cPanel vs. Plesk - Side by Side Functionality Comparison
WHM / cPanel versus Plesk
For many people who are used to one control panel, switching to another can be a confusing and/or frustrating experience because the functionality you expect is not in the same place it was in the control panel you used previously.
If you are familiar with one control panel and find yourself using the other, this set of tables will help you find the features you are looking for.
We have several tables comparing each side by side:
Functionality & Common Tasks
A functional equivalent is something that accomplishes the same thing without necessarily being the same thing. However, most items in the table below are exact equivalents.
Account Setup & Security Model
Plesk and WHM/cPanel use very different security models. This is probably the biggest difference between WHM/cPanel and Plesk.
| WHM | Plesk | |
|---|---|---|
| (No equivalent in WHM/cPanel. Instead, there is one login for the entire cPanel Account, created at the same time you create the account.) |
You can create individual user accounts with their own login credentials. What a user can access depends on what User Roles and what Subscriptions have been assigned to that User. | |
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You can enable and disable functionality & icons within a cPanel by using Feature Lists. The Feature Lists are attached to Packages, which then are attached to cPanel Accounts. |
You can enable and disable functionality & icons for individual Users. These settings apply to the User and not to the Subscription (Account), so it is possible to give different levels of access to different users for the same Subscription (Account). | |
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This is how you assign resources and services to an Account. Packages are attached to Accounts in WHM. |
This is how you assign resources and services to a Subscription. Service Plans are attached to Subscriptions in Plesk. | |
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In WHM, you create an Account that creates a cPanel with the Package's properties assigned to the Account and the Feature List assigned to the Package. One login is created for the entire account, which has access to everything. |
In Plesk, you create an account by creating a Subscription, which attaches a Service Plan to a User Account. The Subscription has the resources and services defined in the associated Service Plan, and the User has access as defined by the User Role assigned to them. | |
| cPanel | Plesk | |
|
Individual FTP accounts can be created, and access can be limited to specific folders. |
Individual FTP accounts can be created, and access can be limited to specific folders. | |
|
In cPanel, you create a database, then create a database user. Then you add the database user to the database and give him permissions. |
In Plesk, you create a database (MySQL or MS SQL) and create a database user for that database.
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By default, only scripts on the server can access MySQL databases. Individual IP addresses would have to be whitelisted to have access. |
SQL Whitelist or Firewall Rules By default, only scripts on the server can access the MySQL or MS SQL databases. Individual IP addresses would have to be whitelisted to have access. On Shared Windows Hosting, HostGator has developed a SQL Whitelist tool to whitelist IP addresses you want to have access to the databases. This can be accomplished on Windows Dedicated by adding a firewall rule allowing remote access to specific IPs. | |
Note: Other versions of Plesk, such as Plesk 9 and Plesk 8, use very different security models than Plesk 10 and higher.
At the time of this writing, all new Windows shared accounts have Plesk 11.5 installed. All new Windows Dedicated Servers have Plesk 12.5 installed. Some existing Dedicated Servers may have previous versions, however.
Terminology
Another thing that is different is the terminology that is used. Items on the same line are equivalents of each other. Note that some items have no exact equivalent due to each control panel's different security models.
| cPanel | Plesk | WHM |
|---|---|---|
| cPanel | Account | |
| Service Plan | Package | |
| Feature Manager | ||
| Subscription | ||
| Webmail | Webmail | |
| Users | ||
| Parked Domains | Domain Alias | Parked Domains |
| Addon Domains | Domains | |
| Cron Job | Scheduled Task | |
| Autoresponder | Auto-Reply | |
| Forwarder (Email) | Email Alias or Email Forwarder | |
| Redirect | Forwarding (Domain) |
This table is a little more strict in interpreting equivalents than the other tables since it deals with the terminology, rather than functional equivalents (i.e. an item can be functionally equivalent without being the same thing with a different name). The other tables list functional equivalents together even if they accomplish the same thing in a different way.