WHM/cpanel and Plesk both, are the web hosting panel which provides graphical interface to host and manage domains.
Here we will learn about the differences between them.
1. Operating System :
WHM/CPanel : It supports on Linux operating system and can be installed only on Centos/Redhat Operating system.
Plesk: It supports both windows and linux ad in linux it can be installed on both Debian based and Redhat based Linux Operating System.
2. User Interface :
WHM/Cpanel : WHM and CPanel provides 2-different interfaces. WHM provides interface to control multiple accounts like creating, suspending and deleting accounts. Also it allows to manage services.
There will be different cpanel for each account present in WHM. CPanel provides you to manage the domains like managing files, databases, email accounts etc.
Plesk : Plesk provides 2-different user view. One is Power User View and other is Service Provider View.
In Power user view, it is usually used if there is only one customer or client that needs access.
In Service Provider view, it is usually used if there are multiple customers and each requires their separate access to server.
3. Performance :
WHM/CPanel : It loads quite faster as compared to plesk. It focussed on optimising the performance, by reducing the usage of memory. Due to which account creation installing packages is very fast.
Plesk : It is slower than WHM/CPanel, it requires high memory usage, due to which account creation and package installation takes more time as compared to WHM.
4. Securities :
Though both panels are very much focussed on providing best securities for the domains, they use different plug-ins, for e.g.
i) WHM/Cpanel uses Comodo SSL(by default) and Let’s Encrypt SSL(need to install package) to secure the site using Auto-SSL feature. Whereas, Plesk uses Let’s Encrypt SSL to secure the domain. (These SSL are free of cost and provided by the panel)
ii) WHM/CPanel uses CpHulk for the protection from brute force attack whereas Plesk uses Fail2Ban.
iii) In WHM/CPanel, we can assign which I.P to use which feature using Host Access Control feature, whereas this feature is not available in plesk by default.
5. Mail Server :
WHM/CPanel : It uses Exim as mail server, it is quite fast and can be easily integrated with 3rd party mailing services like sendgrid. Easy to troubleshoot, if any issues occur.
Plesk : It uses Postfix(by default) as mail server. Troubleshooting can be little tough as compared to exim.
6. Accessing the Panel :
WHM/CPanel : WHM is accessed using below URL’s:
URL : http://I.P:2086 or https://I.P:2087(with SSL)
Note : You can replace I.P with the hostname of the server. Or domain name(if you have reseller access to the server).
CPanel can be accessed using below URL’s:
URL : http://I.P:2082 or https://I.P:2083(with SSL)
Note : You can replace I.P with the domain name which you want to access.
Plesk : Plesk can be accessed using below URL’s:
URL : http://I.P:8880 or https://I.P:8443(with SSL).