cPanel or Vesta: what to choose

cPanel: advantages, disadvantages and features

cPanel is a universal PU compatible with the vast majority of existing Linux distributions, starting with Fedora and FreeBSD, ending with RedHat and CentOS. The development of this panel was previously handled by DarkORB Communications Inc, but at the moment Cpanel Inc is responsible for its distribution.

The functionality of the current versions of cPanel covers the needs of most users:

1. Creating backups of the account and database.
2. Collecting and structuring detailed statistics on subdomains and users, as well as tracking all traffic: outgoing and incoming. This allows the administrator to identify the cause of problems in case of problems on the server.
3. Work with FTP accounts, management and differentiation of access levels.
4. Email account management, the ability to fine-tune the spam filter, answering machine, mailing lists, etc.
5. Protecting directories with passwords.
6. The possibility of convenient installation of SSL certificates.
7. PostgreSQL database management.

cPanel contains a large number of built-in scripts that allow you to automate many processes, starting with sending emails and ending with inserting some pre-prepared text on the site. This control panel is very simple and convenient, even a beginner can easily get used to it. At the same time, it consumes few resources when working, which allows you to put it even on an inexpensive VPS.

As for the disadvantages, there are three of them in cPanel:

1. There are no tools for managing DNS records.
2. There is no way to differentiate the levels of access to databases.
3. The engine is outdated, which is why you may face a lot of troubles when installing certain updates. 
4. Compatible only with Linux.

In general, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, and that is why cPanel remains the most popular server control panel even now, despite the huge number of more modern analogues.

VestaCP: general information, pros and cons

One of the "lightest" control panels with a minimalistic interface, surpasses even cPanel in system requirements – this PU requires only 512 MB of RAM and a processor with a clock frequency of at least 1 GHz to work. For comparison, cPanel requires 1 GB of RAM.

Vesta is a special PU, as it is written not so much for webmasters as for system administrators. The first versions of it did not even contain any interface, all the work was done through the terminal. Modern versions of it have already got a GUI, but the configuration difficulties have not disappeared. On the one hand, this allows you to deeply configure the server for the needs of the project, on the other hand, it complicates administration. If you use only the basic features of Vesta, then you will not have any problems. But if you suddenly need to intervene in internal systems and implement some kind of integration, problems may come out that you can't handle so easily.

VestaCP does not always work correctly with different versions of modules, and often requires painstaking editing of configs. But, again, if you do not climb into the wilderness, then Vesta is very convenient and simple – its basic functions work perfectly. By basic functionality we mean:

• Apache web servers and Nginx;
• cron scheduler;
• Exim mail server;
• built-in Firewall, as well as ClamAV and SpamAssassin utilities;
• MySQL 5.5;
• working with DNS;
• FTP server;
• support for high-level programming languages Perl, PHP, Python.

However, one important drawback should be noted – there is no built-in file manager in Vesta. Yes, if necessary, it can be installed for a fee, but in this case, this server control panel can no longer be called completely free. Especially when you consider that a file manager is often needed for webmasters and system administrators to work.

Conclusion

If you are an experienced system administrator or webmaster who needs maximum control over the server, then VestaCP is suitable, but working with it requires knowledge of console commands and an understanding of how everything works. cPanel is more friendly to beginners, and it contains much more built–in functions. Paying for these advanced features is cumbersome – the PU takes up more than 20 GB of disk space, and it requires at least 1 GB of RAM to work. For this reason, you may need to rent a more powerful VPS than you originally intended. If you have any questions, please contact our specialists – we will answer all your questions and help you choose the right plan.