TrustRadius Insights for cPanel are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.
Pros
Advantageous Integration with Various Software: Users find the integration with various software like Softaculous to be advantageous, as it allows for easy creation of new instances of WordPress and email management for domains. Multiple reviewers have stated that this integration has made their website and email management tasks much more efficient.
Highly Appreciated DNS Changes and Server Access: The ability to make DNS changes, view website errors, and access and modify databases and files on the hosting server is highly appreciated by users. Several users have mentioned how this feature has allowed them to easily troubleshoot issues and customize their websites according to their needs.
Top-Notch Email Hosting: Users find the email hosting provided by cPanel to be top-notch. Many reviewers have expressed satisfaction with the reliability, security, and user-friendly interface of cPanel's email hosting service.
I host customer sites as well as my own sites with a VPS that uses cPanel. I have many instances of cPanel accounts on my server. I use actually WHM which has the ability to run individual cPanel accounts. I am able to make resellers and able to issue SSLs and really have full control over my litespeed hosting server. I can quickly make a new account for a new customer and then am able to deal with new instances of WordPress, emails, DNS, databases, and many other things.
Pros
It integrates with many software like Softaculous to easily spin up a new instance of WordPress.
It allows me to make emails for the domain and use the server to send and receive email.
It allows me to make all dns changes needed in case I am not using Cloudflare CDN.
It allows me to see errors that have happened on a website.
It allows me to look at the databases and make changes.
It also allows me to look and change all files on the hosting server.
Cons
Mainly the actual interface doesn't seem to have been updated in quite a while at least the standard one.
They moved to cPanel licenses per new cPanel account on the server where it was unlimited so it got quite a bit more expensive.
It can be quite complex so there can be a large learning curve so maybe more built in help for newbies.
Likelihood to Recommend
I personally use it for any website hosting I do for me and others. There are a few others but I have stuck with the old tried and true and it always works for me and I know how to get around it so it has become a breeze for me. For those who are extremely new to websites and hosting or to those with very little technical know how cPanel could be very overwhelming and they might want to do like a managed WordPress hosting where they don't really have to see or deal with cPanel. I also probably wouldn't use it for straight email hosting. If you have thousands of cPanel accounts it may get very expensive and that could be a factor.
As a web development company, we regularly use cPanel when supporting new client websites. cPanel has been used by all members of my team. cPanel does not really address any problems we have as generally, we can achieve most tasks quicker and more efficiently through straight SSH and/or other tools.
Pros
Allows modules to extend functionality
Provides lots of server management options
Displays server statistics
Cons
Design could use an update
User Experience could use lots of improvement
Needs to be easier for less technical people to use
Likelihood to Recommend
cPanel can be well suited for a non-technical person to manage their own server. However, the confusing and outdated UX would still make it difficult. Smaller shared hosting companies that want an easy way to offer a control panel to their customers could be well suited to use cPanel since it is one of the most well-known control panels.
We use cPanel and WHM for all web hosting solutions provided to customers, with some customers having direct access whilst others just have us (MSP) deal with changes as required.
Pros
DNS hosting.
Web hosting.
Cons
Built-in backup solutions - support remote backup locations at a cPanel level, not just WHM.
Templates for DNS, e.g. Google MX, O365 MX, etc.
Likelihood to Recommend
Web hosting is definitely the strongest area that cPanel focuses on. They do this well and any aspects relating (FTP, MySQL, Emails, etc) are reliable. WHM itself is also very reliable and doesn't require much maintenance ensuring the customer experience is second to none.
We use cPanel to host websites and email for ourselves and our customers. We also use it for relaying email from various services and hardware that we monitor. It provides a nice central location to manage these types of things. We probably do not use it on the scale that a full blown website hosting company would.
Pros
Email hosting is top notch.
Website hosting is very flexible and secure.
Cons
Not a big fan of Exim but it does work well.
I wish it could backup directly to S3 instead of a folder that is then uploaded to S3.
Likelihood to Recommend
Anyone hosting websites and email, this is the perfect product. Multi-tenancy is awesome as you can have reseller accounts that can control many regular accounts. Customers rarely need to access the command line, so that saves on support calls. We are more of an IT company, so we use it for other things related to IT. It you do not have the means to justify the cost of cPanel, I would look at other solutions.
cPanel is the software which allows us to manage the back end of our web server. cPanel is the de facto standard for a server interface/software for me any time I do almost any kind of server administration. There are many individual modules which allow me to quickly and productively do what I need to do. cPanel allows you to administrate databases, FTP users, manage your files, admin your domains, and more.
Pros
Database management. Easily create and edit databases and users with a simple interface. You can make edits to the content using phpMyAdmin which is also a very powerful tool.
File management. Create FTP user accounts and restrict access to specific folders. There is also a file manager app which provides a graphical interface with a folder system that is very similar to how the file manager on Windows works.
Domain control. Point domains to specific directories and add addon domains or subdomains. Implement SSL with an advanced module or using a wizard.
Cons
There is a ton of features to learn in cPanel, some you may never use. The learning curve for cPanel is not small, even if you're using just a few features.
Hand in hand with the larger learning curve, cPanel features are not always intuitive for use. New users may spend a bit of time looking up tutorials on how to use specific modules. The upside is that there are many helpful resources on the web.
Ruby is not installed on the system by default. This isn't a problem for us since we use the PHP framework, but it's worth noting for Ruby devs.
Likelihood to Recommend
cPanel is ideal for experienced web administrators who need an (overall) easy to use interface for a back end server work. Most of the modules are intuitive and independent so you can do specific tasks. The software is well documented so it can be readily learned by anyone who is willing to put in the time and effort. The learning curve can be steep though for anyone just jumping into using cPanel.
