Comparison as of September 2026, based on each publisher’s official documentation. Reference versions: Easypanel 2.36.0, Dokploy 0.30.7, Cloudron 10, cPanel & WHM 134 and later, Plesk Obsidian 18.0.81, HestiaCP 1.10.5, YunoHost 12.1 (13.0, built on Debian 13, is in beta). Licences and free tiers change quickly: check them with the publisher before you commit.
Three families, not seven rivals
A web hosting panel thinks in accounts and domains. An app platform thinks in Git repositories and Docker images. A self-hosting suite thinks in apps installed for people: Nextcloud for the team, a webmail, a wiki.
The comparison
The last four columns describe the automatic installation offered in the OnetSolutions console, when you order or reinstall a VPS. The minimums are those of that installation, not necessarily the publisher’s.
Pick by what you do
You deploy your own applications: Easypanel or Dokploy
Both build your apps from a Git repository or a Docker image, run them in containers next to their databases, and issue HTTPS certificates.- Pick Dokploy if you want an open source tool with no licence to pay for. It needs at least 2 vCPU.
- Pick Easypanel if its template catalogue saves you time and 3 projects are enough, or if you accept a paid per-server plan beyond that. It runs on 1 vCPU.
You host websites for customers: cPanel, Plesk or HestiaCP
- Pick cPanel & WHM if your customers or your team already know cPanel, or if you resell hosting accounts. The licence is priced by account count: Solo (1), Admin (5), Pro (30), Premier (100 and more). It is also the heaviest: 4 GB of RAM minimum and up to 45 minutes to install.
- Pick Plesk if you mostly run WordPress sites and prefer Ubuntu. Editions differ by domain count: Web Admin (10), Web Pro (30), Web Host (unlimited). Web Admin ships a reduced WP Toolkit, not the full one.
- Pick HestiaCP if you want websites, email, databases and DNS without paying for a licence. It is lightweight, GPLv3, and built on Nginx and/or Apache with PHP-FPM, Exim and Dovecot, and BIND. The trade-off: no commercial publisher behind it, so support comes from the community.
You self-host services for a team or a non-profit: Cloudron or YunoHost
Both install apps from their catalogue, manage users and run a mail server.- Pick YunoHost if you want free software (AGPLv3) with no licence, backed by a volunteer community. It runs on 1 vCPU.
- Pick Cloudron if you want a commercial product with app updates, per-app backups and single sign-on. The free plan is limited to two apps; beyond that, a subscription is required.
Common pitfalls
Mixing up a panel and a One Click App. A panel cannot be combined with a One Click App on the same VPS. If all you need is one WordPress or one n8n, a One Click App may be enough. If you want to manage several sites or apps from one interface, take a panel. Leaving the licence out of the budget. cPanel, Plesk and Cloudron licences (beyond the free plan) are not included in the VPS: you buy them from the publisher once the trial or the free quota runs out. Undersizing. cPanel needs 4 GB of RAM at minimum. The others start at 2 GB, but a mail server with spam and virus filtering eats that margin fast. Size for the real workload, not for the installation alone. Leaving the first account open. Easypanel and Dokploy make the first account created the administrator. Until you create it, anyone who reacheshttp://<IP>:3000 can do it instead of you. Create it as soon as the installation finishes.
Showing up to Cloudron without DNS. Cloudron will not finish its setup without a domain. It needs my.your-domain and the wildcard *.your-domain pointed at the server. Check before you open the wizard:
Further reading
- Control panels overview: ordering, reinstalling and tracking the installation
- Per-panel guides: Easypanel, Dokploy, Cloudron, cPanel & WHM, Plesk, HestiaCP, YunoHost
- VPS firewall: each panel has its own ports to open
- Enhanced VPS Linux security, for the layer under the panel