Is there a free web hosting control panel with enough features, reliability and security to replace cPanel, DirectAdmin or Plesk and help you manage your dedicated, cloud or virtual private server? Can you really trust it? Why do you need a web control panel in the first place? What are the main features that paid control panels offer and are they available in a free alternative?

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These are the questions we will answer in this tech debate and we will also briefly discuss two of the best free options available. A few years ago there was no viable free alternative on the market, but now the situation has changed thanks to the open source community.

You might be starting to think, why do you need a free replacement, when there are better paid CPs that are mature, feature-packed, bug-free and easy to work with? cPanel is by far the most popular control panel for server and website management to date. It has been around for over two decades. cPanel is part of a software suite called cPanel & WHM that allows administrators, resellers and end-user website owners to manage various aspects of website and server management through a standard web browser using a three-tiered structure. cPanel displays important statistics about your server's performance and gives you access to a range of modules including Files, Preferences, Databases, Web Applications, Domains, Metrics, Security, Software, Advanced and Email modules.

A free control panel is not always a good replacement, but sometimes you don’t need a paid control panel and a free control panel can be just as good. We will explore some of these use cases. The situation will also change in the coming years. With the contributions of the open-source community, these softwares will become better and more mainstream.

The prices of these paid control panels like cPanel are not very reasonable for small businesses, early stage startups and developers. Their single license plans start at $15 per month, which is more than most users pay per month for their cloud servers.

While your web server can be configured using just the command line and complex-looking code, that’s just not practical. It’s so much easier to use a point-and-click graphical interface. Fortunately, there are a few alternative open source control panels available for free download that offer similar functionality.

Links:
CentOS Web Panel: http://centos-webpanel.com/
CentOS Web Panel is a free web hosting control panel designed for quick and easy management of servers (Dedicated & VPS) without the tedious work and hassle of using the terminal or SSH console every time you want to do something. The platform offers a great number of server management options and features in its control panel suite.

ISPConfig: https://www.ispconfig.org/
ISPConfig is a widely used Open Source Hosting Control Panel for Linux, licensed under BSD license and developed by the company ISPConfig UG. ISPConfig has many features that make it one of the most used hosting platforms.

HowToForge ISPConfig Tutorials: https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorials/ispconfig/
If you need in-depth ISPConfig installation guides for Linux versions like Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, and Fedora, you can use the HowToForge guides.

If you want to learn more about MongoDB: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8xsuFgCRkU
MongoDB is a popular NoSQL database. CWP supports MongoDB and can install and manage it.

If there is any other free alternative worth checking out in the future, don't forget to mention it in the comments.

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