# cPanel vs DirectAdmin (2026): Price, Features and Migration

Source: https://srvscripts.com/guides/cpanel-vs-directadmin/
Updated: 2026-10-07
Publisher: srvScripts (https://srvscripts.com/)

**Short answer:** DirectAdmin costs much less once a server holds more than a handful of accounts. Its Standard licence is $29 a month with no account limit. cPanel Premier is $69.99 for 100 accounts plus $0.49 for each extra account. Both panels run Exim, Dovecot, MariaDB and Apache, with optional nginx or LiteSpeed, and both support resellers, APIs and AlmaLinux 8 to 10 and Ubuntu 24.04. cPanel offers PostgreSQL, a mature WHM, a larger add-on ecosystem and customer familiarity. DirectAdmin offers lower cost, Debian support, arm64 support and flexible web stacks through CustomBuild. Moving accounts works in both directions with each panel’s own tools.

We ran read-only commands on our lab servers on 7 October 2026: cPanel & WHM 11.138 on AlmaLinux 9.8 (lab1) and DirectAdmin 1.712 on AlmaLinux 9.8 (da1). We used them to confirm versions, the services that run by default, DirectAdmin’s web server build options and the source panels cPanel’s Transfer Tool supports. Prices and OS support come from the vendor pages and documentation linked below, checked the same day.

## Price: where the two panels split

Prices last checked: 7 October 2026, on [cPanel pricing](https://cpanel.net/pricing/) and [DirectAdmin pricing](https://www.directadmin.com/pricing.php). These are retail list prices in US dollars. Licences bought through a hosting provider often cost less and are tied to the server you rent.

| Accounts on one server | cPanel (monthly) | DirectAdmin (monthly) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Solo $29.99 (VPS only) | Personal PLUS $5 (2 accounts including admin, 20 domains) |
| Up to 5 | Admin $35.99 (VPS only) | Lite $15 (10 accounts including admin, 50 domains) |
| Up to 30 | Pro $53.99 (VPS only) | Standard $29 (unlimited) |
| 100 | Premier $69.99 | Standard $29 |
| 500 | $69.99 + 400 × $0.49 = $265.99 | Standard $29 |
| 1,000 | $69.99 + 900 × $0.49 = $510.99 | Standard $29 |

Two details change the maths. On cPanel, Solo, Admin and Pro are sold only for cloud or VPS servers, so on a dedicated server you pay for Premier even with a few sites. Reseller accounts also count. On DirectAdmin, the admin account and every reseller count toward the Personal PLUS and Lite limits. With 10 customers you need Standard, not Lite. [Our cPanel licensing guide](/guides/cpanel-pricing-2026-licensing/) explains how cPanel counts and bills accounts.

## Feature-by-feature comparison

This table describes what each panel ships or officially supports, not what a particular host has enabled.

| Area | cPanel & WHM | DirectAdmin |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Web servers | Apache 2.4 through EasyApache 4. NGINX with Reverse Proxy as an option. LiteSpeed through LiteSpeed’s own paid plugin | Apache, nginx, nginx in front of Apache, OpenLiteSpeed or LiteSpeed, chosen in CustomBuild |
| PHP | MultiPHP: several versions side by side, PHP-FPM per domain | Several PHP versions through CustomBuild. PHP-FPM is the mode on our lab |
| Mail | Exim and Dovecot, Roundcube webmail, SpamAssassin | Exim and Dovecot, Roundcube webmail, SpamAssassin or Rspamd |
| DNS | PowerDNS (default) or BIND. BIND cannot be selected on Ubuntu | BIND (named), with built-in DNS clustering |
| Databases | MariaDB or MySQL, plus PostgreSQL | MariaDB or MySQL. No PostgreSQL support, according to DirectAdmin’s migration documentation |
| FTP | Pure-FTPd or ProFTPD | Pure-FTPd or ProFTPD |
| Backups | Built in: compressed, uncompressed or incremental, to local storage, Amazon S3, S3-compatible, Backblaze B2, Google Drive, FTP, SFTP, Rsync or WebDAV | Built in: per-user tar.gz backups at admin, reseller and user level, to local storage or FTP. Other targets through scripts or add-ons |
| Reseller hosting | Yes, through WHM reseller privileges | Yes, with three levels: admin, reseller and user |
| API | UAPI and WHM API 1 | HTTP API, with login keys created by da api-url |
| CLI | whmapi1, uapi and the /scripts tools | da (update, build, license, config-set and more) |
| WordPress | WP Toolkit included in every plan | WordPress Manager with wp-cli |
| Operating systems | AlmaLinux 8, 9 and 10 (10 needs cPanel 132 or later), Rocky Linux, CloudLinux, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | RHEL-compatible 8, 9 and 10 (AlmaLinux, Rocky), Debian 11, 12 and 13, Ubuntu 22.04, 24.04 and 26.04 |
| CPU architecture | 64-bit | x86-64 and arm64 |

In practice, the biggest gaps are PostgreSQL (cPanel only), Debian and arm64 (DirectAdmin only), and the web stack. On cPanel, Apache is the base and LiteSpeed comes from a third party. On DirectAdmin, switching the whole server to nginx or OpenLiteSpeed is a supported CustomBuild option. Our [CustomBuild web stack guide](/guides/custombuild-web-stack-apache-nginx-litespeed/) compares those options.

## What our lab servers run by default

A quick read-only check of the services on each lab server shows how similar the two mail and web stacks are. On lab1 (cPanel 11.138), PowerDNS is the active nameserver and FTP has been disabled in WHM:

```
for u in pdns named nscd cpanel cpsrvd dovecot exim httpd mariadb crond lfd; do printf "%s=%s " $u "$(systemctl is-active $u 2>/dev/null)"; done; echo
/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/setupnameserver --current
```

```
pdns=active named=inactive nscd=active cpanel=active cpsrvd=inactive dovecot=active exim=active httpd=active mariadb=active crond=active lfd=inactive
Current nameserver type: powerdns
```

The same check on da1 (DirectAdmin 1.712) shows BIND, Exim, Dovecot, Apache, MariaDB, Pure-FTPd and SpamAssassin running, with CSF’s lfd active. One caveat: da1 still uses an old Personal licence, so it runs DirectAdmin’s legacy codebase. Licences sold today run the unified codebase with every feature included.

```
for u in directadmin named exim dovecot httpd nginx litespeed mariadb mysqld pure-ftpd proftpd rspamd spamassassin lfd; do printf "%s=%s " $u "$(systemctl is-active $u 2>/dev/null)"; done; echo
```

```
directadmin=active named=active exim=active dovecot=active httpd=active nginx=inactive litespeed=inactive mariadb=active mysqld=active pure-ftpd=active proftpd=inactive rspamd=inactive spamassassin=active lfd=active
```

On da1, `da build` lists nginx, nginx_apache, litespeed, openlitespeed and proftpd as builds turned off in options.conf, and rspamd as an available build. Changing `webserver=` in CustomBuild switches the stack. The [DirectAdmin da CLI guide](/guides/directadmin-da-cli/) covers those commands.

## Resource use and requirements

cPanel’s [AlmaLinux requirements](https://docs.cpanel.net/installation-guide/system-requirements-almalinux/) list 2 GB RAM as the minimum and 4 GB as recommended, with at least 3 GB if you install ClamAV, plus 20 GB of disk (40 GB recommended). Installs and upgrades also need 5 GB free in `/usr/local/cpanel`. The [Ubuntu requirements](https://docs.cpanel.net/installation-guide/system-requirements-ubuntu/) are the same for Ubuntu 24.04.

DirectAdmin’s [installation overview](https://docs.directadmin.com/getting-started/installation/overview.html) currently says a minimum of 4 GB of memory is required, with at least 4 GB of swap, and that the kernel and filesystem must support quotas. So the documented minimum is not lower than cPanel’s, even though DirectAdmin has a reputation as the lighter panel.

Real memory use depends mainly on what you enable: ClamAV, SpamAssassin or Rspamd, MariaDB buffers and PHP-FPM pools. Our two lab servers run different extra software (lab1 also runs JetBackup and monitoring agents), so we do not publish a direct memory comparison from them. Size the server for the workload. Our [VPS sizing guide for cPanel and DirectAdmin](/guides/best-vps-for-cpanel-directadmin-server/) covers that.

## Ecosystem, support and updates

cPanel and Plesk are both owned by WebPros. DirectAdmin is made by JBMC Software. The main add-ons work on both: JetBackup and Imunify360 appear on both pricing pages, LiteSpeed is a CustomBuild option on DirectAdmin, and KernelCare installs on either (see our [KernelCare guide](/guides/kernelcare-setup-cpanel-directadmin/)). cPanel has the wider catalogue of WHM plugins and more admins and customers who already know it. That matters if you sell reseller hosting or hire staff.

Both panels have had serious security bugs, so keep automatic updates on. Track them with our [cPanel CVE build numbers](/guides/cpanel-cve-build-numbers-2026/) page and the [DirectAdmin 1.711 privilege escalation notes](/guides/directadmin-1-711-tls-privilege-escalation/). On support, DirectAdmin’s pricing page includes unlimited technical support with Lite and Standard. Personal PLUS gets installation help only, with other questions going to the forum.

## Migration path in both directions

**cPanel to DirectAdmin:** package each account with `/scripts/pkgacct` and restore the `cpmove-user.tar.gz` files in DirectAdmin. [DirectAdmin’s migration notes](https://docs.directadmin.com/directadmin/backup-restore-migration/migration-to-da.html) list the known limits:

- Mailman mailing lists are not converted.

- Database names cPanel shortened are renamed to `username_` form, so check `wp-config.php`.

- System usernames are limited to 16 characters by default.

- PostgreSQL and Ruby sites must be moved by hand.

Restore resellers before their users, or every account ends up under admin. The full process is in [Migrate cPanel to DirectAdmin](/guides/migrate-cpanel-to-directadmin/).

**DirectAdmin to cPanel:** WHM’s [Transfer Tool](https://docs.cpanel.net/whm/transfers/transfer-tool/) can pull accounts straight from a DirectAdmin server over SSH. On our cPanel 11.138 lab, the Transfer Tool’s remote server types are cPanel, Plesk, Ensim and DirectAdmin (the latter packaged with `pkgacct-da`). [Our DirectAdmin to cPanel playbook](/guides/migrate-directadmin-to-cpanel/) covers what does not transfer, such as packages, custom DNS records and spam settings.

In both directions, lower DNS TTLs a couple of days ahead, test each site through a hosts-file override and send test mail to the new server before you change nameservers. Keep the old server running until a full backup cycle has completed on the new one.

## Which one to choose

- **Choose DirectAdmin** if licence cost per server matters, you host more than about 30 accounts per server, you want Debian or arm64, or you want nginx or OpenLiteSpeed as a supported first-class option.

- **Choose cPanel** if customers or resellers expect it, you need PostgreSQL, you rely on WHM plugins, or you run small VPS servers where Solo, Admin or Pro keep the cost close to DirectAdmin’s.

- **Either works** for a typical PHP, MariaDB and email shared server. The difference then is cost against familiarity and ecosystem.

Before you commit to a migration, run the [cPanel and DirectAdmin server check](/tools/hosting-server-check/) on the current server to see what it really runs.

**Official documentation:** [cPanel pricing](https://cpanel.net/pricing/) · [DirectAdmin pricing](https://www.directadmin.com/pricing.php) · [cPanel AlmaLinux requirements](https://docs.cpanel.net/installation-guide/system-requirements-almalinux/) · [DirectAdmin supported OS](https://docs.directadmin.com/operation-system-level/os-general/)

**Related:** [Migrate cPanel to DirectAdmin: Safe Account Transfer](/guides/migrate-cpanel-to-directadmin/) · [Migrate DirectAdmin to cPanel: Complete 9-Step Migration Playbook](/guides/migrate-directadmin-to-cpanel/) · [CustomBuild Web Stack 2026: Apache, nginx or LiteSpeed, Best Pick](/guides/custombuild-web-stack-apache-nginx-litespeed/) · [cPanel Pricing 2026: Licensing Explained Without Mistakes](/guides/cpanel-pricing-2026-licensing/) · [cPanel and DirectAdmin Server Check](/tools/hosting-server-check/)

**See also:** [Hosting Control Panel Pricing 2026: cPanel vs DirectAdmin vs Plesk](/guides/control-panel-pricing-2026/) · [cPanel vs Plesk (2026): Which Control Panel for Hosting?](/guides/cpanel-vs-plesk/) · [DirectAdmin vs Plesk (2026): Cost, Features, Migration](/guides/directadmin-vs-plesk/) · [Best cPanel Alternatives in 2026: Free and Paid Panels Compared](/guides/best-cpanel-alternatives/)

## Frequently asked questions

### Is DirectAdmin cheaper than cPanel?

Yes, above a few accounts. DirectAdmin Standard is $29 a month with no account limit. cPanel Premier is $69.99 for 100 accounts plus $0.49 for each extra one, so 500 accounts cost $265.99 a month on cPanel.

### Does DirectAdmin support Ubuntu and AlmaLinux 10?

Yes. DirectAdmin supports RHEL-compatible 8, 9 and 10 (including AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux), Debian 11 to 13 and Ubuntu 22.04, 24.04 and 26.04.

### Does cPanel run on Debian?

No. cPanel supports AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, CloudLinux and Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. Debian is not on its supported list.

### Can DirectAdmin import cPanel backups?

Yes. DirectAdmin restores cpmove archives created by cPanel’s pkgacct. Mailman lists, PostgreSQL databases and Ruby apps are not converted and must be moved by hand.

### Is DirectAdmin lighter on resources than cPanel?

Not on paper. DirectAdmin’s documentation asks for at least 4 GB RAM plus 4 GB swap, and cPanel asks for 2 GB minimum with 4 GB recommended. Real use depends mostly on the services you enable.

### Do both panels support resellers?

Yes. cPanel uses WHM reseller accounts, which count toward the licence. DirectAdmin has admin, reseller and user levels, and resellers count toward the Personal PLUS and Lite limits.