We understand that one of the most important factors to consider while setting up your business’s website is the control panel, which brings us to the comparison of “cPanel vs CWP.” While it is true that you do not need a control panel to host your website, using one makes it easier and can help your site’s performance and server optimization. A control panel provides a graphical user interface (GUI) to manage your server, services, and automation tools. For example, control panels help you complete complicated tasks like setting up and managing email and databases. This article compares cPanel and CWP to help you decide which panel fits your needs.
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Background Information
Selecting the correct panel that fits your needs and your budget is an important choice when setting up your server. The right tools and setup can improve your site’s performance and security without compromising your needs and ease of management.
In today’s SaaS market, there are several Web hosting control systems available. For years InMotion Hosting has supported and integrated cPanel within our hosting packages. However, in recent years cPanel prices have continued to increase and several other panels have begun to rise in popularity. One of the most prominent and top-performing control panels recently is “Control Web Panel” or CWP for short.
cPanel is the most well-known and commercially successful panel on the market. It has been praised for its robust feature set and ease of use. CWP however has been emerging as an alternative that offers both flexibility and cost-effectiveness.
Overview of cPanel
Key Features and Functionality
- User-Friendly Interface
- Enhanced Web Tools
- Extensive Knowledge-base
cPanel has become the industry leader for control panels due to several factors, but the most important reason for its popularity is its user-friendly interface. cPanel offers an intuitive and easy-to-use interface that caters to everyone from absolute beginners to the most experienced server administrators.
It also offers a broad feature set to help you grow your business and maintain your sites and other web tools as you need. Built into cPanel are tools to help with
- Email Management
- File management
- Security tools
- DNS tools
And many other tools you need to run your server.
Additionally, this control panel has an extensive library of tools and knowledge bases that provide detailed information to help you with most troubleshooting. Likewise, cPanel support is available 24/7 from most hosting companies, making it a well-supported and documented option.
Popularity and Widespread Usage in the Industry
cPanel is widely adopted and used by hosting providers all over the world. It is known for its reliability and capabilities, making it the go-to choice for many Web Hosts and Web Hosting customers. However, in recent years, their market share has been shrinking. Thus, allowing for rival panels to make a name for themselves in the Web Hosting industry.
History and Background
cPanel was founded in 1996 by J. Nicholas Koston as a simple web hosting interface for the web hosting company he was, at the time, working for. Soon after he took that panel and started his company selling licenses for this management software. Over the years it has become one of the most comprehensive and complete control panels on the market. Over the years cPanel has introduced many significant updates and changes that have led to it solidifying its place as the industry standard for Web Hosting Panels.
On August 20th, 2018 cPanel agreed to an acquisition with Oakley Capital Investment Group. The same group owns the Plesk Hosting environment and is a competitor of cPanel. Once they took control of the company the group started updating their licensing structure, with each subsequent year seeing price increases.
Overview of Control Web Panel (CWP)
Key Features and Functionality
- Advanced Tools for Web Hosts
- Tools for Account Management
- Focused Development for a single OS option
CWP also offers tools built to simplify server management for web hosting providers. One of the key features is the ability to easily use and configure several different kinds of software to serve your site files including Apache, Nginx, and Varnish.
It also provides powerful user account management tools allowing you to create multiple user accounts with varying degrees of permissions and access levels. Its email management features allow users to set up and maintain email on the server. Security tools are also a major component, offering firewall configuration, antivirus integration, and automated security updates. The panel’s dedicated development team ensures these tools are regularly updated and expanded based on feedback and technological advancements.
Increasing Adoption and Relevance in the Industry
CWP is becoming one of the more used Management Panels today. Its low price point is attractive compared to well-known and expensive panels like cPanel or Plesk. We are seeing more companies offer CWP as a panel choice as more customers move away from traditional expensive control panels for cheaper alternatives.
History and Background
Control Web Panel is a relatively new entry among Web Hosting Control Panels. It was designed to provide a cost-effective and feature-rich alternative to the more established commercial hosting management panels. CWP started in 2013 as “CentOS Web Panel”, with a strong focus on hosting on the CentOS operating system. The goal was to create a control panel that would simplify server management while providing the flexibility to customize and extend the platform to meet your needs.
cPanel Vs CWP (A head-to-head comparison)
Cost
cPanel: As of the writing of this article the cost of a basic entry-level VPS with 5 cPanels comes to $29.99/Month. The premier license required for a Dedicated server is $60.99/Month for the general public. However, authorized hosts can provide a discount. As stated before these prices are likely to increase, as they have increased year over year every year since they were acquired in 2018.
CWP: CWP offers a free option for the basic version or a paid pro version starting at $0.99/Month. There are no limits to the number of accounts you can have on a server. In contrast, you must upgrade your cPanel to add more accounts.
User Interface and Ease of Use
cPanel: The Interface is known for its intuitive nature and is well documented with most questions being a quick Google search away. This makes the interface widely recognized and easy to use.
CWP: Also user-friendly but with a different layout. It offers a strong and flexible experience once users are accustomed to the interface. Documentation for the interface and software is worked on by its user community and hosting companies adopt the software.
Features and Functionality
cPanel: Provides extensive features including email and file management, security, and integration with third-party applications. It is known for constantly updating its software and tends to be among the first to implement new features, tools, and technologies.
CWP: Offers a comparable feature set with unique tools and customizations, beneficial for those looking for a tailored solution. Its focused nature allows the developers to improve the software and build new tools and features. It is highly configurable and you can expand its features and functionality with ease. Additionally, the library provided by the community continues to change and updates will continue to grow as more users adopt it.
Resource Usage and Performance
Stress Testing Results: We ran identical servers with identical websites one with cPanel and one with CWP and we tested the sites sending high amounts of active traffic to the sites. In our test, CWP performed just as well as cPanel, demonstrating almost identical efficiency in resource usage for both panels.
cPanel Test Results:
CWP Test Results:
“The results of the benchmarking tests performed by our Tier 3 systems engineering team were rather surprising! It demonstrates that the performance of both control panel stacks align very closely against each other, vastly unlike the licensing costs of each respective panel. This gives our customers a less expensive alternative option, without sacrificing server and website performance.”
-Erik M. Soroka, Director of Information Technology and Dedicated Server Product Line Manager
Security
cPanel: Has a proven security track record with regular updates to address vulnerabilities. They tend to stay on top of issues and push out updates almost daily to help secure your hosting and pass along needed updates.
CWP: Features strong security measures with proactive updates and community vigilance. With the full community working on issues, vulnerabilities, and bugs are very quickly identified and generally fixed very quickly. By focusing on the RHEL environment only they can focus on vulnerabilities and prevent issues that come from supporting multiple OS types.
Support and Documentation
cPanel: cPanel provides an extensive document library of all its tools and resources. Additionally, the web hosting industry has been documenting the software for over 20 years and there are entire libraries of information available on cPanel documentation.
CWP: Although it is not as well-documented, the community has been collaborating to compile information. Between the community and web hosting companies adopting this panel, it is quickly becoming as well-documented as other hosting panels.
Conclusion
CWP is becoming a more popular solution for users looking for an affordable alternative. It is a cost-effective solution for those who want to move away from cPanel without sacrificing performance or drastically reworking your hosting configurations. Its very affordable licensing is quickly becoming a default option for users willing to sacrifice a bit of comfort and familiarity to find a better solution at a much better price point.
cPanel continues to dominate in the industry and is an amazing product that is simple to use as a new web hosting user. It is a secure tool that will help you quickly and easily get up and running with less manual system setup. Using the information provided to you in this post I hope you can find the right solution for your needs and budget. If you want to test out CWP a great place to start is with our VPS and Dedicated hosting lines where we offer the pro versions.