The major difference between the Plesk and cPanel web hosting control panels is that Plesk is available on both the OS- Windows and Linux, wherein cPanel is only available on the Linux operating system. The comparison between both the panels are to focus on ease of use and the pricing difference is based on the number of accounts in cPanel and number of domains in Plesk.
Major differences between both panels:
OS Compatibility
cPanel is available on the Linux server with different variants like RedHat & CentOS and not incompatible for windows.
Plesk was developed to work with both the OS, Windows and Linux, It can be installed on Debian, CentOS, Ubuntu.
User Interface
cPanel WHM provides two different interfaces. WHM provides an interface to control multiple accounts like creating, suspending, and deleting accounts. Also, it allows for managing all different accounts.
Plesk provide 2- different users view. One is Power User View and the other is Service Provider View.
Plesk and cPanel both enable users to have command line access.
Features and Tools
There are some standard sets of tools available to manage server and account management tasks that every user needs and you will find that in both the panels. Plesk and cPanel enable the following features for users to carry these out. For example
(i) App Installation
(ii) Database Management
(iii) Running FTP (File transfer protocol)
(iv) Managing Email Accounts
(v) Server logs
(vi) Maintaining user accounts
(vii) Traffic data and analytics
(viii) File Management
(ix) Managing backups
Admin Panel
Two separate login credentials are available for cPanel to manage website and WHM for server-side administrator task.
For Plesk also in service provider view, the login credentials are different for End users and server administrators.
Database Access
cPanel allows access to PhpMyAdmin for managing MySQL/MariaDB database. Plesk allows MySQL/MariaDB database for Linux and MSSQL database for Windows OS
Securities
cPanel:
(i) Let’s Encrypt to secure the site using Auto SSL features.
(ii) cPanel uses CP Hulk for the protection from brute force attack.
Plesk:
(i) It uses “Let’s Encrypt SSL” to secure the domain.
(ii) Plesk uses “Fail2Ban” which prevents the server for different attacks.
Plesk and cPanel servers are both exceptional control panel that makes it easy to use not only the website but also to manage the other workloads on the same server. Both are great control panels.
It depends on case to case basis which control panel will be more suitable based on different project requirements.