cPanel Web Hosting Unmasked

For your information, it's useful to be aware that the majority of the cPanel-based hosting offerings on the current web hosting market are supplied by a quite insignificant marketing niche (as far as yearly cash flow is concerned) known as reseller hosting. Reseller website hosting is a kind of a small business segment, which furnishes a big quantity of different web hosting trademarks, yet offering precisely the same services: mainly cPanel web hosting solutions. This is bad news for everyone. Why? Because of the fact that at least ninety eight percent of the website hosting offerings on the whole website hosting market supply strictly the same thing: cPanel. There's no variety at all. Even the cPanel-based hosting prices are alike. Very much alike. Giving those who require a top web hosting service virtually no other hosting platform/web hosting CP alternative. So, there is merely a single fact: out of more than 200,000 web hosting trademarks around the world, the non-cPanel based ones are less than two percent! Less than 2%, mind that one...

200,000 "hosting vendors", all cPanel-based, yet differently dubbed

The hosting "diversity" and the website hosting "offers" Google presents to us come down to just one thing: cPanel. Under hundreds of 1000's of different web hosting trademarked names. Imagine you are merely a regular bloke who's not very familiar with (as most of us) with the web site development procedures and the website hosting platforms, which in fact power the respective domain names and web sites. Are you prepared to make your web hosting choice? Is there any web hosting option you can opt for? Of course there is, nowadays there are more than two hundred thousand web hosting service providers out there. Officially. Then where is the problem? Here's where: more than 98% of these 200,000+ unique web hosting brands worldwide will give you the same cPanel CP and platform, branded in a different way, with precisely the same price tags! WOW! That's how large the diversity on the contemporary web hosting marketplace is... Period.

The hosting LOTTO we are all part of

Simple arithmetic shows that to run into a non-cPanel based web hosting supplier is a gigantic strike of luck. There is a less than 1 in fifty chance that a phenomenon like that will occur! Less than 1 in 50...

The strengths and weaknesses of the cPanel hosting solution

Let's not be harsh with cPanel. At least, in the years 2001-2004 cPanel was modish and possibly fulfilled all web hosting business requirements. In brief, cPanel can do the job for you if you have just one domain to host. But, if you have more domain names...

Problem No.1: A dumb domain folder arrangement

If you have 2 or more domain names, though, be extra watchful not to erase completely the add-on ones (that's how cPanel will refer to each new hosted domain, which is not the default one: an add-on domain name). The files of the add-on domains are quite simple to remove on the web hosting server, since they all are created into the root folder of the default domain name, which is the very well known public_html folder. Each add-on domain name is a folder situated inside the folder of the default domain name. Like a sub-folder. Next time try not to erase the files of the add-on domain names, please. Examine for yourself how wonderful cPanel's domain name folder configuration 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 name)
public_html/my-second-wife (a folder part of my-default-domain.com)
public_html/my-second-wife.net (an add-on domain name)
public_html/my-third-domain.com (an add-on domain name)
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 name)

Are you growing puzzled? We undeniably are!

Disadvantage Number Two: The same e-mail folder structure

The mail folder arrangement on the hosting server is precisely the same as that of the domain names... Repeating the very same error twice?!? The admin chaps firmly increase their faith in God when managing the email folders on the email server, hoping not to mess things up too severely.

Downside Number Three: A complete deficiency of domain manipulation interfaces

Do we need to cite the absolute lack of a modern domain name management user interface - a location where you can: register/move/renew/park or manage domain names, modify domains' Whois details, secure the Whois information, change/create name servers (DNS) and Domain Name System resource records? cPanel does not offer such a "modern" tool at all. That's a mammoth inconvenience. An inexcusable one, we wish to point out...

Disadvantage Number 4: Many login places (minimum 2, max three)

What about the necessity for an extra login to make use of the billing transaction, domain name and tech support management system? That's apart from the cPanel login credentials you've been already supplied by the cPanel hosting vendor. Occasionally, depending on the invoice transaction tool (especially designed for cPanel only) the cPanel hosting service provider is using, the earnest clients can wind up with two additional login places (1: the invoicing/domain management GUI; 2: the trouble ticket support software platform), winding up with a total of 3 login places (including cPanel).

Negative Aspect No.5: 120+ web hosting Control Panel departments to pick up... promptly

cPanel offers for your consideration 120+ departments inside the web hosting CP. It's an excellent idea to get familiar with each one of them. And you'd better learn them promptly... That's extremely impertinent on cPanel's side.

With all due veneration, we have a rhetorical question for all cPanel-based hosting vendors:

As far as we are aware of, it's not the year 2001, is it? Note that one too...