License and Operating system support
Free/Libre Control Panels
| Control panel | Licence | Free | Open Source | Alive (last release) | BSD | Linux | Windows | Frontend | Backend | Plugin Support | VCS | IPV6 Support | Multiserver Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aegir | LGPL | Yes | Yes | 2013/07/22 | Yes | Yes | No | PHP, AJAX | PHP,MySQL/MariaDB | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Ajenti[1] | LGPL | Yes | Yes | 2013/1/2 | FreeBSD 8.0+ | Yes | No | Python | Python | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Baifox | GPL [2] | Yes | Yes [3] | 2009/04/19 | No | Yes | No | PHP | PHP, SQLite | ? | ? | ? | |
| Domain Technologie Control | GNU LGPL | Yes | Yes | 2013/04/04 | Limited FreeBSD support | Yes | No | PHP | ? | ? | git | No[4] | ? |
| Gnupanel | GPL | Yes | Yes | 2012/03/21 | No | Yes | No | PHP | PHP, PgSQL | ? | ? | ? | |
| i-MSCP | GPL | Yes | Yes | 2013/01/07 | Limited FreeBSD support | Yes | No | PHP | Perl | Yes | Yes | No | |
| ISPConfig | BSD | Yes | Yes | 2013/02/22 | No | Yes | No | PHP | PHP, MySQL | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| ispCP | GPL | Yes | Yes | 2010/11/24 | Limited FreeBSD support | Yes | No | PHP | Perl | No | No | No | |
| Kloxo (formerly named Lxadmin) | AGPL | Yes | Yes | 2011/11/13 | No | CentOS (6 not currently supported) or Red Hat EL 5.x [5] | No | PHP | PHP, MySQL | No | No | Yes | |
| OpenPanel[6] | GPL, Plugin API LGPL[7] | Yes [8] | Yes [9] | 2013/02/20 | Planned[10] | Debian [11] | Planned [12] | C++, AJAX | Core: C++, Modules: Any language | Yes [13] | Mercurial | Partial [14] | Planned [15] |
| SysCP | GPL | Yes | Yes | 2010/05/11 | Yes | Yes | No | PHP | PHP, MySQL | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Froxlor | GPL | Yes | Yes | 2012/05/07 | Yes | Yes | No | PHP | PHP, MySQL | Yes | Yes | Partial | |
| Usermin | BSD style | Yes | Yes | 2012/09/22 | Yes | Yes | No | Perl | Perl | ? | tarball | ? | ? |
| Virtualmin | GPL | Yes | Yes | 2012/08/23 | Yes[16] | Yes | No | Perl | Perl | Yes | tarball | Yes | Partial[17] |
| Webmin | BSD style | Yes | Yes | 2013/02/03 | Yes | Yes | Partial | Perl | Perl | Yes | tarball | Yes | Yes |
| WebsitePanel[18] | BSD style | Yes | Yes | 2012/11/28 | No | No | Yes | ASP.NET | ASP.NET, MSSQL | No | Yes | Yes | |
| ZPanel[19] | GPL | Yes | Yes | 2013/01/01 | Yes | Yes | Yes | PHP | PHP, MySQL | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Webuzo[20] | EULA[21] | Yes | No | 2013/07/01 | No | Yes | No | PHP | PHP | No | Yes | No |
Proprietary Control Panels
| Control panel | Licence | Free | Open Source | Alive (last release) | BSD | Linux | Windows | Frontend | Backend | Plugin Support | IPV6 Support | Multiserver Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cPanel | Proprietary | No | No | 2013/07/09 | FreeBSD | Yes | Yes (Enkompass) | Perl | Perl | Yes | No | Yes |
| Plesk | Proprietary | No | No | 2012/11/29 | No | Yes | Yes | PHP | PHP/MySQL | ? | Yes | ? |
| DirectAdmin | Proprietary | No | No | 2012/11/27 | Yes | Yes | No | C++ | C++, scripts,PHP | Yes | Partial | ? |
| H-Sphere | Proprietary | No | No | 2012/12/11 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Java | Java | Yes | ? | Yes |
| HDE Controller X | Proprietary | No | No | 2011/11/01 | No | Yes | No | PHP | PHP | ? | Yes | Yes |
| XO Panel | Proprietary | No | No | 2013/05/18 | Yes | Yes | Yes (Beta) | PHP | C/C++ | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hosting Controller | Proprietary | No | No | 2011/09/05 | No | Yes | Yes | .NET | MSSQL | Yes | No | Yes |
| InterWorx | Proprietary | No | No | 2013/04/12 | No | Yes | No | PHP | PHP,MySQL | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ISPmanager | Proprietary | No | No | 2012/06/19 | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Server Management Tool | Proprietary | No | No | 2012/09/1 | No | Yes | No | PHP, Perl | PHP, Perl | No | No | Yes |
| ServerPilot | Proprietary | No | No | SaaS | No | Yes | No | Backbone.js,CoffeeScript | Python, Go | No | Yes | Yes |
| Virtualmin Pro | Proprietary | No | No | 2012/08/23 | Yes[22] | Yes | No | Perl | Perl | Yes | Yes | Partial[23] |
Remote access
Some control panels allow shell (console) access to the underlying OS through a Java applet, requiring that the client-side computer use Java Virtual Machine software. Other control panels allow direct access using telnet or secure shell (SSH).
| Control panel | FTP | Anonymous FTP | Terminal | File Browse/Upload/Download using HTTP frontend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baifox | Yes (only Pureftpd) [24] | ? | ? | ? |
| cPanel | Yes | Yes | SSH, Java Applet | Yes |
| DirectAdmin | Yes | Yes | SSH | Yes |
| Domain Technologie Control | Yes | ? | SSH | Yes |
| Gnupanel | ? | ? | SSH | ? |
| H-Sphere | Yes | Yes | SSH | Yes |
| HDE Controller X | Yes | Yes | SSH | Yes |
| Hosting Controller | Yes | ? | ? | Yes |
| i-MSCP | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| InterWorx | Yes | Yes | SSH | Yes |
| ISPConfig | Yes | Yes | SSH | Yes |
| ispCP | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| ISPmanager | Yes | Yes | SSH, Java Applet | Yes |
| Kloxo | Yes | Yes | Java Applet | Yes |
| OpenPanel | Yes [25] | Planned [26] | SSH [27] | Planned [28] |
| Plesk | Yes | Yes | SSH, Java Applet | Yes |
| SysCP | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Froxlor | Yes | Partial | Partial | Yes |
| Usermin | Yes | Yes | SSH, Java Applet | Yes |
| Virtualmin | Yes | Yes | SSH, Java Applet | Yes |
| Virtualmin Pro | Yes | Yes | SSH, Java Applet | Yes |
| Webmin | Yes | Yes | SSH, Java Applet | Yes |
| ZPanel | Yes | Yes | SSH | Template:Installable by third party module |
Email management
While all control panel software below supports multiple email accounts, the features they provide vary.
| Control panel | Antivirus | Antispam | Forwarders | Mailbox quota | DomainKeys | DKIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baifox | no | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| cPanel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| DirectAdmin | Supported | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Domain Technologie Control | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Gnupanel | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| H-Sphere | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| HDE Controller X | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hosting Controller | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| i-MSCP | Optional | Optional | Yes | Optional | No | No |
| InterWorx | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ISPConfig | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Possible | Yes |
| ispCP | Optional | Optional | Yes | No | No | No |
| ISPmanager | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| Kloxo | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| OpenPanel | Planned [29] | Yes | Yes | Planned | Planned | Planned |
| Plesk | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SysCP | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes (broken [30]) |
| Froxlor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Usermin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Virtualmin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Virtualmin Pro | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Webmin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ZPanel | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Third party modules
Web hosting packages often provide easy means of installing web services onto the server. Packaging services allow the control panel to fetch a list of installable modules from the internet, whilst hard-coded methods require that the control panel is updated to add new modules.
| Control panel | Third Party Module Installation Methods | Modules Available | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription Service | Free service | Allows Upgrades | Shopping cart | Bulletin board | Gallery | Chat | Guestbook | |
| Baifox | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| cPanel | ? | Partial | ? | Agora | phpBB | Coppermine° | phpMyChat | Yes |
| DirectAdmin | ? | ? | ? | No° | No° | No° | No° | No° |
| MachPanel Control Panel | ? | Yes | Yes | Numerous Options | Numerous Options | Numerous Options | ? | ? |
| Domain Technologie Control | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Gnupanel | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| H-Sphere | ? | ? | ? | Miva,osCommerce,PrestaShop | phpBB, AEF,PunBB, SMF | Gallery, Piwigo | WebChat | Extropia, Advanced Guestbook, phpBook, BellaBook,VX Guestbook, Lazarus, RicarGBooK |
| HDE Controller X | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Hosting Controller | ? | Yes | Yes | Numerous Options | Numerous Options | Numerous Options | ? | ? |
| i-MSCP | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| InterWorx | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| ISPConfig | No | Yes | Yes | Non-free | No | No | No | No |
| ispCP | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| ISPmanager | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Kloxo | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| OpenPanel | No | Planned (APS) [31] | Planned (APS) [32] | Planned via APS[33] [34] | Planned via APS[35] [36] | Planned via APS[37] [38] | Planned via APS[39] [40] | Planned via APS [41] [42] |
| Plesk | Yes | Via APS | Yes | Miva, X-Cart,osCommerce | phpBB | Coppermine | gtchat, CSLH | Advanced Guestbook |
| SysCP | No | Via APS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Froxlor | No | Via APS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Usermin | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Virtualmin | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Virtualmin Pro | Yes | Yes | Yes | Numerous Options[43] | Numerous Options [44] | Numerous Options [45] | No | Numerous Options [46] |
| Webmin | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
° Available through third-party script-installer plugin Installatron.
Supported Backends
| Control panel | Web server | FTP server | Receive mail | Send mail | SQL | programming languages | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lighttpd | Apache | Nginx | IIS | PureFTPd | Vsftp | ProFTPD | Dovecot | Courier | Exim | Sendmail | Postfix | PostgreSQL | MySQL | MS SQL | PHP | Perl | Python | ASP / ASP.NET | |
| Baifox | ? | Yes | ? | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | Yes | ? | <||||