What Indeed is cPanel Web Hosting?
For your info, it's useful to be aware that most of the cPanel-based web hosting offerings on the current web hosting market are generated by a quite inconsiderable marketing niche (as far as annual capital flow is concerned) known as hosting reseller. Reseller hosting is a type of a small-sized business segment, which supplies a vast amount of different web hosting trademarks, yet offering precisely the same solutions: mostly cPanel web hosting services. This is bad news for everyone. Why? Because of the fact that at least 98% of the website hosting offerings on the whole website hosting market provide exactly the same service: cPanel. There's no difference at all. Even the cPanel web hosting prices are identical. Very identical. Leaving for those who demand a top web hosting service practically no other website hosting platform/web hosting CP alternative. Thus, there is simply one fact: out of more than 200,000 web hosting trademarks all over the world, the non-cPanel based ones are less than two percent! Less than 2%, note that one...
200k "web hosting distributors", all cPanel-based, yet uniquely dubbed
The web hosting "variety" and the web hosting "offers" Google reveals to all of us boil down to just one and the very same solution: cPanel. Under hundreds of thousands of different website hosting brand names. Assume you are just an average fellow who's not very familiar with (as the majority of us) with the web site development processes and the web hosting platforms, which in fact power the different domain names and web sites. Are you prepared to make your hosting choice? Is there any web hosting variant you can opt for? Sure there is, nowadays there are more than 200,000 website hosting corporations in existence. Officially. Then where is the difficulty? Here's where: more than ninety eight percent of these 200k+ unique hosting brand names across the world will give you strictly the same cPanel Control Panel and platform, branded differently, with strictly the same price tags! WOW! That's how huge the diversity on the present website hosting marketplace is... Period.
The web hosting LOTTO we are all part of
Simple math demonstrates that to run into a non-cPanel based web hosting firm is a gigantic strike of luck. There is a less than 1 in fifty chance that a thing like that will take place! Less than one in fifty...
The pros and cons of the cPanel web hosting solution
Let's not be pitiless with cPanel. After all, in the years 2001-2004 cPanel was trendy and possibly answered all web hosting industry preconditions. In brief, cPanel can do the job for you if you have only a single domain to host. But, if you have more domains...
Negative Point Number 1: An idiotic domain name folder arrangement
If you have 2 or more domain names, though, be extremely watchful not to erase entirely the add-on ones (that's how cPanel will refer to each next hosted domain name, which is not the default one: an add-on domain name). The files of the add-on domains are very easy to remove on the server, since they all are set up into the root folder of the default domain name, which is the quite famous public_html folder. Each add-on domain name is a folder placed inside the folder of the default domain. Like a sub-folder. Next time attempt not to remove the files of the add-on domain names, please. Verify for yourself how terrific cPanel's domain folder structure is:
public_html (here my-default-domain.com is located)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 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 certainly are!
Problem No.2: The same e-mail folder arrangement
The electronic mail folder arrangement on the server is absolutely the same as that of the domain names... Making the very same mistake twice?!? The sysadmin boys firmly fortify their faith in God when dealing with the electronic mail folders on the email server, hoping not to botch things up too gravely.
Weak Side No.3: A sheer lack of domain management GUIs
Do we need to point out the entire absence of a contemporary domain administration interface - a location where you can: register/move/renew/park or manage domain names, edit domain names' Whois information, protect the Whois information, change/create nameservers (DNS) and DNS records? cPanel does not offer such a "modern" GUI at all. That's a big drawback. An unforgettable one, we wish to add...
Inconvenience Number 4: Many user login places (minimum two, max 3)
How about the necessity for an additional login to use the invoicing transaction, domain name and tech support administration menu? That's apart from the cPanel user account login credentials you've been already provided by the cPanel-based web hosting vendor. Now and then, based on the invoicing tool (principally made for cPanel solely) the cPanel web hosting corporation is availing of, the eager clients can end up with 2 extra login locations (1: the invoice transaction/domain name management menu; 2: the ticket support tool), ending up with an aggregate of 3 login locations (including cPanel).
Inconvenience No.5: 120+ Control Panel menus to grasp... promptly
cPanel presents to your attention more than 120 menus inside the website hosting CP. It's a remarkable idea to become acquainted with each and every one of them. And you'd better get to know them rapidly... That's way too insolent on cPanel's side.
With all due veneration, we have a rhetorical question for all cPanel web hosting vendors:
As far as we know, it's not the year 2001, is it? Note that one too...