With the high cost and lock-ins of popular web hosting control panels such as cPanel [1] and Plesk [2], many people seek open-source alternatives. Being open-source, these control panels can be modified and tailored to your specific needs. Many of them also have comparable features to their proprietary counterparts. Below is a feature comparison chart for the 10 best open-source web hosting control panels of my choosing. My rankings are based on personal experience, usability, and features. There is also a brief description, screenshots, and link to a demo (if available) below. While there are many different types of open-source control panels, this article focuses primarily on control panels designed for web hosting. I hope this helps some of you with your decision of which control panel to use. If there are any other open-source or free web hosting control panels that you think are worth mentioning, leave a comment, and I will make sure to give it an honorable mention:
Linux | Windows | Email | SSH | Biling | Client Portal | Active | |
ISPConfig | |||||||
Kloxo | |||||||
OpenPanel | |||||||
ZPanel | |||||||
GNUPanel | |||||||
EHCP | |||||||
ispCP | |||||||
VHCS | |||||||
GPLHost DTC | |||||||
RavenCore |
1. ISPConfig [3] - One of the most popular hosting panels for Linux. Has the most features and great community support. Runs on most major Linux distributions, including: Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, and OpenSuSE.
Demo [4] - Username: admin Password: demo
2. Kloxo [5] - A fully featured project that is actively maintained. It's noted for it's sleek interface. Only runs on CentOS or RHEL.
Demo [6]
3. OpenPanel [7] - An actively maintained project for Linux, packed full of features. Has a great looking and easy to navigate interface. Also has a CLI, which can do most things the web interface can.
4. ZPanel [8] - A maintained project with plenty of features. The only one in this list that is designed for Linux and Windows.
Demo [9] - Username: zadmin Password: password
5. GNUPanel [10] - An active project with many features. Even though the name implies it is a member of the GNU Project [11], it currently is not. However, that is one of the goals of GNUPanel. To help them achieve this goal, please visit their homepage [10] and contribute with a donation
Demo [12]
6. EHCP [13] - Easy Hosting Control Panel is also an actively maintained project. It runs on Debian or Debian based distros (such as Ubuntu).
Demo [14] - Username: domain.com Password: 1234
7. [16]i [16]spCP - A great panel with lots of features. The project is actively maintained. The project is based off and includes developers from the now unmaintained VHCS panel.
8. VHCS [15] - Full of features. A great project, yet no longer maintained.
9. GPLHost DTC [17] - A well featured project that has some interesting features. The interface could use some design updates.
10. RavenCore [18] - No longer updated, but it has some features that make it worth while. Very lightweight and designed with security in mind.
