorx | Yes | Yes | SSH | Yes |
ISPConfig | Yes | Yes | SSH | Yes |
ispCP | Yes | No | No | Yes |
ISPmanager | Yes | Yes | SSH, Java Applet | Yes |
Kloxo | Yes | Yes | Java Applet | Yes |
OpenPanel | Yes [25] | Planned [26] | SSH [27] | Planned [28] |
Plesk | Yes | Yes | SSH, Java Applet | Yes |
SysCP | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Froxlor | Yes | Partial | Partial | Yes |
Usermin | Yes | Yes | SSH, Java Applet | Yes |
Virtualmin | Yes | Yes | SSH, Java Applet | Yes |
Virtualmin Pro | Yes | Yes | SSH, Java Applet | Yes |
Webmin | Yes | Yes | SSH, Java Applet | Yes |
ZPanel | Yes | Yes | SSH | Template:Installable by third party module |
Email management
While all control panel software below supports multiple email accounts, the features they provide vary.
Control panel | Antivirus | Antispam | Forwarders | Mailbox quota | DomainKeys | DKIM |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Baifox | no | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
cPanel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
DirectAdmin | Supported | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Domain Technologie Control | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Gnupanel | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
H-Sphere | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
HDE Controller X | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Hosting Controller | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
i-MSCP | Optional | Optional | Yes | Optional | No | No |
InterWorx | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
ISPConfig | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Possible | Yes |
ispCP | Optional | Optional | Yes | No | No | No |
ISPmanager | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
Kloxo | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
OpenPanel | Planned [29] | Yes | Yes | Planned | Planned | Planned |
Plesk | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
SysCP | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes (broken [30]) |
Froxlor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Usermin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Virtualmin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Virtualmin Pro | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Webmin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
ZPanel | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Third party modules
Web hosting packages often provide easy means of installing web services onto the server. Packaging services allow the control panel to fetch a list of installable modules from the internet, whilst hard-coded methods require that the control panel is updated to add new modules.
Control panel | Third Party Module Installation Methods | Modules Available | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subscription Service | Free service | Allows Upgrades | Shopping cart | Bulletin board | Gallery | Chat | Guestbook | |
Baifox | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
cPanel | ? | Partial | ? | Agora | phpBB | Coppermine° | phpMyChat | Yes |
DirectAdmin | ? | ? | ? | No° | No° | No° | No° | No° |
MachPanel Control Panel | ? | Yes | Yes | Numerous Options | Numerous Options | Numerous Options | ? | ? |
Domain Technologie Control | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Gnupanel | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
H-Sphere | ? | ? | ? | Miva,osCommerce,PrestaShop | phpBB, AEF,PunBB, SMF | Gallery, Piwigo | WebChat | Extropia, Advanced Guestbook, phpBook, BellaBook,VX Guestbook, Lazarus, RicarGBooK |
HDE Controller X | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Hosting Controller | ? | Yes | Yes | Numerous Options | Numerous Options | Numerous Options | ? | ? |
i-MSCP | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
InterWorx | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
ISPConfig | No | Yes | Yes | Non-free | No | No | No | No |
ispCP | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
ISPmanager | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Kloxo | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
OpenPanel | No | Planned (APS) [31] | Planned (APS) [32] | Planned via APS[33] [34] | Planned via APS[35] [36] | Planned via APS[37] [38] | Planned via APS[39] [40] | Planned via APS [41] [42] |
Plesk | Yes | Via APS | Yes | Miva, X-Cart,osCommerce | phpBB | Coppermine | gtchat, CSLH | Advanced Guestbook |
SysCP | No | Via APS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Froxlor | No | Via APS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Usermin | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Virtualmin | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
Virtualmin Pro | Yes | Yes | Yes | Numerous Options[43] | Numerous Options [44] | Numerous Options [45] | No | Numerous Options [46] |
Webmin | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
° Available through third-party script-installer plugin Installatron.
Supported Backends
Control panel | Web server | FTP server | Receive mail | Send mail | SQL | programming languages | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lighttpd | Apache | Nginx | IIS | PureFTPd | Vsftp | ProFTPD | Dovecot | Courier | Exim | Sendmail | Postfix | PostgreSQL | MySQL | MS SQL | PHP | Perl | Python | ASP / ASP.NET | |
Baifox | ? | Yes | ? | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | Yes | ? | <