Alex Zen
Whether a blogger or an agency, you need a web hosting control panel to manage your servers. Being a system admin for years, I have tested some of the best free web hosting control panels.
Sharing with you the list of open-source web hosting control panels to help you manage your servers and clients.
Control panels are for those without technical expertise to install applications on a raw server. With a control panel, you can easily install apps like WordPress in a few clicks.
Plesk Panel – My favorite
$11/mo
- Free to try – Start a trial today
- Easy to install on your dedicated server
- Modular Interface
- Customizable
- Install plugins to add more features
- Litespeed/Openlitespeed add-on available
TL;DR – Free Hosting Control Panel
A free hosting control panel is software that lets you manage and set up the features of your current web hosting account. It provides administrative access to your files, databases, and sites. You can also create domain names and e-mail accounts through the control panel’s interface.
The perfect example of a hosting control panel is cPanel, which almost everyone knows. However, cPanel is neither free software nor an open-source project. Buying a web hosting control panel subscription for an entry-level server is not a great idea.
That’s why here is a list of open-source projects to manage your web hosting server resources, such as databases, applications, services, and processes.
CyberPanel is my favorite of all the control panels available on the internet. It is free, easy to use, and well-documented. However, some features are missing. But, it is excellent for webmasters, bloggers, and marketers who want to set up a blog or website quickly and launch it.
List of 10+ Best Free Web Hosting Control Panels
1. CyberPanel
CyberPanel is an open-source web hosting control panel and my top pick amongst others. The free Linux control panel comes with LiteSpeed Cache and one-click WordPress installs.
The CyberPanel cloud allows easy deployment of WordPress sites along with updates and staging.
The most powerful cache plugin for WordPress LSCache is pre-configured. When you install WordPress, LSCache is auto-installed.
Like a one-click WordPress install, even SSL could be activated with one click.
2. ISPConfig
ISPConfig is a browser-based open-source control panel. It is stable, transparent, fast, and secure. It offers enterprise support, and you can connect with others in the community forum.
You can manage multiple servers from a single dashboard. You can manage both, Whether a physical server or a virtual machine.
If you want to manage your servers in other than English, then you can get it translated into over 20 languages.
Other technology support includes Apache, Nginx, MariaDB, MySQL, and more.
The ISPConfig 3.1 billing module is an add-on that could be integrated to add invoicing features. With the add-on, you can use the invoice editor to create professional invoices. You can save these invoices as a PDF and send them by email.
There are pre-made templates to help you save time on creating an invoice. Use the templates to create PDF invoices and send them on the go. With the payment reminder settings, you will never lose your payments.
3. Ajenti
Ajenti is a free open-source control panel to manage your server. It is a lightweight admin panel you must install once and forget about downloading Putty again.
You can access your servers using Ajenti’s responsive remote terminal from anywhere. It is a fast and secure way to manage your files the best way you want.
The panel includes lots of plugins for server configuration and management. Your existing system remains as it is unless you modify it independently. Using feature-rich API, you can develop the plugin quickly, which is extensible using Python.
4. CentOS
CWS or CentOS free and Pro web hosting control panel is one of the leading control panels. It allows you to manage your clients and servers with complete security using the CWP secure kernel.
CWS is a free, modern, secure, customizable control panel for VPS handling. The system admins create it for the system admins to manage their hosting and clients.
5. Virtualmin
Virtualmin is another fantastic open-source web hosting control panel with over 150,000 users worldwide. It’s easy to set up and fast to operate, giving tough competition to other control panels.
For Linux and BSD systems, it is a flexible, free hosting control panel. But you can always choose the premium support at no extra cost.
The Virtualmin open-source control panel is built on Webmin, a popular Linux/ Unix system management UI.
6. Webmin
Webmin is a system administration interface for Unix that works seamlessly with any modern browser. With Webmin’s user-friendly interface, you can set up user accounts, Apache, DNS, file sharing & more.
There is no need to manually edit the Unix configuration files, as you can do it remotely or from the console.
7. Sentora
Sentora is a simplified open-source web hosting control panel that allows you to manage web hosting effortlessly. You can find free and premium support services for personal and commercial use.
You can find add-ons to install themes and modules with a central repository. It is licensed under GPLv3, making it accessible, cost-effective, and an extendable platform.
The ZPanel team members maintain the Sentora control panel. Donations run the control panel, so when you download, make sure you donate.
8. VestaCP
If I am not wrong, VestaCP is the only free web hosting control panel offering a Softaculous app installer. With VestaCP open source control panel’s Softaculous, you can install more than 439 apps at one click.
If you want to run a WordPress site on a VPS, you can install WordPress with one click. Sites that are powered by Vesta load faster and are faster with keyboard shortcuts.
Security is a big concern, but with Vesta’s in-built firewall, you need not worry about it.
9. ZPanel
ZPanel is an open-source control panel developed by community users. The team members have developed modules and themes for ZPanel.
Whether it is Microsoft® Windows™ or POSIX (Linux, UNIX, and MacOSX) based servers, ZPanel is entirely free.
There is a large community of helpful users to get technical help. Since it is a community-driven project, it needs donations. So, when downloading ZPanel, you can donate for domain renewals and more services.
10. Froxlor
An open-source and lightweight server management panel like Froxlor helps you manage servers effortlessly.
You can choose between IPv4 and IPv6 addresses and ports. SSLs can be installed on specific ports.
Choose between different PHP configurations. As a control panel reseller, you can manage and limit the resources for your customers.
The API integration helps you access all the features and control your hosting. Not to forget the free Let’s Encrypt SSL inside the Froxlor control panel.
11. aaPanel
One of the most simple yet powerful control panels free to use is aaPanel. You can manage the server through a web-based GUI and quickly deploy Apache, Nginx, or Open LiteSpeed.
Your time is saved in deploying web apps as the control panel provides a one-click install LNMP/LAMP.
Keep your server space free by installing the extensions you need instead of flooding it. With real-time monitoring, you can identify the server load capacity. There’s a free security extension of system firewall, Nginx WAF, and anti-spam gateway.
You can install WordPress, Laravel, Joomla, Drupal, or Roundcube at one click.
Why Do You Need A Control Panel?
- Managing multiple websites is a hectic task. With a Control panel, you can manage any number of websites.
- Keep a check on website performance and analyze the issues. Limit the number of resources for each website so the server runs smoothly.
- Easily install third-party applications like WordPress, Joomla, Magento, Laravel, etc.
- Secure websites with SSL installation. Access the file manager and database for each website from within the panel.
- Free web hosting control panels save you money, and you can get hands-on before you go for a pro plan.
- Since cPanel is expensive, you can choose free & paid cPanel alternatives.
- You may get into a mess if you always manage web hosting through the command line.
- It gets troublesome at times to configure multiple sites on a single virtual server.
FAQs on Free Web Hosting Control Panels
What is the best open source web hosting control panel?
My favorite and most used open source web hosting control panel is CyberPanel. I use it to host my websites with VPS. It is easy and helps manage sites effortlessly.
What is the best hosting control panel?
Although cPanel is considered as the best web control panel, it isn’t free. To help you pick a free control panel, I have listed some of the best free and open source web hosting control panels.
Do I need a hosting control panel?
A web hosting control panel is needed only when you choose an Unmanaged VPS. When you choose a Managed VPS, or Cloud hosting, it comes with an in-built control panel.
What is the best alternative to cPanel?
The best alternative to cPanel is Plesk and is chosen by most of the web hosting companies. But when it comes to free web hosting control panels, then nothing beats CyberPanel.
Conclusion
The free web hosting control panels list shared here consists of powerful control panels. Don’t think that since these are free, you would have to compromise on the features.
If you look at CyberPanel, it is one of the best free web hosting control panels with one-click SSL and WordPress + LSCache.
Pick up one of the open-source control panels and host your site on VPS effortlessly.
