Hi,

We are looking at automating the backend of a web hosting site.

The 2 products were looking at are Cpanel and Plesk.

Both of which seem to do what we are looking for.

The aim is to use an automated script to call remotely functions such
as account creation, upgrading accounts, adding POP3 accounts etc.

Can someone produce a summary of the strengths and weaknesss of each
product, to help us decide which way to go.

Thanks

Clare

Hi, Clare. Thanks for your question.

The short answer is that the biggest difference between the two
control panels is the user interface - both of the feature sets are
pretty much comparable, and both are reasonably fast, secure, and
reliable.

Some of the biggest differences between the two pieces of software are:

Plesk
=====

Advantages

- Provides better support for automation, including an XML-RPC
interface allowing PHP or Perl scripts to call functions, optionally
from a remote computer. (For more information, see
http://download1.sw-soft.com/Plesk/Plesk7.5/Doc/plesk-7.5r-sdk-html/index.html).

- Has a large variety of plug-ins, adding to the available features.

- For unlimited domain licenses, Plesk is cheaper to purchase at $800,
as opposed to cPanel's $1,250.

- Supports SuSE Linux.


Disadvantages

- While good, the user interface is slightly harder to use and
customise than cPanel's, and cPanel's is generally preferred by
clients.


cPanel
======

Advantages

- There is more software (billing software, support software, and so
on)  available to integrate with it.

- Out-of-the-box, it has slightly more features than Plesk.

- Cheaper to rent per year, at $450/yr as opposed to Plesk at about $840/yr.

- Easy to use, and many clients are used to and prefer the cPanel interface.


Disadvantages

 - Does not provide any XML or similar interface that I could find. 
 
 - Does not support SuSE Linux, as far as I can see.


Both of these control panels integrate with various pieces of billing
software such as ModernBill (http://www.modernbill.com/) and
AccountLab (http://accountlab.com/).

Depending on how you want to use it, H-Sphere (http://www.psoft.net/)
and DirectAdmin (http://www.directadmin.com/) may also be worth
considering, although they are generally less fully featured and
clients are less familiar with them than Plesk and cPanel.

Since the biggest difference between these control panels is the user
interface, it's probably a good idea to try out the free trials before
you commit to one particular control panel. Trials are available for:

- Plesk at https://register.sw-soft.com/login.php?redirect_page=plesk75reloaded
(requires free registration).
- cPanel at http://cpanel.net/store/
- H-Sphere at http://www.psoft.net/free_trial.html

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to request a clarification.

--wildeeo

---

Request for Answer Clarification by clawrence-ga on 25 Feb 2005 02:27 PST

Thanks,

Thats helpful.

Our idea is as follows.

A user orders via our site e.g a domain name and web hosting, our site
automatically calls using a remote access command for either Cpanel or
Plesk to create a new account and add the name to a nameserver.

If the user wants to modify something e.g a POP3 account, they
navigate through our existing admin area press a "manage" button that
then transfers them to Cpanel / plesk skinned to look like our site
and restricted to only allow limited features.

Cpanel does seem to allow this sort of thing
http://www.cpanel.net/remoteaccess-php.html

Is this the sort of thing that Plesk can handle better?  

Our aim:-

a)  Keep things as simple as possible
b)  Keep our own branded look and feel
c)  minimise risk of on-going support problems

Thanks

Clare

---

Clarification of Answer by wildeeo-ga on 26 Feb 2005 08:56 PST

Hi,

With those requirements, I would probably recommend cPanel, for these reasons:

- While Plesk has an XML-RPC interface with allows more flexability,
as you only want to create accounts using a remote interface (which
cPanel supports), using this would add another level of complexity.
- Plesk has only become skinnable recently, and people are much more
familiar with creating skins for cPanel. I would suspect that Plesk
also allows less flexibility when designing branded appearances.
- As cPanel's user interface is more familiar to end-users, they are
less likely to have to e-mail you for support.

Hi,

We use Cpanel for all our hosting accounts. It's simple and effective
and never had any complaints about it.

Regards

James

http://www.dcswebhosts.com

There's a web-based billing system called "Clientexec".  It has
plug-ins that allow interfacing with CPanel and WHM

This allows you to set things up so that, if you like:

1) A webhosting account can automatically be created on the server,
when the customer completes their order.

or

2) You, the Admin, are alerted by email to the order.  You go into
Clientexec and preview the order.  You click one button to approve it
and the account is automatically created for you in WHM.

WHM = Web Host Manager.... seems to come with CPanel.


You can find out more about clientexe at... of course... www.clientexec.com

Been with cpanel for 5+ years, i would recommend you go with cpanel.