If you are thinking of starting a new web hosting business then you should go for some commercial control panel because open source & free control panels are good only for personal use. Open source control panels doesn’t provide much flexibility in integration with billing system, creating custom templates and plugins etc. Below the 3 top used control panels by web hosting companies
1. cPanel
cPanel is a Linux based web hosting control panel that provides a graphical interface and automation tools designed to simplify the process of hosting a web site. cPanel utilizes a 3 tier structure that provides capabilities for administrators, resellers, and end-user website owners to control the various aspects of website and server administration through a standard web browser.
In addition to the GUI, cPanel also has command line and API-based access that allows third party software vendors, web hosting organizations, and developers to automate standard system administration processes.
cPanel is designed to function either as a dedicated server or virtual private server. The latest cPanel version supports installation on CentOS, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), and CloudLinux.
Application-based support includes Apache, PHP, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Perl, and BIND (DNS). Email based support includes POP3, IMAP, SMTP services. cPanel is accessed via https on port 2083.
2. Plesk
The Parallels Plesk Panel (Parallels Plesk Control Panel, Plesk Server Administrator, PSA, or just Plesk) is a commercial web hosting automation program. Originally released under the U.S. company Plesk Inc. and designed in Novosibirsk, Russia, Plesk was acquired by SWSoft in July 2003. SWSoft renamed themselves under the Parallels name (a brand which had been acquired by SWSoft) in 2008.
Parallels Plesk Panel allows a server administrator to set up new websites, reseller accounts, e-mail accounts, and DNS entries through a web-based interface. The administrator can create client and site templates, which predetermine resource-allocation parameters for the domains and/or clients.
Parallels Plesk Panel for Linux/Unix supports multiple POSIX platforms, including Debian, Fedora, FreeBSD, Red Hat Linux, SUSE and Ubuntu. Parallels Plesk Panel for Windows supports Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 operating systems.
Parallels Plesk Panel installs custom versions of or manages versions of MySQL and PostgreSQL databases (Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine under Windows), Apache Tomcat Java platform server, and ColdFusion server.
3. DirectAdmin
DirectAdmin is web hosting control panel software. It lets you administer your web site and hosting options using a graphical, web-based interface. You can manage an unlimited number of websites, email accounts, etc. using a DirectAdmin control panel. DirectAdmin automates tasks so that web servers can be easily shared and give web site owners a way to quickly set-up and manage web sites. DirectAdmin is compatible with several versions of Red Hat, Fedora Core, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, FreeBSD, Ubuntu and Debian.
I agree that free and open source control panels just aren’t there yet with the paid options. However, I would add another paid web hosting CP to this list. InterWorx is also a great option. It is more intuitive and feature rich than some of the open source options like webmin or zPanel. It’s not as popular as cPanel, but it has a growing fan base and is definitely a control panel to be watched. A quick feature comparison also shows that InterWorx is a ways ahead of the cPanel, Plesk, and DirectAdmin.