At Bacan we offer the two most widely used control panels. In general, choosing between them is a matter of personal preference. Both panels accomplish essentially the same things.
A few years ago this question barely existed — nearly every hosting company offered cPanel exclusively. However, since cPanel's pricing skyrocketed, with very significant annual increases, more and more customers and providers have started offering DirectAdmin.
Is DirectAdmin truly comparable to cPanel? This article attempts to answer that question.
We will outline the differences between cPanel and DirectAdmin for both reseller and shared hosting services.
Remarkably, cPanel began a relentless price-increase campaign in 2019 (800%). This has prompted many users and providers to seek price stability in alternative control panels. DirectAdmin stands out here — a panel that does everything a hosting user needs. It does it fast and does it well. At a reasonable price.
What are cPanel and DirectAdmin?
They are what are known as Control Panels. Both allow you to manage your hosting service. Both panels let you:
- Install and manage your email accounts
- Manage the files on your hosting
- Manage your databases
- Install as many domains as you need
- View statistics for your services
- Install applications for your domains
- Manage security aspects of your website
Both cPanel and DirectAdmin let you do all of these things very easily.
DirectAdmin
Account Management Features
- Configuration of additional domains added to your main account (all our plans are multi-domain)
- Creation of subdomains
- DNS record management for installed domains
- SSL certificate installation, both free and paid
- FTP account management
- MySQL database management, including phpMyAdmin access
- Web page redirection
- Hotlink protection
- PHP configuration
Email Manager
- Create new email accounts
- Set up email forwarding to other accounts
- Auto-responders
- Out-of-office messages
- Anti-spam system configuration
- User-defined custom filters
- MX record configuration
- Email tracking
Advanced Features
- Configure extensions recognized by the Apache server
- Schedule cron jobs
- Customize error pages for your domain
- MIME types
- Configure security questions
- Two-factor authentication
- Password-protect directories
- Fine-tune the ModSecurity application firewall
Information and Files
- Management of all files hosted on your hosting service
- Information about installed Perl modules
- Information about the server where your website is hosted
- Website statistics
Extra Features
- Direct webmail access – Roundcube
- Access to phpMyAdmin
- Webmail installer
- PHP version selector
- Python application installation
- Hosting resource usage monitor
- Automatic web application installer – Softaculous
Softaculous Application Installer
- WordPress
- Joomla
- AvanteCart
- phpBB
- SMF
- WHMCS
- Open Real Estate
- MyBB
- and 300+ more apps…
cPanel
- Create email accounts
- Forwarders
- Email routing
- Auto-responders
- Delivery tracking
- Email filters
- SPF and DKIM records
- Address importer
- Spam filters
- Encryption
- Calendars and contacts
- Email disk usage
Billing and Support
- Access your client area
- View billing information and invoices
- Access emails sent by Bacan
- Your support tickets
- Service upgrades
- Domain registrations
- Domain transfers
Files
- Manage your files
- Image editing and modification
- Password-protect directories
- Hosting disk usage
- FTP accounts
- Git access – (Version Control)