enconf vs. Plesk vs. cPanel
Honest comparison — no marketing tricks. Find the best hosting panel alternative for your server.
Why compare?
Your hosting panel determines RAM usage, provisioning speed, API scope and license costs per server — for years. The table below compares enconf, Plesk and cPanel on the criteria that matter in daily operations.
Plesk and cPanel are established standards — with trade-offs: both need 2 GB+ RAM, split features across editions and move advanced toolkits or backups into paid extensions. Plesk has discontinued multi-server support entirely. enconf is deliberately different: a native Go binary under 60 MB RAM. WordPress, Joomla and PrestaShop toolkit with staging, encrypted backups and REST API are included in every plan. The reseller system is available in the Hoster plan. No edition splits, no hidden upsells, transparent prices including VAT.
The values in the table are based on the vendors' official product pages, documentation and pricing sheets as well as our own tests on Debian 12 and Debian 13. The list is updated regularly; prices at each vendor may change.
| Feature | enconf | Plesk | cPanel |
|---|---|---|---|
| RAM usage (minimum) | under 75 MB | 1 GB | 2 GB |
| WordPress toolkit | All plans · incl. staging | Lite free · Deluxe from Web Pro | Lite free · Deluxe extra |
| Joomla toolkit | All plans · staging, SSO, CLI | Extension (WebPros, basic) | No native toolkit |
| PrestaShop toolkit | All plans · install, admin SSO, scan | No native toolkit | No native toolkit |
| Multi-server management (native) | Integrated | Multi-server extension (discontinued) | DNS cluster via WHM |
| REST API | Complete · 200+ endpoints | REST (Obsidian+) + Legacy XML | UAPI + JSON API + WHM API |
| Reseller system | Included (Hoster plan) | From Web Pro | Native in WHM |
| Firewall (integrated) | nftables + fail2ban | Plesk firewall | CSF (3rd party) |
| Backup | Local/FTP/S3 · DR included | Integrated (local/FTP/S3) | Basic integrated · JetBackup (extra) |
| Plesk import | SSH import integrated | — | Transfer tool |
| VPS & dedicated same price | Always the same | Varies by edition | Tiered by account count |
| Price (from) | from €8.90/month incl. VAT | from €14.29/month excl. VAT | from ~$29/month excl. VAT |