What is cPanel Hosting?
For your information, it's good to be aware that the majority of the cPanel-based Hosting offers on the present-day hosting marketplace are generated by a quite inconsiderable business segment (when it comes to annual cash flow) called hosting reseller. Reseller website hosting is a kind of a small marketing niche, which furnishes an enormous quantity of different web hosting trademarks, yet furnishing exactly the same thing: mostly cPanel web hosting services. This is bad news for everybody. Why? Because at least 98% of the hosting offerings on the whole website hosting market furnish precisely the same solution: cPanel. There's no variety at all. Even the cPanel-based Hosting prices are alike. Quite similar. Leaving for those who demand a top web hosting service virtually no other web hosting platform/web hosting Control Panel choice. So, there is merely a single fact: out of more than 200,000 website hosting brands in the world, the non-cPanel based ones are less than 2 percent! Less than 2 percent, mind that one...
200k "Hosting service providers", all cPanel-based, yet diversely dubbed
The Hosting "variety" and the website hosting "offerings" Google shows to all of us come down to merely one and the same thing: cPanel. Under hundreds of 1000's of different website hosting brand names. Suppose you are only an average bloke who's not very familiar with (as the majority of us) with the web site creation processes and the website hosting platforms, which actually power the different domains and web pages. Are you prepared to make your hosting decision? Is there any web hosting alternative you can pick? Of course there is, nowadays there are more than 200,000 web hosting companies in existence. Formally. Then where is the problem? Here's where: more than 98% of these 200k+ different web hosting brand names worldwide will offer you precisely the same cPanel website hosting CP and platform, dubbed differently, with absolutely the same price tags! WOW! That's how big the assortment on the present web hosting market is... Period.
The Hosting LOTTERY we are all participating in
Simple arithmetic reveals that to stumble upon a non-cPanel based web hosting service provider is a big strike of luck. There is a less than one in 50 chance that something like that will take place! Less than one in 50...
The positive and negative points of the cPanel-based Hosting solution
Let's not be severe with cPanel. After all, in the years 2001-2004 cPanel was trendy and possibly satisfied all website hosting industry demands. In short, cPanel can achieve the desired result if you have just one domain name to host. But, if you have more domains...
Negative Point Number 1: A stupid domain name folder system
If you have 2 or more domain names, though, be ultra attentive not to erase completely the add-on ones (that's how cPanel will dub each new hosted domain name, which is not the default one: an add-on domain name). The files of the add-on domains are quite easy to delete on the server, because they all are set up into the root folder of the default domain, which is the very popular public_html folder. Each add-on domain name is a folder located inside the folder of the default domain name. Like a sub-folder. Next time attempt not to erase the files of the add-on domain names, please. Verify for yourself how amazing cPanel's domain name folder structure is:
public_html (here my-default-domain.com is situated)public_html/my-family (a folder part of my-default-domain.com)
public_html/my-second-domain.com (an add-on domain name)
public_html/my-second-wife (a folder part of my-default-domain.com)
public_html/my-second-wife.net (an add-on domain name)
public_html/my-third-domain.com (an add-on domain)
public_html/my-third-wife (a folder part of my-default-domain.com)
public_html/my-third-wife.net (an add-on domain name)
public_html/rebeka (a folder part of my-default-domain.com)
public_html/rebeka.my-third-wife.net (a sub-domain of an add-on domain)
Are you becoming nonplussed? We undoubtedly are!
Shortcoming No.2: The very same email folder system
The mail folder configuration on the server is exactly the same as that of the domain names... Repeating the very same mistake twice?!? The sysadmin boys firmly increase their faith in God when dealing with the electronic mail folders on the email server, praying not to mess things up too badly.
Weakness Number Three: An absolute lack of domain management interfaces
Do we need to mention the entire absence of a modern domain manipulation platform - a location where you can: register/relocate/renew/park or manage domains, change domain names' Whois details, shield the Whois details, edit/create name servers (DNS) and Domain Name System resource records? cPanel does not contain such a "modern" GUI at all. That's a mammoth downside. An unjustifiable one, we would like to point out...
Problem No.4: Numerous login locations (minimum two, maximum 3)
How about the need for an additional login to access the billing transaction, domain and technical support administration section? That's apart from the cPanel login credentials you've been already provided by the cPanel Hosting corporation. Occasionally, based on the billing transaction system (principally intended for cPanel solely) the cPanel Hosting firm is availing of, the eager customers can end up with two extra login locations (1: the billing/domain administration software solution; 2: the trouble ticket support software solution), winding up with a total of 3 login places (including cPanel).
Disadvantage Number 5: More than a hundred and twenty website hosting Control Panel sections to pick up... promptly
cPanel offers for your consideration more than 120 departments inside the hosting CP. It's a fine idea to learn each one of them. And you'd better pick them up promptly... That's very impudent on cPanel's side.
With all due recognition, we have a rhetorical question for all cPanel-based Hosting vendors:
As far as we are informed, it's not the year 2001, is it? Note that one as well...
Express | Pro | Turbo | Standard |
Unlimited storage | Unlimited storage | Unlimited storage | Unlimited storage |
Unlimited bandwidth | Unlimited bandwidth | Unlimited bandwidth | Unlimited bandwidth |
5 websites hosted | Unlimited websites hosted | Unlimited websites hosted | 1 website hosted |
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$3.92 / month | $8.67 / month | $12.50 / month | $3.00 / month |