CloudPanel alternatives with email, DNS and resellers

A CloudPanel alternative is worth looking at when you need what CloudPanel deliberately leaves out: a mail server, an authoritative DNS server, or reseller and customer hosting accounts. If you only run your own PHP, Node.js or Python sites and keep email at Google Workspace or similar, CloudPanel is a good free choice and you may not need to move. If you want mail, DNS and resellers in one panel, HestiaCP and Virtualmin GPL (free), DirectAdmin (paid), aaPanel (mail as an app) and ZoPanel (Free plan, paid per server) are the main options.

This article sets out what CloudPanel does well, what it lacks according to its own documentation, what you have to bolt on to fill the gaps, and then compares five alternatives with prices from their vendors at the time of writing (October 2026). It ends with how to move sites off CloudPanel.

What CloudPanel does well

CloudPanel is made by MGT-COMMERCE GmbH and is free to use. According to its documentation and requirements page:

• It runs on Ubuntu 22.04, 24.04 and 26.04 and Debian 12 and 13, on x86 and ARM64, with at least 1 CPU core, 2 GB of RAM and 10 GB of disk.
• The technology stack on current systems is NGINX 1.30 with HTTP/3 and the PageSpeed module, PHP 7.1 to 8.5, MySQL 8.4 or MariaDB, Redis, Varnish Cache, ProFTPD, Node.js LTS versions and Python.
• A site wizard creates WordPress, PHP, Node.js (with pm2), Python (with uWSGI), static sites and reverse proxies, and each site runs as its own site user.
• It includes free Let's Encrypt certificates, a UFW firewall page, IP and bot blocking, basic auth, two-factor login, a Cloudflare integration, a CLI (clpctl) and backups to Amazon S3, Wasabi, DigitalOcean Spaces, Dropbox, Google Drive, Hetzner Storage Box, SFTP or any rclone remote.

That is a lot for nothing. For a developer or agency running its own sites on one VPS, CloudPanel is fast, simple and well documented.

Two things to know about the licence. CloudPanel is free but not open source: its license terms grant a limited, non-transferable licence, forbid modifying or reverse-engineering the software (open-source components keep their own GPL rights), and say the current version is free while allowing MGT-COMMERCE to change the terms for free licences. And like every panel it has a security record; NVD lists, for example, CVE-2023-35885, an insecure file-manager cookie authentication fixed in 2.3.1. Keep its admin port 8443 restricted to your IP, as its install guide recommends.

What CloudPanel does not include

CloudPanel is honest about its scope. Its e-mail page says "CloudPanel doesn't provide E-Mail because of performance" and that email "shouldn't be handled by the server that runs your Applications". It recommends Google Workspace, and lists Zoho Mail, Amazon WorkMail, Microsoft 365 and GoDaddy, or the self-hosted Mailcow for those who want their own server.

The documentation also does not describe:

• an authoritative DNS server: DNS stays at Cloudflare or your registrar, and the panel's DNS feature is the Cloudflare integration;
• reseller or customer hosting accounts: the users page lists three roles, Admin, Site Manager and User (limited to assigned sites), and mentions no packages, quotas or resource limits;
• billing integration with WHMCS, Blesta or similar.

None of this is a defect if you do not need it. It becomes a problem when you start hosting for clients who expect a mailbox with their website, or when you want to sell hosting.

What you must bolt on to CloudPanel

Need	In CloudPanel	What you add	Typical cost and effort
Mailboxes for your domains	No mail server	Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Zoho Mail, or Mailcow on a separate server	Per-user monthly fees, or a second server to run
Webmail	None	The mail provider's webmail	Comes with the provider
DNS hosting	No DNS server; Cloudflare integration	Cloudflare DNS or your registrar's DNS	Usually free, but managed outside the panel
Own nameservers (ns1.yourbrand.com)	No	A DNS provider that supports vanity nameservers, or your own DNS servers	Paid plan or extra servers
Customer logins with limits	User role limited to assigned sites; no quotas documented	A different panel, or one server per customer	More servers to manage
Reseller accounts and packages	Not documented	A different panel	Panel licence
Billing automation	Not documented	WHMCS or similar plus a panel with a module	Billing licence plus integration work

For one agency with ten client sites, the email row alone can be the deciding factor: every client mailbox at Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 is a monthly per-user fee, and every new domain needs its own MX, SPF and DKIM set up in two places. Some teams are happy with that, because hosted mail delivers well and someone else runs it. Others would rather host mail next to the website. Both are reasonable; if you go the self-hosted route, read how to run an email server on a VPS first.

CloudPanel alternatives compared

Panel	Price (October 2026)	Mail server	DNS server	Resellers
CloudPanel	Free (proprietary licence)	No	No (Cloudflare integration)	No
HestiaCP	Free (GPLv3)	Exim, Dovecot, SpamAssassin, ClamAV	BIND	No native reseller role
aaPanel	Free; Pro $198/year, $28.80/month or $699 lifetime	Through its Mail Server app	aaPanelDns in Domains	Not documented
Virtualmin	GPL free; Pro from $75/year (10 domains)	Postfix, Dovecot	BIND	Pro only
DirectAdmin	$5/month (2 accounts), $15/month (10 accounts), $29/month (unlimited)	Exim, Dovecot	Yes	Admin, Reseller and User levels
ZoPanel	Free (3 accounts, 10 websites); Pro $49/year or $199 one-time per server	Postfix, Dovecot, Rspamd, webmail	PowerDNS with DNSSEC	Pro

Prices are from each vendor's pricing page at the time of writing; check them before buying.

HestiaCP

The closest free answer to "CloudPanel plus mail and DNS". HestiaCP is GPLv3, runs on Debian 12/13 and Ubuntu 22.04/24.04/26.04 on AMD64 and ARM64, and installs web, mail and DNS by default (getting started). It is PHP-focused; Node.js apps need manual setup. There is no reseller role: a long-running forum request explains it would need a rewrite of the CLI layer.

aaPanel

Free with a large app store. Mail comes through the Mail Server app installed from the App Store, and the Domains section can install aaPanelDns for self-hosted DNS. Pro costs $198 a year, $28.80 a month or $699 for a lifetime licence (pricing). We found no reseller feature in its docs. Our aaPanel alternative guide covers its security history.

Virtualmin

Very flexible and long established. The install script sets up the full mail stack and BIND (manual install docs). The GPL edition is free; reseller accounts, cloud DNS integrations and some mail features need Pro, from $75 a year for 10 domains (product page). The interface has many options, which some people love and others find heavy.

DirectAdmin

A lean commercial panel with Admin, Reseller and User levels (features), mail and DNS built in. Pricing is by accounts: Personal PLUS $5 a month for 2 accounts and 20 domains, Lite $15 for 10 accounts, Standard $29 for unlimited (pricing). It suits people moving into selling hosting who want a mature, widely supported panel.

ZoPanel

ZoPanel is our panel, so weigh this section accordingly. It covers the same app ground as CloudPanel (PHP, WordPress, Node.js and Python apps with Git deploy and blue/green releases) and adds what CloudPanel leaves out: a mail server with webmail and CalDAV/CardDAV (email features), PowerDNS with DNSSEC and your own nameservers (DNS docs), reseller accounts with white-label, and WHMCS, Blesta, HostBill and Paymenter modules. Each hosting account is its own Linux user with its own PHP-FPM pool and a systemd slice with CPU, memory and process limits, and the web interface does not run as root.

Where CloudPanel is ahead, plainly:

• Free without limits. CloudPanel has no site cap; ZoPanel Free stops at 3 accounts, 10 websites and 10 databases, and resellers need Pro.
• PHP range. CloudPanel offers PHP 7.1 to 8.5; ZoPanel supports 7.4 to 8.4 (8.5 only on Ubuntu 26.04 for now).
• Cloudflare DNS. CloudPanel integrates with Cloudflare; ZoPanel does not manage Cloudflare DNS, it only reads real visitor IPs behind Cloudflare.
• Varnish. CloudPanel ships Varnish Cache; ZoPanel uses an nginx page cache instead.
• Maturity. ZoPanel is newer, with a smaller community.

How to move sites off CloudPanel

Moving off CloudPanel is usually simpler than other migrations, because email is already hosted elsewhere and DNS often sits at Cloudflare. You only move websites and databases, then change an A record. ZoPanel does not import CloudPanel backups (it imports cPanel and DirectAdmin), so you move site by site. The steps are the same for any target panel.

Step 1: Prepare the new server

Create a fresh VPS (never install a second panel over CloudPanel) and install the new panel. For ZoPanel:

curl -fsSL https://get.zopanel.net | sudo bash

List every site on CloudPanel with its type (PHP, Node.js, Python, static), PHP version, database and cron jobs. If DNS is not at Cloudflare, lower the A record TTL to 300 seconds a day ahead.

Step 2: Copy files

CloudPanel keeps a site in /home/<site-user>/htdocs/<domain> (CLI docs). Create the same website on the new server, then pull the files over SSH:

rsync -avz root@OLD-IP:/home/site-user/htdocs/example.com/ \
  /home/<account>/domains/example.com/public_html/
chown -R <account>:<account> /home/<account>/domains/example.com/public_html

Check the target path on the website's page in the new panel before running it.

Step 3: Export and import the database

On the CloudPanel server, use its CLI:

clpctl db:export --databaseName=my-database --file=dump.sql.gz

Create the database and user on the new server, load dump.sql.gz with Import / restore, and update wp-config.php or the app's .env with the new name, user and password.

Step 4: Node.js and Python apps

CloudPanel runs Node.js with pm2 and Python with uWSGI. In ZoPanel, create the site as a Git deploy or Node.js/Python app, set the start command and environment variables, and let it build. Copy any .env values by hand; they are not in the repository.

Step 5: Caching and SSL

Varnish settings do not carry over. For WordPress on ZoPanel, turn on Page cache on the website's PHP & config tab. If the domain is proxied through Cloudflare, automatic SSL waits until the domain resolves only to the server, so use Issue certificate on the SSL tab or install a Cloudflare Origin certificate. Our Cloudflare with a VPS guide explains the SSL modes.

Step 6: Test and switch

Test with your computer's hosts file pointing to the new IP, then change the A record. If the record is proxied by Cloudflare, visitors only ever see Cloudflare's addresses, so the switch takes effect almost at once. MX records do not change, since mail stays where it is. If you later want to host mail on the new panel, move it as a separate project. For the full no-downtime method, see how to migrate a website without downtime.

Conclusion

CloudPanel is a good free panel that does one job well: running your own web apps fast. Look for a CloudPanel alternative when you need email, DNS or reseller hosting in the same panel. HestiaCP and Virtualmin GPL cover mail and DNS for free, DirectAdmin adds mature reseller hosting at a monthly price, and ZoPanel adds mail, DNS, resellers and per-account isolation with per-server licensing.

To compare on real sites, install ZoPanel's Free plan on a spare VPS and move two or three sites from CloudPanel with the steps above. It covers 3 hosting accounts, 10 websites and 10 databases with no time limit.

Frequently asked questions

Does CloudPanel have email?

No. CloudPanel's documentation says it does not provide email for performance reasons and that mail should not run on the server that runs your applications. It recommends Google Workspace and lists Zoho Mail, Amazon WorkMail, Microsoft 365, GoDaddy and the self-hosted Mailcow.

Is CloudPanel open source?

No. CloudPanel is free, but its license terms grant a limited licence and forbid modifying or reverse-engineering the software, apart from the open-source components it bundles. If you need a fully open-source panel, look at HestiaCP or Virtualmin GPL.

What is the best free alternative to CloudPanel?

For mail and DNS with no licence fee, HestiaCP and Virtualmin GPL are the usual picks. aaPanel Free adds mail through an app. ZoPanel Free includes mail, DNS and per-account isolation but is limited to 10 websites. Test two candidates on a fresh VPS before you decide.

Can CloudPanel be used for reseller hosting?

Not in the usual sense. It has Admin, Site Manager and User roles, where a User sees only assigned sites, but its documentation describes no reseller accounts, hosting packages or resource quotas. For reseller hosting, look at DirectAdmin, Virtualmin Pro or ZoPanel Pro.

Can I install another panel on a CloudPanel server?

You should not. Panels manage nginx, PHP and databases themselves and will overwrite each other's configuration. Install the new panel on a fresh VPS, move sites one by one, and keep the CloudPanel server until every site works on the new one.