Let’s assume that you are looking forward to starting a new business, and you chose to sell a web hosting service. As you don’t have direct access to the server or don’t have it, reselling web hosting is the best option for you.
Now there are various types of web hosting out there entailing shared hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated hosting, and many more. Each has its unique characteristics and role to play. Among all web hosting reselling business out there, cPanel reselling and DirectAdmin reselling have become popular owing to their convenient service functionalities.
It may become confusing at some point that what exactly is cPanel reselling business means. Your confusion may applicable for DirectAdmin reselling hosting business as well.
What exactly cPanel and DirectAdmin reselling mean
To begin with, cPanel hosting means when a customer is taking hosting from a hosting provider, they will get a control panel like interface so that they can manage their site efficiently and effectively.
To put cPanel in plain words, cPanel signifies the control panel that provides a powerful graphical interface and automation tools designed with a view to simplifying the site management process for site owners.
Linking to the definition, cPanel reselling hosting means you are selling hosting to your customer and sharing cPanel with them from your end. Simply understand that you are also distributing the centralized cPanel tool that you bought from the hosting selling companies.
On the other hand, the DirectAdmin panel is similar to the cPanel as it also works as an assisting tool for the owner of a site and manages it like a pro. As you can see, cPanel is a centralized control panel, but the DirectAdmin panel is the dedicated control panel for the owners.
So, selling hosting with DirectAdmin panel means you will be giving a dedicated admin panel to your customer that you bought from the hosting selling provider.
Difference between cPanel and DirectAdmin
You may become confused easily to understand both cPanel and DirectAdmin work like an admin panel, then what are the characteristics that set them aside from each other.
Here are the most noticeable difference between cPanel and DirectAdmin panel.
Access Level
The access level is the first and foremost distinguishing component of these two types of panels.
cPanel
The owner of a website can access the cPanel using port 2082 (non-SSL) and port 2086 (SSL). The mentioned ports are accessible via direct HTTP or HTTPS:cPanel. However, using the cPanel it becomes difficult to control everything of the site because the interface limits the overall root login for multiple users. So, to resell the hosting, you will need to use the root login to create an admin account for your customer.
DirectAdmin Panel
The DirectAdmin panel is accessible from all interfaces (both SSL and non-SSL) served via port 2222 by default (lacks any mnemonic proxy path to:2222 like /WHM is to:2087).
In addition, three types of access from one interface are considered as one of the most beneficial components of the DirectAdmin panel. If you want, you can merge all the access levels in one interface in order to all features.
Besides, while selling the hosting from the DirectAdmin panel, you will be able to provide your customers ‘admin’ level access without rooting the whole system or root control panel.
Themes and Styles
Both theme and style of the control panels distinguish from each other.
cPanel
cPanel theme and style are more likely static and classic. However, there are only two types of theme available one is ‘Classic,’ and the other one is ‘Default,’ which is the present theme.
DirectAdmin
DirectAdmin panel interface is more dynamic as it has the capability to run different level users in a single-account. Note that it also uses the latest outlook in order to give its user the best experience.
SQL option
| Functions | cPanel | DirectAdmin |
| MySQL | √ | √ |
| Postgres | √ | – |
| MariaDB | √ | √ |
| Php MyAdmin | √ | √ |
Security Issue
While reselling web hosting, you need to ensure maximum security, especially when it comes to managing a website from the control panel. Taking security protocols have become essential these days in order to protect your customers’ sites from any kind of cyber-attack.
From the security aspect, here is the comparison between both cPanel and DirectAdmin panel.
cPanel
When you are buying hosting from the hosting providers to resell, you need to take either of the control panels and offer it to your customer so that your customer can manage their site easily.
You will notice that most of the hosting selling companies offer free cPanel to the resellers. As a result, there will be less security, obviously.
DirectAdmin Panel
On the other hand, the DirectAdmin panel has the maximum security protocol to ensure maximum security support to its users. Most importantly, hosting companies sell DirectAdmin panel separately, so you will have to buy it with a view to resell to your customer.
Plugins and Features
Both of the control panels offer various features and allow their users to install the plugin as per their needs. The DirectAdmin panel is the winner in the competition, of which control offers the most convenient support to its users.
The DirectAdmin panel allows its users, especially beginners, to easily manage their site as all the options are embedded in the panel’s category accordingly. Hence, users can find it easily in order to change or modify anything.
The Upshots
To summarize the whole article, it can be said that while cPanel offers all the convenient features to make the site manage the task easily, DirectAdmin panel designed to take the managing experience easier with its latest updates as well as its features.
Whether you go for cPanel or DirectAdmin, both will serve you the purpose, but the features are crucial in terms of distinguishing them from each other.