cPanel vs DirectAdmin: A Comparison

At miHosting, we offer the two most widely used control panels with the largest user bases. Generally, choosing one or the other is a matter of taste. Basically, both panels do the same things.

A few years ago, this question barely existed, since all hosting companies offered cPanel to our customers. However, ever since cPanel’s pricing policy went through the roof, with very significant annual increases, more and more customers and hosting providers alike have started to offer DirectAdmin.

Is DirectAdmin therefore comparable to cPanel? In this article, we’ll try to answer that question.

Here we’ll present the differences between cPanel and DirectAdmin for both Reseller services and shared hosting.

Surprisingly, cPanel began a relentless price-increase campaign in 2019 (800%). This has led many users and providers to seek price stability in alternative control panels. At this level, DirectAdmin clearly stands out. A panel that does everything a hosting user needs. It does it fast, and it does it well — at a reasonable price.

What are cPanel and DirectAdmin?

They are what are known as control panels. Both let you manage your hosting service. Both panels allow you to:

• Set up and manage your email
• Manage your hosting files
• Manage your databases
• Install whichever domains you want
• View the statistics of your services
• Install programs to run on your domains
• Manage aspects of your website’s security.

Both cPanel and DirectAdmin let you do all of these things very easily.

DirectAdmin

Account Administration Features

• Configure new domains added to your main account. (all our plans are multi-domain)
• Create subdomains.
• Manage the DNS records of installed domains.
• Install SSL certificates, both free and paid.
• Manage FTP accounts.
• Manage MySQL databases, including access to phpMyAdmin.
• Redirect web pages.
• Hotlink protection.
• PHP configuration.

Email Manager

• Create new email accounts.
• Set up email forwarding to other accounts.
• Auto-responders.
• Vacation messages.
• AntiSpam system configuration.
• User-generated specific filters.
• MX record configuration.
• Email tracking.

Advanced Features

• Configure the extensions recognized by the Apache server.
• Schedule your cron tasks.
• Customize your domain’s error pages.
• MIME types.
• Set up security questions.
• Two-step authentication.
• Password-protect directories.
• Fine-tune the ModSecurity application firewall.

Information and Files

• Manage all the files hosted on your hosting service.
• Information about installed Perl modules.
• Information about the server where your site is hosted.
• Statistics for your website.

Extra Features

• Direct access to Webmail — Roundcube.
• Access to phpMyAdmin.
• Webmail installer.
• PHP version selector.
• Python application installation.
• Resource usage of your hosting service.
• Automatic installation of web applications. Softaculous.

Softaculous Application Installer

• WordPress
• Joomla
• AvanteCart
• phpBB
• SMF
• WHMCS
• Open Real Estate
• MyBB
• and 300+ more apps…

cPanel

Email

• Create email accounts.
• Forwarders.
• Email routing.
• Auto-responders.
• Send monitoring.
• Email filters.
• SPF and DKIM records.
• Address importer.
• Spam filters.
• Encryption.
• Calendars and contacts.
• Email disk space usage.

Billing and Support

• Access your client area.
• View your billing details and invoices.
• Access emails sent by miHosting.
• Your support tickets.
• Service upgrades.
• Domain registrations.
• Domain transfers.

Files

• Manage your files.
• Image correction and modification.
• Password-protect directories.
• Disk space usage of your hosting service.
• FTP accounts.
• Git access — (Version Control)