OpenPanel
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy it if you run a VPS or small hosting operation and want a free, container-isolated cPanel alternative.
Comparison
OpenPanel vs cPanel
OpenPanel and cPanel both land on Depends.
cPanel
Depends
Confidence: High
Hosting resellers and agencies managing many accounts still get real value from cPanel's mature, familiar automation.
| Compare | OpenPanel | cPanel |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | VPS owners hosting multiple sites or clients | Hosting providers and resellers |
| Who it's not for | Single-site owners . shared hosting is simpler and cheaper | Solo devs with one site . bundled hosting panels already include this |
| Privacy | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.⁶ | A critical authentication bypass (CVE-2026-41940) was actively exploited in 2026; patching is mandatory.15 |
| Support quality | No support evidence in sources | Markets top-tier support; Trustpilot reviewers disagree |
| Public sentiment | Independent feedback is sparse but positive: reviewers praise customizability and value as a cPanel alternative, with no complaints surfaced.² | Users praise its ease of use but complain about price hikes, a stagnant feel, and the Jupiter redesign.11 |
| Biggest gotcha | No public security page; hard to verify hardening or incident history before committing⁶ | Licensing hikes keep coming; budget for annual price increases |
Pick OpenPanel when
- VPS owners hosting multiple sites or clients
- Small hosting providers wanting per-user isolation
- cPanel migrants avoiding license fees
- Budget-conscious self-hosters
When OpenPanel is not a fit
- Single-site owners . shared hosting is simpler and cheaper
- Non-technical users who can't run their own Linux server
- Buyers needing published security audits or a security page
- Guess: shops locked into the cPanel/WHM plugin ecosystem
Pick cPanel when
- Hosting providers and resellers
- Agencies managing many client sites
- Non-technical buyers on shared hosts
- Teams wanting the industry-default panel
When cPanel is not a fit
- Solo devs with one site . bundled hosting panels already include this
- Terminal-comfortable sysadmins; paying for a GUI is overkill
- Self-hosters wanting free, open-source panels
- Security-strict orgs; 2026 saw actively exploited auth bypasses
Sources
- OpenPanel | Next Generation Web Hosting Panelopenpanel.comofficial
- OpenPanel Reviews & Pricing 2026 . GoodFirmsgoodfirms.coreview
- Discover OpenPanel, a Real Alternative to cPanel . Astral Internetastralinternet.comreview
- Comparison of web hosting control panels . Grokipediagrokipedia.comreview
security
- OpenPanel Security page (not found)openpanel.comsecurity
- Painel Enhance . Portal do Host forumportaldohost.com.brreview
- Fastpanel two-year review . LowEndTalklowendtalk.comreview
- OpenPanel intro . DirEasy demodemo.direasy.comreview
review
- Read Customer Service Reviews of www.cpanel.comtrustpilot.comreview
review
- Goodbye cPanel : r/cpanelreddit.comreview
review
security
news