cPanel vs. Control Web Panel: Which One is Right for You?

The choice between a control panel for web hosting is essentially cPanel versus Control Web Panel, or CWP. Both provide tools that make it easier to manage your websites, domains, and server resources, but they differ in terms of features, pricing models, and use cases. This comparison will help settle which one best fits your needs.

Overview

cPanel

The cPanel system is a well-proven, feature-rich control panel which has been a standard in the industry for a long period. It offers friendly accessibility and comes bundled with a large number of tools that are related to website management, email administration, and database management, amongst many others. cPanel is considered to be quite reliable, and it has a lot of extensive documentation. Due to all this, it is widely supported by the user community.

Control Web Panel (CWP):

CWP is a relatively new, open source alternative to cPanel. It offers much of similar functionality but under a different pricing scheme and focuses on lightness and customizability. Its target is to serve the functionality with balance towards server resource usage.

User Interface and Ease of Use

cPanel

cPanel owns a structured and intuitive interface friendly to everyone-new and seasoned alike. This simplicity is reflected in the sequence of blocks of tools and features, meaning it is easily categorized. The interface is also customizable to match the needs of hosting providers.

CWP:

Control Web Panel is clean, modern, and quite easy to navigate. In that respect, it lacks the polish of cPanel but gives many a rather good interface to navigate in terms of functionality. The feature set may also be customized, so that you can only have those things that you want.

Features and Functionality

cPanel:

fileName.jpg Comprehensive website management feature-set, including file management, FTP accounts, etc. Local Backups and Restore.

Enhanced email management tools, with webmail clients and spam filtering

Database management for MySQL and PostgreSQL

Software installations (in one click) such as Mail, Joomla, WordPress, etc. with Softaculous

SSL certificates management

DNS management

Cron job

Resource monitoring and statistics

File manager that is web-based

Integration with many third-party services and applications

CWP:

• Core functionalities are almost similar to that of the cPanel, which include file management, FTP, and backups.

• Management of emails with webmail

• Management of the MySQL database

• Popular application installations by just a single click

• Managing SSL certificates

• DNS management

• Cron job

• Resource monitoring and basic statistics

• File manager that is web-based

• Some third-party integrations, although less than cPanel

Although both panels essentially offer the same core feature sets, cPanel generally offers more advanced features and more tools out of the box.

Pricing and Licensing

cPanel:

cPanel uses a per-server license structure. They charge based on the number of accounts hosted. Rates for VPS and dedicated server hosting users are quite high. In 2019, they switched to a licensing model that doubles the costs for most users.

CWP:

Control Web Panel is free and open source. You will save on a licensing fee with the central product, so it appeals to users on a budget or in operations at smaller scale. The Pro version of CWP exists and may be paid for in return for additional features and support.

Server Requirements and Performance

cPanel 

System requirements for  cPanel  are actually higher and more resource-intensive in general. It's optimized for use with CentOS / RHEL systems and doesn't often run well on bottom-of-the-line hardware. 

CWP:

Control Web Panel is designed lightweight and hence can work effectively with even fewer resource systems. It supports various Linux distributions; some of the supported distributions include CentOS, Ubuntu, and Debian.

Security

cPanel

cPanel is also known for providing strong security options such as the likes of ModSecurity, IP blocker, SSL/TLS manager, and auto-updates. In addition, it allows options for two-factor authentication and password-protected directories.

CWP:

CWP has some core security features, like a firewall, SSL management, and IP blocking. It does meet the core needs for security but may not be delivering at least an equivalent level of security functionality as cPanel does.

Community and Support

cPanel:

As a company in business for such a long time, cPanel has a large user base and an abundance of documentation. There is also professional support, and an enormous amount of third-party materials are available to guide the users to resolve common problems or learn how to effectively use the system.

CWP:

CWP has a fast-growing community, but it's still less than that of cPanel. However, it does have proper documentation in place, though not as great as cPanel. The support options are fewer compared to cPanel, mainly for the free version.

Customization and Extensibility

cPanel:

cPanel offers a high degree of customization using its themes and plugins. It even features a comprehensive API for developers to extend its functionality.

CWP:

Although CWP is open source, it gives an extreme degree of flexibility toward customization if you are a coder. Probably, compared to cPanel, it has fewer pre-made add-ons ready to install.

Which of These Deserves Your Choice?

Choose cPanel if:

You want a really robust, battle-proven system with plenty of features

You want robust documentation and community support

You are looking for superpowerful email management tools

You will need tight integration with many third-party services

You do not mind paying for that commercial license

Choose Control Web Panel when you consider the following criteria:

You want the free or nearly free cPanel alternate

You need a lightweight solution for deployment in less potent hardware

You like open source software, which you can code very deeply

You accept a smaller community with potentially fewer sources of documentation

You do not need all of the advanced features offered by cPanel.

Concluding Up!

Basically, this is a matter of choice between the two, depending on your needs, budget, and technical requirements. Both are powerful tools for managing web hosting environments but differ in how they are better suited for different user groups. Weigh your priorities and consider your long-term needs; if feasible, then try out both options before going for one.