What In Fact is cPanel Website Hosting?

For your info, it's useful to know that the majority of the cPanel-based hosting offerings on the contemporary website hosting marketplace are provided by a very insignificant marketing segment (when it comes to annual capital flow) named hosting reseller. Reseller website hosting is a sort of a small-scale marketing niche, which generates a vast amount of different web hosting brand names, yet supplying absolutely the same thing: mainly cPanel web hosting services. This is bad news for everyone. Why? Due to the fact that at least ninety eight percent of the web hosting offerings on the whole website hosting market furnish literally the same service: cPanel. There's no diversity at all. Even the cPanel-based hosting price tags are identical. Very identical. Giving those who need a top web hosting service almost no other web hosting platform/CP choice. Thus, there is only one fact: out of more than 200k web hosting trademarks all over the world, the non-cPanel based ones are less than 2%! Less than two percent, mind that one...

Two hundred thousand "hosting suppliers", all cPanel-based, yet uniquely labeled

The hosting "variety" and the website hosting "offerings" Google shows to us come down to merely one and the very same thing: cPanel. Under hundreds of thousands of different web hosting brand names. Suppose you are simply an ordinary chap who's not very well familiar with (as most of us) with the website development processes and the web hosting platforms, which actually power the respective domains and web sites. Are you ready to make your web hosting pick? Is there any web hosting alternative you can choose? Sure there is, now there are more than two hundred thousand website hosting service providers in existence. Officially. Then where is the problem? Here's where: more than ninety eight percent of these more than two hundred thousand unique website hosting brand names around the world will offer you literally the same cPanel hosting CP and platform, named in a different way, with exactly the same price tags! WOW! That's how immense the diversity on the present website hosting marketplace is... Period.

The hosting LOTTO we are all participating in

Simple arithmetic shows that to come across a non-cPanel based web hosting distributor is a gigantic strike of luck. There is a less than 1 in fifty chance that a phenomenon like that will take place! Less than 1 in 50...

The strengths and weaknesses of the cPanel hosting solution

Let's not be merciless with cPanel. At least, in the years 2001-2004 cPanel was modern and perhaps fulfilled all web hosting business requirements. To put it briefly, cPanel can do the job for you if you have only one single domain name to host. But, if you have more domain names...

Shortcoming No.1: A laughable domain folder system

If you have two or more domains, though, be very careful not to remove fully the add-on ones (that's how cPanel will dub each subsequent hosted domain name, which is not the default one: an add-on domain). The files of the add-on domain names are quite easy to erase on the hosting server, since they all are placed into the root folder of the default domain, which is the very popular public_html folder. Each add-on domain is a folder situated inside the folder of the default domain. Like a sub-folder. Next time attempt not to remove the files of the add-on domains, please. Decide for yourself how good cPanel's domain 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)
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)
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 perplexed? We definitely are!

Downside Number Two: The same e-mail folder structure

The e-mail folder arrangement on the web server is exactly the same as that of the domain names... Making the same mistake twice?!? The admin guys strongly reinforce their belief in God when tackling the mail folders on the email server, hoping not to muck things up too seriously.

Weak Side No.3: An absolute deficiency of domain name management GUIs

Do we need to point out the total deficiency of a modern domain name manipulation user interface - a location where you can: register/migrate/renew/park or manage domains, modify domain names' Whois info, secure the Whois information, edit/set up name servers (DNS) and DNS records? cPanel does not provide such a "contemporary" tool at all. That's an immense problem. An inexcusable one, we would like to point out...

Problem Number Four: Multiple user login places (minimum two, maximum three)

How about the need for another login to access the invoicing, domain name and tech support management interface? That's beside the cPanel login credentials you've been already supplied by the cPanel hosting firm. Now and then, depending on the invoicing tool (particularly designed for cPanel solely) the cPanel hosting firm is utilizing, the keen customers can end up with 2 additional login locations (1: the billing/domain management tool; 2: the ticket support tool), ending up with an aggregate of 3 user login places (counting cPanel).

Negative Sign No.5: More than a hundred and twenty web hosting CP menus to get acquainted with... fast

cPanel offers to your attention 120+ menus inside the Control Panel. It's a remarkable idea to become familiar with each and every one of them. And you'd better become familiar with them fast... That's quite impudent on cPanel's side.

With all due veneration, we have a rhetorical question for all cPanel hosting companies:

As far as we are informed, it's not the year 2001, is it? Remark that one too...