cPanel Dominates the Market, But Is It Best for You?

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cPanel is, hands-down, the most popular operating system on the market today. This can be seen by glancing through many of the most popular hosting companies that are dominating the market. It made a big splash in 1997, and has never looked back. However, as with anything, cPanel has its critics as well. Let's review cPanel, its advantages and disadvantages to see if it is right for you.

Advantages:

1. Fantastico

Fantastico has become a favorite feature of cPanel. It allows user to easily install some of the most popular applications needed by webmasters including blogging platforms like Wordpress and Drupal, forums, help desks, and much more. Fantastico has consistently proven to be an extremely helpful and popular feature that helps maintain the popularity of cPanel.

2. Perl

cPanel is based on Perl scripts. This means that in order to use cPanel, the database is rarely required. This ability, dramatically increases load time and overall speed. This means that cPanel saves time every time it is used.

3. Web Host Manager (WHM)

cPanel features the Web Host Manager or WHM. This was designed specifically to simplify reseller hosting. This allows anyone to easily set up a reselling account and an entire web hosting service. The WHM is part of the server control panel interface that was designed specifically for server administrators and web hosts alike.

4. Simple Website Migration

If you are moving your website from one host to another, or simply want to move some information to another website, cPanel makes it simple. With the site migration model, it is incredibly easy to transfer your data from one place to another.

Disadvantages:

1. Bulky

If you are looking for a simple operating system without all of the bells and whistles, then cPanel is not for you. cPanel has a lot of features and a lot of power, which makes it feel bulky at times. For people with simple needs, there are better options out there like DirectAdmin.

2. Big

cPanel takes a lot of space and power to run. It is much larger than its lightweight partners. This can increase your overall server load considerably when it is all said and done.

3. Steep Learning Curve

If this is your first experience with any type of web operating system, cPanel can have a steep learning curve. While it is designed to be very user friendly and graphically oriented, it can initially seem very overwhelming. This is because there are so many different features and functions available. You may need to brace yourself, if you have never worked with it before.

cPanel is known the world over as being a full-featured control panel, that may not be for the faint of heart. While there are numerous advantages to cPanel, there are also some potential drawbacks that need to be taken into consideration. If you need power and functionality, then cPanel is the way to go, however space is a major concern. It is full of features but you need to make sure that you either know how to use them, or have the time and patience to travel across the learning curve.

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