CPanel and Parallels Plesk Panel from the point of view of a hoster. Part two

Hello. I continue to publish a translation of the epic comparison of cPanel and Parallels Plesk Panel 10.2, which was released on the pages of TheHostingNews.com. The first part about the review of the functional of both products studied is published here . Today we are talking about the possibilities of integrating panels with other products (including third-party developers), as well as automation, which is increasingly being mentioned in relation to hosting.



In the second part of the review, the cPanel and Parallels Plesk Panel functionality will be reviewed from the point of view of three user categories:
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- Hosters of all sizes, including large ones (from 1500 customers)
- Web developers who create websites for customers and these sites themselves lead, having thus an average of 60 clients
- IT professionals and end users.

In the USA and Europe, hosting is developing towards automating internal business processes, as well as towards selfcare services. The client is invited to install plug-ins and additional applications on their own - for example, supplement the site with a photo gallery or fasten an online store to it. Hosters abroad are intensively developing this part of their business. The new trend has already arrived in Russia. Therefore, the integration of panels with another software is an option “for growth”, which can bring in money without investing in a new hosting software and hardware.

For end-users / IT pros

Parameter	Parallels plesk	CPanel
Vendor support	Parallels partners and resellers are expected to support their customers on their own, but Parallels provides all Plesk users with free installation, migration, and migration assistance. The cost of support when contacting Parallels directly is from $ 75 to $ 299 per incident.	In the case of a monthly subscription, cPanel customers receive support free of charge. Priority or emergency telephone support is paid and costs $ 65 per incident. Bulk cheaper - you can buy 10 calls for $ 300.
Add-ons	In the Applications section of the panel, both paid and free applications are available. They are packed in APS, they can be easily managed. There are actually a lot of add-ons - for example, anti-virus modules.	Plug-ins and add-ins for cPanel must be licensed for this control panel. Therefore, there are not so many of them.
Third Party Products	Third-party vendor products are available through the Storefront and integrated into one click.	There are quite a few applications compatible with cPanel, for example, the Fantastico script library. But it is paid.
Documentation	Plesk Panel 10 documentation is available on the vendor website: www.parallels.com products / plesk / documentation /	cPanel provides a fairly large array of documentation at: docs.cpanel.net

For reseller / web developer

Parameter	Parallels plesk	CPanel
Migration	Provides free migration of control panel and billing	Free Migration Control Panel
Security	Plesk Panel provides remote procedure calls via API or XML. Authentication takes place via HTTP_AUTH_PASSWD. PPP 10 allows you to use a key for remote access, but this key is generated by API. I liked it: the admin password is randomly generated for the first login. Also login is possible under the login and password of the root user.	Remote access is one of the key cPanel options. It is used with any API for user authentication.
Community	forum.parallels.com . More than 100 thousand registered users and more than 2.2 thousand active.	forums.cpanel.net . More than 120 thousand registered users and more than 2.5 thousand active.
Licensing Model	Two types of licenses - monthly or forever. Per month with no limit on the number of domains - $ 69.99. For 100 domains - $ 39.99. Forever - $ 1399.	Monthly use is sold through resellers. Subscription for 1, 2 and 3 years is sold directly. All licenses - for an unlimited number of domains. A month costs $ 25-55. In a year - $ 425. For two years - $ 775. For three years - $ 1075.
API	Parallels provides remote invocation of API procedures using XML and HTTP that are easily integrated.	cPanel has XML API and JSON API. With their help, you can implement access by roles, which allows you to customize the interface or even create your own interface for cPanel subsystems.
Add-ons	It is possible to add resaleable services (antivirus, antispam, tomcat, mobile sites). All this is offered through the Storefront.	Sold add-ons are available from third-party developers. Speech about Fantastico, Softacolous or RV Skin.

For large hosters

Parameter	Parallels plesk	CPanel
Upgrade	The upgrade comes with RTM packages. Within 30 days from the moment of the new version / feature, all customers receive information about the update. Micro updates can be turned on or off. Upgrade to the new version must be initiated by the user, that is, manually.	Automatic updates in cPanel make sure that the most current software version is installed.
Clustering / High Availability	The billing system integrated into Plesk can be used to allocate server resources in accordance with the tariff plans. However, this feature cannot be called full clustering.	The cPanel clustering is limited to DNS. In another case, the control panel starts all services on one server.
Branding	Starting from version 10.1, the Plesk interface can be customized in preferred colors and put the desired background. Cool: now in Plesk there is a special wizard for creating custom buttons, which is accessible from inside the panel.	In cPanel there is an interactive editor with which you can customize the interface, background, colors and logo.
Built-in billing system	Business Manager. Currently, built-in billing only offers Parallels. Therefore, Plesk is out of competition here, especially since Business Manager is a real advantage of Plesk. In addition to creating accounts that are no longer bound to domains, for a client, this means some kind of web space where he can get multiple domains on the same file structure. That is, we have a transitional stage to Parallels Automation. In other words, Business Manager makes Parallels Plesk Panel a “boxed” solution for creating a small hosting company - even if on a single server. In addition, thanks to the integration of billing in the control panel, you can try various options for the gradual transfer from free basic services to better paid services.
Additional customization account settings	With the help of Business Manager, you can make changes to the settings of the customer, and these changes will immediately appear in the account options and in the billing system. At the same time, changes made in Plesk will not entail changes in billing (this can be useful in some cases). Due to the simplicity of the interface in Plesk, you can add those customers who will not use the API.
Order form	Business Manager provides a full-featured interface for the end user. The system can display plans for user groups (Windows / Linux hosting) and take into account the cyclical nature of the load in order to distribute it efficiently. When the tariff plan falls into the basket, the user is informed about what he bought and how much it costs. Users spend “past” additional options that, if deemed necessary, they can add to the order in a few clicks.
Table of comparison of tariff plans	Parallels Business Manager builds a comparison table.
SSL certificates	SSL certificates are sold through Business Manager by default
Website Widgets	This is a customization feature, which was invented for those users who want to make their own order form. PHP snippets provide quick access to Business Manager features.
Payment gateways	Business Manager supports more than 20 payment gateways, including those from third-party developers.

In the next series, which will be released tomorrow, it will be possible to summarize the analysis of the capabilities of Plesk Panel and cPanel.