cPanel has raised their licensing fees again, and we need to pass the increase along to new clients.
Starting now, any new client ordering cPanel on a VPS or dedicated server will see updated pricing that reflects what cPanel is now charging us. Existing clients on current cPanel plans are not affected by this change for now, though we can’t guarantee that will last forever if cPanel keeps raising prices on their end.
We don’t mark up cPanel licenses to make money on them. We never have. We charge what cPanel charges us, and when their costs go up, ours go up, and yours goes up. That’s the reality of depending on a product controlled by a single company with no real competition.
Why this keeps happening
If you’ve been following the cPanel story, this isn’t surprising. Since Oakley Capital acquired cPanel in 2019 and then bought Plesk (its biggest competitor) in 2020, pricing has gone up steadily, year after year. The two dominant hosting control panels are now owned by the same parent company, WebPros, so there’s no competitive pressure to keep prices reasonable.
We wrote a detailed breakdown of the full pricing history in our article cPanel’s never-ending price increases since the private equity acquisition. If you want to understand how we got from $20/month for unlimited accounts to the current per-account pricing tiers, it’s all there.
What we recommend
If you’re a new client setting up hosting and you don’t specifically need cPanel, take a hard look at the alternatives before committing. Several free options work well:
- CyberPanel is free, runs on OpenLiteSpeed, and handles WordPress sites, email, and DNS out of the box. It’s the closest free replacement for cPanel in terms of features.
- Coolify is a self-hosted platform for deploying apps. If you’re running custom applications rather than traditional shared hosting, it’s worth a look.
- RunCloud, Ploi, and ServerAvatar are affordable management panels that cost a fraction of what cPanel charges.
Every dollar you don’t send to WebPros is a dollar that stays in your business. And unlike cPanel, these alternatives can’t pull the rug out from under you with surprise price hikes.
If you still need cPanel
We get it. Some businesses have workflows, client expectations, or migration constraints that make cPanel the only realistic option. If that’s you, we still offer one-click cPanel installation when you deploy a Linux VPS through our Client Portal. Nothing changes about how you order or use it. The license just costs more now because cPanel decided it should.
If you have questions about the pricing change or want help evaluating alternatives, reach out to our support team. We’re happy to help you figure out the most cost-effective path forward.