The best Web Hosting Control Panels
I have used a lot of control panels (administrative interface) across a lot of web hosts in my time on the web. What I am going to do here is rate their quality to give some idea which is the best.
What is a control panel?
First, a control panel is the web page a web hosting provider gives you to manage your website. At a minimum, a control panel lets you administer databases, manage email, and create FTP accounts (if you paid for these services). Often, they include other services such as web applications, domain management, or website promotion.
A control panel can make a big difference in how you use a web host’s features. One thing I noticed about the interface for web hosts. If it is poor for the cheaper plans, compared to the competition, it will be poor for the more expensive plans. So, don’t think more money means better when it comes to your control panel.
IPower
By far, these guys have the worst interface. To me it seems clumsy and I define that as being dull to look at with very limited features. In fact, it is so bad, I try to avoid it as much as possible. If it weren’t for the fact it is hosting a forum of mine, they wouldn’t have any business from me.
Knowing how bad it is, let me say iPower is transitioning to a new interface. Since I’ve been customer for 2 years, they are having a lot of trouble transitioning me to the new interface. Once everything changes over, I’ll update my opinion on their control panel.
My contro panel:
The new control panel (the one I DON’T have):
Gate.com
This is a pathetic looking interface. It does not inspire confidence in their hosting and it is difficult to use. I keep getting confused where the different features are. When you are confusing a customer, the interface can’t possibly be doing the job.
IXWebHosting
It’s probably just me but their control panel just seems kind of weird. It’s not very polished and seems underpowered for the features you have purchased. It also bugs me they don’t specifically tell you what features you have and which you don’t. I spent a lot of time trying to use stuff that actually weren’t part of my account. They could layout the control panel better. Here’s how the IX Web Hosting control panel looks…
1and1.com
This is another very mediocre control panel. It is confusing but just slightly better looking than the previous three. It doesn’t try to be anything more than it is, a bare bones hosting control panel. Finding features is not difficult and is sort of intuitive, in that you feel there is a way to figure out how to get things done. 1and1.com
is good for the money.
Web.com
It’s not great but not terrible. But, for the price, you’d expect the world. I bought the Windows hosting which was woefully overpriced. This has definitely colored my impression of their interface. For $19.95/month, I would expect a mind-blowing experience. The Web.com control panel is not like that but there are many features and it looks somewhat polished.
HostGator
It’s not bad and it’s not great. One thing that’s nice is it looks very well organized. It inspires confidence, it’s just a question of how productive it makes you. You won’t be too bad off with the HostGator
control panel.
GoDaddy
It’s not that GoDaddy has such a great looking interface because it’s busy as hell. You can easily get confused when you first see it. It certainly didn’t help that once I got used to it, they changed it all around again. Plus, it seems like they insist on making you open a new window to do every little thing.
With all this in mind, I feel the most comfortable using GoDaddy because I have gotten the hang of it. It was certainly a pain learning in the beginning, but now it seems to work decently. It’s hard to recommend the site as good design (especially for newcomers), but it is effective.
BlueHost
Saying I have a favorite web host is like saying I have a favorite root canal specialist. No matter who you choose, it’s not going to pleasant. So, let me say I like the control panel for BlueHost the most. It is not difficult to use, easy to navigate, and clearly shows what is my mine and what you have to buy.
This is not to say it is an ideal interface, by any means. It is just the control panel I like the most, of all the hosts I use. For now, Blue Host gets my highest recommendation, for what it’s worth.
Popularity: unranked [?]
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment