HN Explorer

Ask HN: Is there still an opportunity for an affordable CPanel alternative?

1 points by panelica ↗ HN
I’ve already built one—I’m not just considering it anymore. Now I’m looking for knowledgeable people who can test it and provide feedback.

I used to run a small web hosting business and still manage a few client accounts. About a year ago, I moved these accounts from a reseller to DigitalOcean and installed cPanel since that’s what my clients are used to.

However, I ended up paying more for the control panel license than for the actual servers—cPanel accounts for around 60% of the total cost, while the server is only 40%. That doesn’t make economic sense to me. I think I was shielded from this before because my previous hosting provider charged a flat monthly fee.

3 comments

[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 16.7 ms ] thread
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
dwd
Given cPanel's critical vulnerability today (9.8) there is potentially people who would consider an alternative that was secure and works. (and isn't an automatic target simply for being cPanel)

On the fee side, a few years back cPanel changed their billing to a per slot that greatly increased the cost. It's still cheaper than Litespeed/CloudLinux licensing though.