What Precisely is cPanel Website Hosting?
For your information, it's good to be aware that most of the cPanel-based Website Hosting offers on the present hosting marketplace are provided by a quite unsubstantial marketing niche (as far as annual money flow is concerned) dubbed hosting reseller. Reseller hosting is a kind of a small-size business segment, which generates an immense quantity of different web hosting trademarks, yet furnishing one and the same services: mainly cPanel web hosting services. This is bad news for everyone. Why? Because at least 98% of the web hosting offers on the whole website hosting market supply exactly the same solution: cPanel. There's no difference at all. Even the cPanel Website Hosting prices are alike. Very much alike. Giving those who demand a top web hosting service practically no other hosting platform/website hosting CP alternative. So, there is simply one fact: out of more than two hundred thousand hosting trademarks in the world, the non-cPanel based ones are less than 2 percent! Less than 2%, mark that one...
200k "Website Hosting suppliers", all cPanel-based, yet differently labeled
The Website Hosting "diversity" and the web hosting "offers" Google presents to all of us come down to just one solution: cPanel. Under 100's of thousands of different web hosting brand names. Assume you are merely an ordinary guy who's not very well aware of (as most of us) with the website development processes and the web hosting platforms, which actually power the various domains and web portals. Are you ready to make your hosting choice? Is there any web hosting alternative you can opt for? Sure there is, today there are more than two hundred thousand web hosting distributors out there. Formally. Then where is the problem? Here's where: more than 98 percent of these more than two hundred thousand different hosting brand names worldwide will give you strictly the same cPanel website hosting Control Panel and platform, labeled differently, with the same price tags! WOW! That's how large the variety on the contemporary website hosting market is... Full stop.
The Website Hosting LOTTO we are all part of
Simple arithmetic reveals that to come across a non-cPanel based web hosting service provider is a mammoth strike of luck. There is a less than 1 in 50 chance that an event like that will occur! Less than 1 in 50...
The advantages and disadvantages of the cPanel Website Hosting solution
Let's not be unfair with cPanel. At least, in the years 2001-2004 cPanel was modish and presumably answered all hosting market preconditions. In short, cPanel can do the trick if you have only one domain name to host. But, if you have more domain names...
Downside Number One: An idiotic domain folder configuration
If you have two or more domain names, though, be extra cautious not to erase completely the add-on ones (that's how cPanel will dub each subsequent hosted domain, which is not the default one: an add-on domain name). The files of the add-on domain names are very easy to remove on the web 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 try not to remove the files of the add-on domain names, please. Discover for yourself how marvelous cPanel's domain folder structure is:
public_html (here my-default-domain.com is placed)public_html/my-family (a folder part of my-default-domain.com)
public_html/my-second-domain.com (an add-on domain)
public_html/my-second-wife (a folder part of my-default-domain.com)
public_html/my-second-wife.net (an add-on domain)
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 name)
Are you becoming confused? We doubtlessly are!
Shortcoming No.2: The same e-mail folder system
The mail folder structure on the server is precisely the same as that of the domains... Repeating the same mistake twice?!? The admin guys firmly enhance their belief in God when handling the e-mail folders on the electronic mail server, hoping not to mess things up too irreparably.
Negative Aspect No.3: A complete lack of domain name administration interfaces
Do we need to bring up the utter shortage of a modern domain name manipulation interface - a location where you can: register/migrate/renew/park or manage domains, change domain names' Whois details, protect the Whois info, edit/set up name servers (DNS) and Domain Name System resource records? cPanel does not include such a "contemporary" tool at all. That's a major shortcoming. An unforgettable one, we want to add...
Weakness Number Four: Multiple login places (min two, maximum three)
How about the necessity for an additional login to avail of the invoicing, domain name and technical support management platform? That's apart from the cPanel user account login credentials you've been already given by the cPanel-based Website Hosting distributor. At times, depending on the billing transaction tool (principally made for cPanel solely) the cPanel Website Hosting company is making use of, the eager users can wind up with 2 extra login places (1: the invoicing/domain name administration GUI; 2: the ticket support GUI), winding up with a total of 3 user login places (counting cPanel).
Negative Aspect Number Five: More than 120 web hosting Control Panel areas to pick up... briskly
cPanel presents to your attention more than 120 sections inside the website hosting CP. It's a superb idea to get to know each one of them. And you'd better get familiar with them quickly... That's way too impudent on cPanel's side.
With all due appreciation, we have a rhetorical question for all cPanel Website Hosting distributors:
As far as we know, it's not the year 2001, is it? Note that one as well...
| Basic | Advanced | Value | Premier |
| Unlimited storage | Unlimited storage | Unlimited storage | Unlimited storage |
| Unlimited bandwidth | Unlimited bandwidth | Unlimited bandwidth | Unlimited bandwidth |
| 1 website hosted | 5 websites hosted | Unlimited websites hosted | Unlimited websites hosted |
| 30-Day Free Trial | 30-Day Free Trial | 30-Day Free Trial | 30-Day Free Trial |
| $6.25 / month | $8.75 / month | $17.08 / month | $21.25 / month |