03-31-2021, 05:36 AM
Hello fellow members, I have been in the industry since 2014 testing out stuff that doesn't even make sense like several control panels I have tested just for the fun, and honestly speaking I had an urge to test out their functionality and user experience. I have tested several Free ones open source ones and some commercial ones too. So let's just share them all here. I will be covering the Panels which are Free as in $0 for any fees. So let's just get started with the list of free panels.
1. Keyhelp
You might be wondering what is this thing, well keyhelp is been a really helpful panel from the last year(i.e. 2019) it supports everything I needed to run a shared hosting server for several of guys(they said they wanted to isolate users and all) keyhelp is actively developed for Debian based Linux distros with several new features popping out every new update. The features and capabilities of this one are really good it has a special function where it will automatically update all packages swiftly but it will also let you know if few packages require your attention, amazing isn't it? it has all the features one can ask for including but not limited to An advance file manager, DNS manager, mail system with queue management, and of course white-labeling(you already know what this is :wink: ) so what makes it stand out? the only thing I can think of its capabilities to automate things and preserve your settings for automatic updates without any errors(at least I didn't encounter any).
More information and setup instructions: https://www.keyhelp.de/en/
2. TinyCP
You guys might have heard about this thing another Debian based panel with some awesome features(typically the same as every other panel there is like file manager, DNS, mail, etc etc) but the thing is not only with all the features running intact the memory footprint for this specific beast is low means it won't be hogging your resources at all and with the beautifully crafted code with the modular approach is just simply amazing. Sometimes I wonder why isn't this thing famous? well maybe because it's limited to Debian-based distros? who knows at least not me(i am not a god so meh).
More information and setup instructions: https://tinycp.com/home/index
3. VestaCP
Wait I know before you say something I already know the development for the "official" branch is all but active there are several high-risk security issues in the code but there are still some forks that are actively in development trying their hardest to fix things that are just ignored on the official development branch. A fork from the MadeITBelgium is such an example where they are actively developing this fixing bugs and security vulnerabilities but this branch is limited and only meant for the RedHat-based Linux distros, perhaps you can find some other branch with the same active development for your favorite Linux who knows. Talking about features vestacp is really good when I consider the apache + Nginx(reverse proxy) setup it optimizes the website to its maximum performance but there are things I don't understand why did they do that. One such thing is the file manager and sFTP plugin which are paid, I know it's not a bad thing for something good to be paid but the reason stated before releasing something was "We will have paid plugins to support our development" which technically just died without any notice or announcement it was like now you can see me, poof, now you can't.
More information and setup instructions: https://vestacp.com
4. HestiaCP
Remember the vestaCP from the above point? I know you do well Hestia is a fork of VestaCP too but for Debian-based distros(IDK why did they renamed it though) well technically speaking they are of course a fork but with a different approach and what is that? their free file manager that comes out of the box to be used yay! a file manager for those who are lazy or just doing some small modifications on the go! ahem, brahmasmi! just kidding it's been an overall good experience using the hestiacp, of course, their UI is something I didn't really like but it depends on person to person. So any other features? aside from active development and file manager I can't think of any(but isn't it all you need?).
More information and setup instructions: https://www.hestiacp.com/
5. aaPanel
Yep it's this one alright, aaPanel the internationalized version of Pagoda(Baota in Chinese) panel(bt.cn panel) yeah it's a Chinese product but I assure you not all Chinese products are bad like corona, ahem, I think I shouldn't have said that well speaking of aaPanel this thing is really amazing for single users(like me woohoo! yeah boi!) the features are good as well the modular approach like tinyCP making it better and better and on top of that it supports many things like docker, ruby apps, etc just name it and you will the module inside its AppStore, simply breathtaking me and some of my friends started using this panel like a year ago, of course, there were some issues and concerns(there are still some though) but overall satisfaction this one provided was simply over the top, then why didn't I put it at the top? because it still lacks some features like multi-users(i know it's a deciding factor for some) also this one is buggy if you want it to be you're all in one web server serving mails + websites + DNS + some random app it might break your patience when configuring it to your liking but once you get yourself familiar with this one it's quite easy(not technically you can still face some issues like lsphp installing itself even after removing OLS).
More information and setup instructions: https://aapanel.com
6. ISPconfig
I don't think I need to say much about it one of the oldest and still growing with active development and great community support. It has most of the features one can think of from basic administration multi-user shared hosting ones just name it(well not like aaPanel that support docker, ruby, etc) the only thing I don't like about this one is the installation process if you are a beginner you will be facing something you never encountered and it will really cause a headache at some point. This one is especially for advanced users as they know what do to if an error occurred during the installation. But to be honest I really like its permission engine or whatever it is called it's by far the best I have ever seen in free panels.
More information and setup instructions: https://ispconfig.com
7. CyberPanel
Some of you might already be using this one it natively works with OLS(OpenLiteSpeed) and has a really good UI. It also supports containerizations and git subversion control able to deploy apps directly from the git repository. I used to be a big fan of this project just because of OLS but as time pass and I started noticing OLS is not as fast as they claimed it to be but instead, sometimes it was awful they say it supports apache rewrites but you have to restart the OLS if you made any changes and wait until it auto-restart itself after saving your .htccess file. I was testing a bunch of stuff and finally made a decision to shift from OLS to Nginx thus I made a move towards other panels. If you are into fancy things and modern UI you might prefer CyberPanel as your daily driver.
More information and setup instructions: https://cyberpanel.net
8. Virtualmin
I don't think there is any veteran here who hasn't used the Virtualmin as an extension of the webmin server management panel, while webmin is meant for server management Virtualmin is meant for website management allowing you to have a fully functional multi user shared hosting server. The features are by far the same as any other panel out there but the complete code visibility just makes it WOW! if I remember correctly I was successful in imitating the Cpanel server which sent the same headers and same pages rendered by Cpanel the only thing left was the UI and I dropped it after I lost the instance(it was from a provider who went in hiding in the early stage of post4vps).
more information and setup instructions: https://virtualmin.com
My verdict
I know I didn't include many other panels like fastpanel, ajenti, etc but the point on this thread was to give a general idea about Server panels you can try and dig out their potentials I migrated my keyhelp VM to aaPanel as I no longer have multi-user requirements and/or hosting specific needs I am mostly deploying JS, python and PHP apps and aaPanel do the job for me without any issues if you feel like I should edit and include other panels in the list do feel free to PM/DM me and I'll make sure to discuss the usage and efficiency for the said panel.
Thank you for your time.
Last updated: 31st Masrch 2021
1. Keyhelp
You might be wondering what is this thing, well keyhelp is been a really helpful panel from the last year(i.e. 2019) it supports everything I needed to run a shared hosting server for several of guys(they said they wanted to isolate users and all) keyhelp is actively developed for Debian based Linux distros with several new features popping out every new update. The features and capabilities of this one are really good it has a special function where it will automatically update all packages swiftly but it will also let you know if few packages require your attention, amazing isn't it? it has all the features one can ask for including but not limited to An advance file manager, DNS manager, mail system with queue management, and of course white-labeling(you already know what this is :wink: ) so what makes it stand out? the only thing I can think of its capabilities to automate things and preserve your settings for automatic updates without any errors(at least I didn't encounter any).
More information and setup instructions: https://www.keyhelp.de/en/
2. TinyCP
You guys might have heard about this thing another Debian based panel with some awesome features(typically the same as every other panel there is like file manager, DNS, mail, etc etc) but the thing is not only with all the features running intact the memory footprint for this specific beast is low means it won't be hogging your resources at all and with the beautifully crafted code with the modular approach is just simply amazing. Sometimes I wonder why isn't this thing famous? well maybe because it's limited to Debian-based distros? who knows at least not me(i am not a god so meh).
More information and setup instructions: https://tinycp.com/home/index
3. VestaCP
Wait I know before you say something I already know the development for the "official" branch is all but active there are several high-risk security issues in the code but there are still some forks that are actively in development trying their hardest to fix things that are just ignored on the official development branch. A fork from the MadeITBelgium is such an example where they are actively developing this fixing bugs and security vulnerabilities but this branch is limited and only meant for the RedHat-based Linux distros, perhaps you can find some other branch with the same active development for your favorite Linux who knows. Talking about features vestacp is really good when I consider the apache + Nginx(reverse proxy) setup it optimizes the website to its maximum performance but there are things I don't understand why did they do that. One such thing is the file manager and sFTP plugin which are paid, I know it's not a bad thing for something good to be paid but the reason stated before releasing something was "We will have paid plugins to support our development" which technically just died without any notice or announcement it was like now you can see me, poof, now you can't.
More information and setup instructions: https://vestacp.com
4. HestiaCP
Remember the vestaCP from the above point? I know you do well Hestia is a fork of VestaCP too but for Debian-based distros(IDK why did they renamed it though) well technically speaking they are of course a fork but with a different approach and what is that? their free file manager that comes out of the box to be used yay! a file manager for those who are lazy or just doing some small modifications on the go! ahem, brahmasmi! just kidding it's been an overall good experience using the hestiacp, of course, their UI is something I didn't really like but it depends on person to person. So any other features? aside from active development and file manager I can't think of any(but isn't it all you need?).
More information and setup instructions: https://www.hestiacp.com/
5. aaPanel
Yep it's this one alright, aaPanel the internationalized version of Pagoda(Baota in Chinese) panel(bt.cn panel) yeah it's a Chinese product but I assure you not all Chinese products are bad like corona, ahem, I think I shouldn't have said that well speaking of aaPanel this thing is really amazing for single users(like me woohoo! yeah boi!) the features are good as well the modular approach like tinyCP making it better and better and on top of that it supports many things like docker, ruby apps, etc just name it and you will the module inside its AppStore, simply breathtaking me and some of my friends started using this panel like a year ago, of course, there were some issues and concerns(there are still some though) but overall satisfaction this one provided was simply over the top, then why didn't I put it at the top? because it still lacks some features like multi-users(i know it's a deciding factor for some) also this one is buggy if you want it to be you're all in one web server serving mails + websites + DNS + some random app it might break your patience when configuring it to your liking but once you get yourself familiar with this one it's quite easy(not technically you can still face some issues like lsphp installing itself even after removing OLS).
More information and setup instructions: https://aapanel.com
6. ISPconfig
I don't think I need to say much about it one of the oldest and still growing with active development and great community support. It has most of the features one can think of from basic administration multi-user shared hosting ones just name it(well not like aaPanel that support docker, ruby, etc) the only thing I don't like about this one is the installation process if you are a beginner you will be facing something you never encountered and it will really cause a headache at some point. This one is especially for advanced users as they know what do to if an error occurred during the installation. But to be honest I really like its permission engine or whatever it is called it's by far the best I have ever seen in free panels.
More information and setup instructions: https://ispconfig.com
7. CyberPanel
Some of you might already be using this one it natively works with OLS(OpenLiteSpeed) and has a really good UI. It also supports containerizations and git subversion control able to deploy apps directly from the git repository. I used to be a big fan of this project just because of OLS but as time pass and I started noticing OLS is not as fast as they claimed it to be but instead, sometimes it was awful they say it supports apache rewrites but you have to restart the OLS if you made any changes and wait until it auto-restart itself after saving your .htccess file. I was testing a bunch of stuff and finally made a decision to shift from OLS to Nginx thus I made a move towards other panels. If you are into fancy things and modern UI you might prefer CyberPanel as your daily driver.
More information and setup instructions: https://cyberpanel.net
8. Virtualmin
I don't think there is any veteran here who hasn't used the Virtualmin as an extension of the webmin server management panel, while webmin is meant for server management Virtualmin is meant for website management allowing you to have a fully functional multi user shared hosting server. The features are by far the same as any other panel out there but the complete code visibility just makes it WOW! if I remember correctly I was successful in imitating the Cpanel server which sent the same headers and same pages rendered by Cpanel the only thing left was the UI and I dropped it after I lost the instance(it was from a provider who went in hiding in the early stage of post4vps).
more information and setup instructions: https://virtualmin.com
My verdict
I know I didn't include many other panels like fastpanel, ajenti, etc but the point on this thread was to give a general idea about Server panels you can try and dig out their potentials I migrated my keyhelp VM to aaPanel as I no longer have multi-user requirements and/or hosting specific needs I am mostly deploying JS, python and PHP apps and aaPanel do the job for me without any issues if you feel like I should edit and include other panels in the list do feel free to PM/DM me and I'll make sure to discuss the usage and efficiency for the said panel.
Thank you for your time.
Last updated: 31st Masrch 2021
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