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How cPanel Compares to InterWorx or Plesk

Are you wondering what web hosting control panel is right for your needs? Look no further! We've taken the time to compare and contrast the top three hosting control panel options for you.

✅ If you are already a seasoned cPanel administrator, you may also be interested in our article here. Alternately, if you're an end user and are familiar with cPanel, you may want to also look at this.

Overall Recommendations

We understand you're busy, so we've distilled everything down to a few key points for you.

Interworx
  • Pros

    • Inexpensive.
    • Offers a single license type that supports all features.
    • Full clustering (multi-server) support.
    • Robust language and branding support for both the administrative, reseller and end user control panel interfaces.
    • There can be multiple server administration accounts with all or limited features.
    • End users can create multiple control panel access accounts with all or limited features.
    • End users can schedule account backups.
    • No ads or feature upsell pestering users.
  • Cons

    • Does not work with Cloud Linux, Ubuntu, Debian or Windows Server.

    • No UI for adding/removing Apache/PHP modules.

    • Does not support NodeJS, Ruby on Rails, server-side Java, Docker or DNSSEC.

    • Doesn't support quite as many third-party add-on products as the other control panels right now.

Overall Cost: InterWorx will be the least expensive to license and it doesn't have lots of complicated licensing options like the other control panels.

Ideal For: Most users looking for a Linux server unless you need one of the services that InterWorx doesn't yet support.

cPanel
  • Pros

    • Currently the most popular Linux server control panel.
    • Supports a wide variety of third party add-on products.
    • Can handle nearly all server administration tasks via GUI.
    • Robust branding support for the end user control panel.
    • Support for NodeJS, Ruby on Rails, server-side Java, git version control, and DNSSEC.
  • Cons

    • Very expensive license cost for most people due to per account licensing.

    • Some license types do not permit access to all features or may place a hard limit on the number of accounts.

    • No official unlimited account license available from cPanel, Inc.

      ✅ HostDime offers an EXCLUSIVE flat-rate cPanel account license when purchased with a server.

    • No Windows Server, Ubuntu or Debian support. Official Ubuntu support will come in cPanel 100.

    • No Docker support.

    • The server administration and reseller interface is only available in English.

    • Limited branding support for the administrative and reseller interfaces.

    • Limited clustering (multi-server) support.

    • cPanel and WHM often contain advertisements for other products and services related to cPanel

    • cPanel and Plesk are owned by the same parent company.

Overall Cost: cPanel can be very expensive due to the complicated per-account licensing scheme, unless you purchase a license from HostDime with your server. 

Ideal For: Users who prefer never to use the command line to administer their Linux server or who have a lot of clients used to how cPanel works.

Plesk
  • Pros

    • Supports a wide variety of server operating systems.
    • Standard server license is less expensive than cPanel.
    • Second most popular control panel behind cPanel.
    • Robust service support for developers (NodeJS, Ruby on Rails, Python, git version control, Docker, ASP .NET*, MSSQL*, Nginx)
      * On Windows Server only.
    • End users can schedule regular backups.
  • Cons

    • Full server license more expensive than InterWorx and some features require additional purchases.

    • Some license types may not have access to all features or may limit the number of accounts.

    • If you need support for more than one UI language, there is an additional cost.

    • Many features require additional purchase. See the charts below for some examples. This can make a Plesk license much more expensive than other control panels if you need all of those features.

    • Advertisements appear everywhere for features Plesk tries to upsell to administrators and end users.

    • Plesk and cPanel are owned by the same parent company.

Overall Cost: Plesk basic licensing isn't quite as complicated as cPanel, but there are a bunch of "feature packs" that are sold separately and that can make Plesk very expensive.

Ideal For: Users who need a control panel for an Ubuntu, Debian or Windows Server. Also, developers who need access to some of the specialized tools and services (like Docker) that Plesk supports.

Bottom Line

All three control panels are excellent choices, so long as you understand their strengths and weaknesses.

Control Panel Comparison Charts

This section will show you what features the various control panels support.

Legend for Charts

✔ = Feature Included  
✘ = Feature not Available
⚫︎ = Feature Available for Extra Charge, via External Add-On,
or Third-Party Product
n/a = Not Applicable
Platform Support

These are the platforms that each of the control panels support.

Operating SystemsInterWorxcPanelPlesk
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
CentOS 7
Cloud Linux 7/8Coming
Alma Linux 8Coming
Ubuntu LTSComing
Debian 9
Windows Server 2016+

Bottom Line: Plesk is the best choice if you have servers running various operating systems. Although the exact feature set varies depending on the OS, they will all look and largely work the same for your clients.

Services Offered

Here are the major services offered by each control panel.

FeaturesInterWorxcPanelPlesk
Apache or IIS
ASP .NET (Windows only)
DNS
with DNSSEC Support⚫︎
Docker
Email
FTP
FTPS
Git Version Control
Greylisting Email
NFS
MSSQL (Windows only)⚫︎
MySQL or MariaDB
Nginx✔*
NodeJS
PHP (Multiple Versions)
PostgreSQL⚫︎
Ruby on Rails
Server-side Java
WebDAV (Web Disk)

* Proxy mode only. Stand alone Nginx support not available yet. Coming in a later update.

Bottom Line: cPanel wins in this area. Plesk can provide a lot of features, but some of those require paying for an additional add-on feature pack.

Server Administration Features

Here's how InterWorx, cPanel and Plesk compare concerning server administration features.

FeaturesInterWorxcPanelPlesk
Admin/Reseller Can Log in as End User without Password
Admin/Reseller UI Multiple Language Support
Assign/Remove Command Shell Access
Backup and Restoration
Brute Force Protection⚫︎⚫︎
Cluster ManagementDNS Only
Command Line Control/API
Control Panel Setting Management
Control Panel Upgrades from UI
Create Additional Control Panel Administrative User Accounts
Create and Manage Reseller and End User Accounts
Create Reseller and End User Resource Usage Packages
Modify End-User UI Themes
Create, Edit or Remove Language Files
Database Management and Basic Repair
Firewall Management⚫︎
Free Service/Hostname SSLs
Import Accounts from Other Servers and Control Panels
Issue/Error/Notice Automatic Reporting
Log File Management
Move Secondary (Add-On) Domain to a Separate User Account
Operating System/Service Updates via UI
PHP Module Management
Reboot Server
Security Audit Feature in UI⚫︎⚫︎
Server Cron Job/Scheduled Tasks Management
Service Monitoring and Restarting via UI
Ships with Multiple Language Support for Admin/Reseller Area⚫︎
Two-factor Authentication for Admin/Reseller Accounts
Swap Primary and Secondary (Add-on) or Pointer (Aliased/Parked) Domain Assigned to Account
Web Server Configuration Management
Web Server Module Installation and Management
Web-Based Terminal Application

Bottom Line: If you want to distribute work across lots of servers all managed by a single control panel, then InterWorx is the best choice as the developers have put a lot of work into cluster support and they continue to work on improving that. InterWorx also has the edge in multiple language support. cPanel has a few more system administration tasks like working with Apache and PHP modules available in the UI than InterWorx does, but only supports American English in WHM. cPanel only fully supports DNS clustering. Plesk supports multiple languages for the administrative/reseller back end, but you have to pay for each additional language you want to add, so that can get expensive if you need to support clients that speak a variety of languages. Plesk does not support service clustering at all, but will allow you to manage multiple Plesk servers from a central location.

End User Features

These are the features that domain owners have access to.

FeaturesInterWorxcPanelPlesk
Account API Token Management
Application Management for NodeJS or Ruby on Rails if Supportedn/a
Backup Account
Backup to Remote Locations
Schedule Automatic Backups
Catch-all (Default) Email Address
Change Current Theme
Change Look of Current Theme by End-User
Contact Settings Management
Create and Manage PGP-Style Public/Private Keys
Create and Manage Two-Way Mailing Lists⚫︎
Create Multiple End-User Login Accounts for One AccountLimited
Cron Job/Scheduled Tasks Management
Database Management
Directory Access Control
Email Autoresponders
Email DKIM Record Management
Email SPF Record Management
Enable/Disable Local Account Mail Delivery
Enable/Disable Only Local Account Mail Sending
Extensive Web and Account Metrics
File Compression Management for Web Server
File Manager
Forward Email to Multiple Addresses
Free SSL for Domains
Git Feature Management⚫︎
Hotlink Protection
Information/Statistics About Account
IP Blocking Tools
Leeching Protection
Manage Aliased/Parked Domains
Manage Contacts and Calendars
Manage DNS Zone Entries
Manage Email Accounts
Manage Email Anti-Spam Settings
Manage Email Forwarders
Manage FTP Accounts
Manage Global (per Control Panel Account) Server-Side Mail Filters
Manage Multiple Domains
Manage Per-Email Address Server-Side Mail Filters
Manage Redirection
Manage SSH Keys⚫︎
Manage Subdomains
MIME/File Type Handing
Multiple Language Support⚫︎
News or Notifications from Server Administrator or Reseller
Password Reset
Perl Module Interface
PHP Pear/PECL Interface
PHP Settings Management
PHP Version Selection
Picture Management Tools
Restore Account
Scan Account for Malware⚫︎
Schedule Future Backups
Script Autoinstaller and Manager⚫︎⚫︎⚫︎
Search for Feature or Setting in Control Panel
Security Advisor for End Users
See FTP Session Information
SSL Management
Track Incoming/Outgoing Mail Delivery
Two-Factor Authentication⚫︎
Web Application Firewall⚫︎
Web Disk Management
Web Server Specific Feature Management (Like Handlers)
Web-based Command Line Terminal
WordPress Installation, Updates and Removal⚫︎⚫︎

Bottom Line: InterWorx ability to allow end users to easily create additional SiteWorx logins with all or a limited subset of features is a big plus here. If your clients have web developers or people who need to manage email only, it is a simple matter for them to create additional accounts with only the appropriate levels of access. cPanel doesn't permit multiple user logins for a single account. Plesk does, but the end user can only select from user roles that the server admin has defined.

We hope you've found our comparison of InterWorx vs. cPanel vs. Plesk useful. These are the top web hosting control panels available today. Feel free to contact us if you have any other questions.