cPanel: What It Is, WHM, Pricing & Requirements

This is a working reference on cPanel — the same material our Linux server support team uses when administering cPanel and WHM servers. It covers what cPanel is, how WHM relates to it, current license pricing, supported operating systems, system requirements, and the main alternatives.

What is cPanel

cPanel is a web hosting control panel for Linux servers. It puts a graphical interface in front of the underlying stack — Apache or LiteSpeed, Exim, Dovecot, MySQL or MariaDB, PHP, BIND — so that hosting tasks that would otherwise require shell access and configuration-file edits become point-and-click operations. It has been the dominant commercial control panel in shared and reseller hosting since the early 2000s, and most hosting companies that advertise "cPanel hosting" are selling a shared account on a cPanel server. The product is developed by cPanel, L.L.C. (owned by WebPros) and documented at docs.cpanel.net.

Within a cPanel account, a user manages:

• Email — mailboxes, forwarders, autoresponders, spam filtering, webmail (Roundcube), DKIM/SPF records
• DNS — zone records for domains hosted on the account, via the Zone Editor
• Databases — MySQL/MariaDB databases and users, phpMyAdmin
• SSL/TLS — certificate installation; AutoSSL issues and renews free certificates automatically
• Files — a web-based File Manager, FTP accounts, disk usage reporting
• Backups — account-level backup and restore, plus scheduled server-wide backups configured by the administrator
• Domains and applications — addon domains, subdomains, redirects, PHP version selection, WP Toolkit for WordPress

cPanel vs. WHM

cPanel and WHM (WebHost Manager) ship together as one product, licensed as cPanel & WHM, but they are separate interfaces operating at different levels:

Every cPanel server has one root WHM and many cPanel accounts under it. Resellers get a restricted WHM that can create accounts within limits the root administrator sets. The two interfaces are documented separately in the cPanel documentation and the WHM documentation.

Logging in: ports 2083 and 2087

cPanel and WHM run on fixed service ports over HTTPS:

• cPanel — port 2083 (2082 is the legacy non-SSL port)
• WHM — port 2087 (2086 non-SSL)
• Webmail — port 2096 (2095 non-SSL)

The standard login URL is the server hostname or domain followed by the port, for example https://example.com:2083 for cPanel. There is no central "cPanel login" site: cpanel.net is the software vendor, not a login portal. You log in at your own hosting provider's server URL, and most hosts also expose a login link inside their client area. The full port list is in the cPanel firewall documentation.

cPanel pricing

cPanel is licensed per server, with tiers set by the number of cPanel accounts on that server. Current list prices from cpanel.net/pricing (verified August 2026):

Annual billing discounts the Solo, Admin, and Pro tiers by roughly 8.4%. Prices have risen repeatedly since cPanel moved from unlimited-account server licenses to per-account tiers in 2019, with further increases most years since — a factor behind much of the migration interest toward alternatives. Licenses bought through distributors or hosting providers are often cheaper than list price, and many VPS providers bundle the license into the plan.

Supported operating systems

cPanel & WHM installs only on 64-bit Linux. The current support matrix from the official system requirements:

CentOS 7, once the default cPanel platform, reached end of life in June 2024 and is no longer supported; AlmaLinux is the usual replacement. ARM architectures are not supported.

System requirements

Minimums for a current AlmaLinux install, per the official requirements pages:

• 64-bit processor, 1.1 GHz or faster
• 2 GB RAM minimum, 4 GB recommended (at least 3 GB if ClamAV is deployed)
• 20 GB disk minimum, 40 GB recommended, plus 5 GB free in /usr/local/cpanel during installation
• A static IP address — DHCP-assigned addresses are not permitted
• A fresh, minimal OS install; SELinux disabled; Perl present

cPanel expects to own the server. It is installed on a clean OS and there is no supported uninstall — removing it means rebuilding the server. Installation itself is a single script run as root; the procedure is covered in our install cPanel guide.

Common administration tasks in WHM

• Create a New Account — provisions a cPanel account with a domain, username, and package
• Packages — reusable account templates defining disk, bandwidth, mailbox, and feature limits
• EasyApache 4 — builds and manages the Apache and PHP stack, including multiple PHP versions
• AutoSSL — automatic free certificate issuance and renewal for all hosted domains
• Backup Configuration — scheduled server-wide backups to local or remote destinations
• Service Manager and Tweak Settings — service enablement and global behavior switches
• Security Center — cPHulk brute-force protection, ModSecurity, SSH and compiler restrictions

Alternatives

The main commercial alternative is Plesk, which runs on both Linux and Windows and uses a similar per-account tier model. On the free side, Webmin (with Virtualmin for hosting-style account management) covers most of the same ground without license fees, at the cost of more manual administration. Other options include DirectAdmin, a lower-cost commercial panel, and CyberPanel, a free panel built around OpenLiteSpeed. cPanel remains the default where broad hosting-industry compatibility matters — billing integrations, migration tooling, and technician familiarity are widest for it.

FAQ

Is cPanel free?

No. cPanel is commercial software with a 15-day trial; the cheapest license (Solo, one account) lists at $29.99/month. Free alternatives include Webmin/Virtualmin and CyberPanel.

What is the difference between cPanel and WHM?

WHM is the server-level administration interface (create accounts, configure services); cPanel is the account-level interface each hosting customer uses (email, DNS, databases, files). They ship together as one licensed product.

Where do I log in to cPanel?

At your own host's server URL on port 2083 — for example https://yourdomain.com:2083 — or through the login link in your hosting provider's client area. cpanel.net is the software vendor, not a login portal.

What operating systems does cPanel run on?

64-bit Linux only: AlmaLinux 8/9/10, Rocky Linux 8/9, CloudLinux 8/9, and Ubuntu LTS. Windows is not supported; Plesk is the usual panel on Windows servers.