cPanel vs CloudPanel
Many businesses move from cPanel to the free CloudPanel to save licence fees and get Nginx speed. That works well for some setups and badly for others. The difference comes down to email, DNS and how many users share the server.
Ask an engineer which fits
Free adviceWhich should you choose?
you host email on the same server, sell hosting to customers, need reseller accounts, or want built-in DNS, backups and a user panel for clients.
you run your own sites or apps (PHP, WordPress, Node.js), are happy to host email elsewhere, and want a fast Nginx stack without licence fees.
cPanel & WHM vs CloudPanel at a glance.
| cPanel & WHM | CloudPanel | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Paid licence per server | Free |
| Web server | Apache (EasyApache 4) | Nginx, optional Varnish |
| Email server | Yes (Exim + Dovecot) | No, use an external mail service |
| DNS server | Yes | No, use your DNS provider |
| Operating systems | AlmaLinux, Rocky, CloudLinux, Ubuntu | Debian and Ubuntu |
| Node.js / Python apps | Possible, more setup | Built in |
| Best for | Hosting providers, email on-server | Developers, agencies, app hosting |
Features and licensing change; check the vendor’s current pages before buying. We keep up with them on every server we manage.
The differences you’ll notice.
cPanel vs CloudPanel: questions.
For your own sites and apps, yes. For shared hosting with customers and on-server email, cPanel (or another full hosting panel) is a better fit.
No. Use a mail provider or a dedicated mail server such as mailcow.
Usually, thanks to Nginx, PHP-FPM and optional Varnish, but a tuned cPanel server can be just as fast.
Typically a day or two for a handful of sites, with no downtime for visitors.