cPanel vs. Portainer

I would recommend cPanel as it is a good tool for a medium-sized business. The licensing costs can be a bit high but you mostly get what you pay for. If you have a bit more of a large or complex web site/structure, there is a bit of a learning curve for administrators. Once you know what you're doing, it does what it does very well.

Many developers, especially lesser experienced developers, don't have a really good background in setting up containers from the command line. Portainer is invaluable to them. Giving a UI to them gives them much more confidence and allows them to learn properties and capabilities of containers under far less stress. On the flip side of this, giving then a UI on a production system can lead to chaos...never give junior developers access to production servers.

Incentivized

• cPanel nicely organizes functions into categories on its main first screen for easy location.
• cPanel works nativity with WHM (Web Host Manager) to easily create new web hosting accounts.
• cPanel integrates well with common website technologies like WordPress, Joomla, or Magento.

Incentivized

• Separating server maintenance with application development, providing a clear user interface for developers who don't want to worry about the underlying server.
• RBAC for container deployment linked to a SAML IDP, not something particularly easy in a native Docker instance but point and shoot in Portainer, allowing the use of Azure / Okta etc to provide user access.
• Image management with multiple repositories is super clear and reduces incidents

Incentivized

• The costs can be a limiting factor for some businesses if you are not using a web hosting company that uses it. I have been experimenting with Cloud hosting, which can be very daunting for the novice. There is an option to install it on the cloud but it is expensive.

Incentivized

• Lack of granular RBAC control: While Portainer does have role-based access control (RBAC) features, they are not as granular as some users would like. Some users have reported that they would like to have more control over permissions for individual users or groups. This would enable more fine-grained control over who has access to which containers or clusters.
• Limited support for non-Docker container technologies: While Portainer is primarily designed to manage Docker containers, it does have some limited support for other container technologies like Kubernetes and Docker Swarm. However, this support is not as robust as it is for Docker, and some users have reported that they would like to see better support for other container technologies.
• Limited control over container networking: Portainer's networking features are somewhat limited compared to other container management tools. Some users have reported that they would like more control over container networking, including the ability to create custom networks and control IP addresses.

Incentivized

It is an excellent tool.

Although it can be a little bit bloated with a lot of options and configurations, it's very straightforward to use and maintain. So it's a great option even if you don't have large experience in hosting configuration. The WHM tool is more suited to heavy users since it requires more expertise, so it has a steep learning curve to better understand how to use it.

Incentivized

Accessibility for Non-Experts: even with some people having a bit longer on-boarding it is still very simple Quick setup is insanely useful, we can get it running in 10 seconds after installing docker Portainer has once again super clean UI and is very user friendly. Deployment/monitoring and management are super easy. I can tell just from a glance if something is out of date (watching at you Watchtower not doing your job for some reason)

Incentivized

The documentation available for all cPanel features and functionality is vast, comprehensive, and covers all the basics required to manage the web site hosting environment. User support forums are very helpful, and are packed with years of content and comments answering any questions or answers I have ever had. When needed, direct customer support has been quick and efficient.

Incentivized

One of their staff members jumped on a video call immediately with me and led me through the problem and solution during a quick session of screen sharing. In this day and age that is above and beyond, especially when it comes to software. It took approximately 5-10 minutes to diagnose and fix, including pleasantries!

It is really easy. Just follow the documentation.

Incentivized

Really there aren't many options. There is a free one that I haven't used but from what I hear is that it is very limited on functionality. I also have tried Plesk, never bought but tried it. It seemed easier in a few things but also seemed more simplistic and I like my workflow with cPanel better and it works well with litespeed server.

Incentivized

Portainer takes the cup in terms of usability and features. It is also more useful for smaller deployments, whereas Kubernetes in our opinion and experience, could probably be more suited to certain other use cases. Portainer is also a fresh feel among all the preexisting container management solutions and brings positivity and a new breeze in the industry.

• Saved hundreds of hours of labor and expense due to the excellent backups of each site. Sites crash so backups are a must and this platform delivers.
• Streamlined domain management allows me to quickly put up sites and profit.
• Eliminated the cost of outsourcing monitoring websites with the tools inside the panel.

Incentivized

• Instead of having 1 senior who does all the setup, debugging and caretaking of "all things docker" we now split the load on basically everyone in the team. Hard to put into direct numbers but with everyone helping themselves, noone alone is forced into that position "because you know how to do it" and overall we're more productive

Incentivized