Server Requirements/Options

Page initially created: 2025-01-20.

Situation

I am currently leasing a dedicated server from Hosting and Designs. I need to look up the details of when this lease started (2018), and of the machine itself.

Some current information:

• Hostname: server.hullworks.net
• OS: CentOS v7.9.2009 standard (Linux 3.10.0-1160.95.1.e17.x86_64 SMP)
• cPanel Version: 110.0.50
• CPU: AMD Opteron 3280 (8 processors, 1.4GHz): Passmark 3273 multi/1036 single thread
• RAM: 32GB (34062336k); current usage: 22955208 used, 12623652 free)
• Physical Disks: sda, sdb
• Disk Usage: / 20G used of 1.9% total (2%)
• From Service Status (spotcheck): server load 0.1709, memory used 15.1% (of 32GB), swap used (0 of GB)

When I log into WHM (cPanel's Web Host Manager), I get a warning that cPanel/WHM "version 110 will be the last version that supports CentOS7," but "the Extended Lifecycle Support program extends CentOS 7 support with cPanel & WHM version 110 to January 1, 2026." See more information: Evidently, CentOS 7 reached End-of-Life support on June 30, 2024 (which explains warning messages I have been receiving daily since around them; I misread these and thought that cPanel itself was no longer being supported). CPanel is offering an ELS (extended lifecycle support) to January 1, 2026, for an extra fee, increasing on Jan. 1, 2025. They also offer "safe migration" tools: Transfer Tool, and ELevate ("to facilitate in-place upgrades between RHEL 7 and RHEL 8 based installations"; this is a script to migrate from CentOS 7 to AlmaLinux 8).

I need to get a fairly accurate picture of what the current server load is, to make sure that whatever I replace it with will suffice.

• IP addresses: 2 (if memory serves), but only 1 is used
• Current accounts: 9 (but 3 are inactive)
• View bandwidth usage (Jan 2025): 77 GB (71 from tomhull.com); previous months (GB): 110, 154, 173, 149, 152, 142, 273, 158, 130, 128, 106 (Jan. 2024).
• Load averages?

I've written up a pretty detailed account of cPanel/WHM here.

Requirements

One approach would be to reduce my needs to just supporting one or two domains: more than 90% of current traffic is at tomhull.com, which could expand to include the Jazz Critics Poll at hullworks.net, or the latter could be spun off as a separate website. My other "clients" could be cut loose, with whatever technical support I could provide (such as I currently provide for the separately hosted robertchristgau.com). This could be supported with a shared hosting account, which typically would cost less than $20/month. (OLM's standard shared hosting, with cPanel, and AutoSSL, costs $10.99/month, which allows up to 10 domains; for $27.49, their "advanced" plan offers unlimited domains. Christgau uses OLM, so I have some experience with them.)

Beyond that minimum, it would be nice to be able to continue to build and host websites, and to provide email services. Past history suggests that to do this, I would need to support:

• 10-20 domain names, with SSL certificates.
• WordPress.
• Mailman.
• Bandwidth up to 1TB/month (peak for last year was < 300 GB)
• RAM: Current machine has 32 GB, which seems to be sufficient
• Storage: Current machine has 2TB, but has very little in use, so this could be reduced
• Linux operating system (variant does not matter)
• Some kind of system administration panel, able to manage 10-20 accounts, with account interface panel for those accounts. (I've been using cPanel, but rising prices may have made it untenable, so we need to look for alternatives.)

These requirements can be satisfied with a small dedicated server, with a virtual private server (VPS, which could be cloud-based), or possibly by a reseller hosting program (which is shared hosting for multiple accounts controlled by a single vendor). Many companies offer all of these options. For example, OLM (now Entirely Digital):

• Linux Shared Hosting: Starter from $5.49/mo, standard from $10.99/mo, advanced from $27.49/mo. These all include cPanel, AutoSSL, core software; they vary in number of domains supported (1/10/unlimited), disk space, and bandwidth.
• Reseller Hosting: Resell white-labelled cPanel WHM hosting on enterprise class Dell Servers. Starter $26.99/mo, standard $44.99/mo, pro $79.99/mo, with + variants. Some questions here, starting with "Canada"?
• Virtual servers: VPS on VMWare, "full ssh access and freedom to install yhour own required applications and software." VPS1: $60/mo, VPS2: $80/mop, VPS3: $120/mo.

Server Management Software

Back in my day, we used to adminster Unix/Linux systems with little more than a text editor -- emacs has been my preference (and really only choice) since 1980 -- but as configuration has become more complex, and security more worrisome, several parties have attempted to build comprehensive management tools. The best known of these are commercial products.

My current server came with cPanel/WHM (see Wikipedia). I am currently running version 110, which was released on 2023-04-03, and is reportedly still maintained, but has been superseded by 112 and 114 (also from 2023, obsolete), 116 (2023-11-30, still maintained), and 118 (2024-03-04, the latest version). I am at best moderately competent in running this software. I understand most of what's going on, and I'm able to do most of what I need to do, but I'm running into problems where I need additional support, especially regarding system updates. A while back, H&D informed me that cPanel support questions should be directed to cPanel itself. I used them for one issue (involving SSL certificates), and thought they did a good job. However, at present neither H&D nor cPanel appear to be supporting my server.

Also see Wikipedia's Comparison of web hosting control panels.

CPanel/WHM: WHM is the Web Host Manager, which is used for overall server administration. With it, you can set up accounts for managing multiple domains (websites, etc.). Users can set up and control their own domains though cPanel itself. Both programs include various "reseller" schemes to distribute various degrees of control. There is now a Version 124.

Here's a cPanel demo (version 118). The Sitejet Builder is new to me. As of 112, there is a Manage Team feature.

Control Web Panel (CWP): Comparison with cPanel.

DirectAdmin "extraordinary system at an affordable price": can be installed either on Cloud/VPS or dedicated server. Retail licenses include: Lite (10 accounts, 50 domains) $15; Standard (unlimited accounts & domains). Supports Admin, Reseller, and User access levels. Features list. InterService.net also has a link for a demo login.

SPanel (by Scalahosting): "the all-in-one cloud management platform." Pricing: $19.95/mo (up to 5 accounts); $24.95 (up to 30 accounts); $39.95 (up to 100 accounts); included in Scalahosting accounts. Chart compares against cPanel and DirectAdmin. Rocky Linux OS? Integrates OpenLiteSpeed, NGiNX, Softaculous. Extra-cost otpions: WHMCS, LiteSpeed.

Synergy: "complete bare metal automation" (used by Dedicated.com).

Webuzo: by Softaculous. Feature list. Pricing is $5 (4 accounts), $15 (15 accounts), $25 (unlimited accounts). Softaculous is +$2.5/mo.

Some other software that shows up in discussions:

Blesta: Competitor for WHMCS.

ClientExec:

Enom: Offers the ability to francise as a domain name registrar under white-label.

WHMCS is an extra-charge package to bill reseller customers. I don't see any need for it.

Note: Most popular domain name registrars: GoDaddy (76.6 million domains); Namecheap (16.5); Tucows (11.1); Google (7.9); Network Solutions (6.4). Enom is owned and operated by Tucows.

Orientation

Some search results:

• Forum: Dedicated Hosting Offers.

• Top 10 Dedicated Server Alternatives & Competitors: Google Compute Engine (by Google); Red Hat Enterprise Linux (by Red Hat); VMware VSphere (by Broadcom); Azure Virtual Machines (by Microsoft); Virtual Box (by Oracle); Vultr (by Vultr); Scale Computing Platform (by Scale Computing); VMware Workstation Pro (by Broadcom); VMware Fusion (by Broadcom); Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets (by Microsoft).

• Managed VPS Hosting: A Cost-Effective Alternative to Dedicated Servers.

• The Best Dedicated Hosting Services for 2025: Looks like these are all VPS, maybe just limited to website hosting. Ionos, HostGator, A2 Web Hosting, DreamHost, Hostwinds Web Hosting.

• Web Hosting Geeks: blog, reviews, tutorials.

• Hostings.info: Reviews and profiles of hosting companies.

• WPMU DEV Blog: How to Find the Best Reseller Hosting for Your WordPress Business or Digital Agency.

Server Options

My first thought was to break these options out by product line (dedicated servers, virtual private servers, webhosting resellers), but most companies offer a full line of such services, so it might be better just to list them by company.

In general, a dedicated server is a single machine (sometimes called "raw metal") which you are given exclusive use of, with one (or more) IP addresses connected to the service center's internet. Users can access these machines via IPMI, giving them a KVM console interface, which they can use to install the operating system of their choice, or for other operations which previously required physical access to the machine (like forced reboot). Some (not all) may come with software installed, technical support, and/or a panel for management. Otherwise, you are responsible for such such.

My previous servers were dedicated machines, but they may make less sense now than virtual private servers or cloud-based options. This depends on various cost factors, which appear to be complex and highly variable. While it is unlikely that any new dedicated server would be inadequate for my workload, it is hard to estimate how much capacity is needed or desired. Also worrisome is that vendors seem to be providing less active support, while software companies (e.g., cPanel) charge a premium for dedicated servers. (In the past, vendors often bundled panel software with servers, but recent price increases have disrupted this strategy.)

A variation on dedicated servers is co-location hosting, where you provide the server, to be plugged into the vendor's data center and network. To consider this option you would need to find a local vendor, which is hard to do.

A virtual private server (VPS) is a larger machine that is set up to simulate multiple separate computers. Each virtual server has its own resource allotment, its own operating system, and is effectively isolated from other virtual servers, so should appear identical to a dedicated server. The larger machines may be more cost-effective than separate computers, and at least physically will be managed by the vendors, so they should be more reliable.

A cloud is a pool of servers, where the workload can be dynamically balanced, offering more efficiency and scalability. Whether a VPS is based on a cloud or a discrete machine should not be apparent, but clouds do become important for websites where volume and demand are such that they need to be distributed.

Shared hosting is inexpensive, good for a single website. It is possible for many such website to share a single machine. This could be the fallback if I gave up the idea of hosting other websites. It would save money and simplify my life, but I like the idea of being able to build websites for friends and clients, if I can afford to do so.

Reseller hosting is shared hosting plus an extra level of software which allows one to manage multiple websites from a single shared hosting account. This may offer much of the value of a VPS, with less system administration involvement. This might suffice to meet my desires. Otherwise, the most likely solution is a VPS, if I can find one that seems satisfactory.

Companies

Top Reseller Hosting Options

Checklist (* below; under Companies: - rejected, = maybe): -A2, -AccuWeb, *Asura, =B3 Clouds, -BlueHost, Chemicloud, =Chicago VPS, -Cloudways, -DomainRacer, -DreamHost, =FastComet, -FatCow, =GlowHost, -GoDaddy, =Green Geeks, -HelioHost, Host4Geeks, -Hostao, =HostArmada, =Hostbillo, -Hostek, Hostens, HostGamma, -HostGator, -Hostinger, -HostingSource, -HostKey, =HostPapa, =HostUS, -Hostwinds, =Hudson Valley, -InMotion, *InterServer, -Ionos, *KVChosting, -Liquid Web, InMotion, -Kamatera, *KnownHost, =M2Host, =MayoHost, MilersWeb, -Name.com, *Namecheap, -NameHero, -Neolo, =NodeSpace, =No Frills, -OchaHost, =Orangehost, -Oryon, -OVH, -Peoples Host, -Perfect Quality, PlanetHoster, -ProHoster, -Raidlayer, -RamNode, -ResellerClub, RunCloud, -Satisfyhost, *Scalahosting, -ServerHub, -SiteGround, *SkyNet, A Small Orange Web, =Squidix, =Stablepoint, -SupportHost, =Temok, -TMD, =TotalChoice, TrueHost, *20i, =Ultahost, -UnivaHost, =Verpex, -Web.com, -WebHostingHub, -WP Engine, Zalvis.

Surveys of "best hosting resellers" (incomplete, as I only started counting late in the game; xk customers/market share, per Hostings.info).

Sources: Bitcatcha 2025; CNET 2024; Cyberchimps 2024; Cybernews 2025 (has response times); Diggity Cheap 2025; HostAdvice 2025; HostingAdvice 2024; Hostinfs.info: top 10 for Feb. 2025; Hostscore; PC Mag 2025; Slashdot 2025; TechJury; TechRadar 2025; Unite.ai; Wpbeginner 2025;

Also: G2: 187 listings in Reseller Hosting: 5-star for: 20i, WPMU DEV, UltaHost, Krystal, HostArmada, Hostwinds, Chemicloud, DedicatedCore, StableHost, DomainRacer, ElySpace, Ion Blade, LogicWeb, UKHost4u, Warez-Host; Trustpilot;

Sitejabber: sorted by number of reviews: Bluehost (21509: 3/5 stars); HostGator (13419, 3); Domain.com (5938: 2.5); Hostinger (728: 3); Hostwinds (681:4); SiteGround (561: 4); GoDaddy (508: 1.5); HostingRaja (495: 4.5); GigaPros (476: 4.5); WPMU DEV (330: 4.5); Owrbit (181: 4.5); Ionos (179: 1); 2gbHosting (152: 4.5); Blu Domain (142: 1.5); Deluxe | Hosting (131: 2.5); KVCHosting.net (126: 5); Oryon (87: 5; 4: 5); Glowhost: 99: 4.5; PlanetHoster (92: 4.5); HostingSource (86: 4.5); DreamHost (83: 4.5); -Jumpline (74: 4.5); DomainRacer (95: 4); -Arz Host: (73: 4.5); -IVECloud (69: 4.5); TMDHosting (98: 3.5); -Centohost (52: 5); -CloudArion (50: 5); -Onlive Server (85: 4); further down: Scala Hosting (47: 4); GTHost (28: 4.5); Inmotion (21: 4); AccuWeb (14: 4.5); Cloudways (9: 4.5); A2 (6: 2.5); Kamatera (268: 3.4); TrueHost (203: 3.2), WPX (3503: 4.9) Stablehost (2253: 4.9).

Trustpilot: best in web hosting company, sorted by highest number of reviews (-not in companies): -Toluna (131746: 4.1); GoDaddy (114894: 4.6); Hostinger (39471: 4.7); Ionos (26034: 4.6); -Wix (22856: 4.6); Bluehost (17999: 4.3); Namecheap (17705: 4.4); -Porkbun (16276: 4.8); -tsoHost (15593: 3.2); -BisectHosting (15584: 4.7); HostGator (12472: 4.6); -Webador (11815: 4.5); -Site123 (8825: 4.1); -Apex Hosting (7734: 4.7); DreamHost (6818: 4.7); -Miss Hosting (5513: 4.6); -Network Solutions (3551: 4.6); A2 Hosting (3514: 4.7); -WPX (3503: 4.9); -MochaHost (3501: 4.8); NameHero (3279: 4.9); -Domain.com (3054: 4.4); FastComet (2909: 4.6); WPMU DEV (2890: 4.8); Web.com (2541: 4.1); HostPapa (2286: 4.7); Stablehost (2253: 4.9); -Spaceship.com (2224: 4.4); -Just Eat (2118: 1.1); Name.com (2064: 4.4); Interserver (1986: 4.3); -Marcaria (1959: 4.9); InMotion (1951: 4.1); ScalaHosting (1937: 5.0); -RocketNode (1921: 4.5); -Sparked Host (1899: 4.6); -NameSilo (1851: 4.5); OrangeHost (1833: 4.5); -10Web (1816: 4.8); -Dynadot (1813: 4.4); beyond top 40, only listing companies already profiled: WP Engine (1487: 4.6); Liquid Web (1465: 4.4); TMDHosting (1299: 4.6); GreekGeeks (1156: 4.4); HostArmada (970: 4.8); ChemiCloud (893: 4.9); Hostek (773: 4.3); Hostwinds (715: 3.4); Host4Geeks (556: 4.7); SiteGround Deutschland (511: 4.9); Kamatera (268: 3.4); Hivelocity: 266: 4.2); AccuWeb (194: 4.1); Asura (175: 4.3); Neolo (157: 4.5); IonBlade (115: 4.9); KVChosting (106: 2.9).

Advise from WHMCS Community:

• Don't go with cheap "big brand" companies if you want proper service and hosting, you will just be another small fish in a big pond and at best have mediocre speed and support.

Asura: Cheap Reseller Hosting: $3.29-$15.99/mo, with DirectAdmin, free dedicated IP. Catch-All Email? Based in Sheridan, WY, with servers in New York, Montreal, London, and Luxembourg.

Entirely Digital: Includes OLM.net, mentioned above. Reseller Hosting: Resell white-labelled cPanel WHM hosting on enterprise class Dell Servers. Starter $26.99/mo, standard $44.99/mo, pro $79.99/mo, with + variants. Some questions here, starting with "Canada"? Doesn't show up in Google search for "reseller hosting," but Christgau has used them for 20+ years.

InterServer.net: Unlimited Account Reseller Hosting: "Easily create a new cPanel login for each customer or website." (Quoted plans use Direct Admin.) Each account has all features of Standard Web Hosting*. Plans from RS One (80GB Disk, 500GB monthly bandwidth, Direct Admin, $19.95) to RS Five (280 GB, 2000GB, $69.95). App installer includes "1-click" 444 Apps. Option "buy now" for cPanel asks you for domain name before offering any pricing.

*Regular web hosting plans include SitePad website builder, 450+ Cloud Apps, free SSL certificates, "InterShield Security," "Inter-Proxy Caching + CLoudFlare," "Inter-Insurance," "Guaranteed Email Delivery" (routed through a "smart host to prevent outgoing spam . . . protecting the global reputation of your email server"; details, using Mail.Baby, does not cover "bulk email, mailing lists, and email considered abusive, spammy," etc. Mail.Baby seems to offer this service direct to customers, for $1/mo + $0.20/1000 emails sent).

KnownHost: Reseller Hosting: Recommended plan $17.98, renews at $30.56 (which is my main reservation here; renewal price seems like a fairly good deal): 75 cPanel accounts, 4000GB bandwidth, 120GB SSD. VPS: Basic VPS $43.25 (4 core, 6GB RAM, 100GB SSD, 3TB bandwidth, 2 IP addresses, DirectAdmin); Standard $63.25; Professional $83.25; Premium $103.25. Optional add-ons: Litespeed, Softaculous, JetBackup, Imunify AV+/360, MailChannels.

KVCHosting: Reseller Hosting: 10 cPanel accounts, $14.99/mo.; 20 accounts, $24.99, unlimited SSD/Bandwidth; 40 accounts, $34.99. Tampa: 3 US data centers + 1 in Europe. Seem to have good reviews (although most are old; more Trustpilot reviews are mostly negative, blaming "new owners."

Namecheap: Reseller Hosting: Plans for 19.98, 39.88, 58.88/mo, with varying cPanel accounts (25/100/150), unmetered bandwidth; dedicated IP is +$4/mo. Optional WHMCS licenses from $8-48/mo; CS for Complete Solution, which includes reseller billing and support services. Renews at same price. (Namecheap also has domain name transfer, email services.)

Scalahosting: Reseller Hosting: Scala 1-2 $19.95-$49.95/mo, with cPanel 20-60 accounts, 50-150GB SSD; Entry Cloud $14.95/mo (but "pay as much as you use"; first month only, then $29.95/mo, "now due $538.20"), 50GB, with SPanel "+ 100s of free features."

SkyNet: Reseller Hosting. Ignoring first month sale, $39.95/mo for 1TB SSD, 2TB bandwidth, 100 cPanel accounts, MailChannels cloud email, no end user support (not needed), Attracta SEO tools, "daily weekly backups.".

20i: Reseller Hosting: First month $1, then $39.99/mo for 100 hosting accounts, 150GB SSD, unmetered bandwidth, 100 free SSL certificates. Unlimited plan $59.99/mo. My20i & StackCP hosting control panel. Comp chart vs. SiteGround, Namecheap, HostGator. 80+ one-click install apps. Also have VPS.

Top VPS Options

InterServer.net: Cloud Virtual Servers, from $3/month (1 slice; 16 slices $48/month; goes way up from there), offering control panels (DirectAdmin, cPanel, Plesk; Webuzu standard), managed support (4+ slices). cPanel Hosting Solutions at $6/slice (up to $96). Direct Admin Personal is free with Cloud VPS, Lite for $11.25/mo (10 accounts, 50 domains), standard for $21.75/mo (unlimited).

Scalahosting: Virtual Private Servers: Offers four builds from $29.95 to $94.95/mo, the latter with 12 CPU cores, 24 GB RAM, 20 GB NVMe SSD, unmetered bandwidth, managed support with their own SPanel control panel. SPanel features comparable to cPanel

Top Dedicated Server Options

Other Company Notes (First Pass)

Hosting and Designs: My current dedicated server company. Data centers in Strasbourg/France or St. Louis/MO.

• Intel Core E3-1225v3: 4 cores, 8 threads, 3.2GHz; 32 GB RAM, 2x2TB SATA HDD, 1 IP (4 total $6); 1 Gbit/s: $589/year
• Intel Skylake i7-6700: 4 cores, 8 threads, 3.4GHz; 64 GB RAM, 2x1TB SSD, 1 IP (4 total $6); 1 Gbit/s: $1049/year
• Intel Core i7-9700: 8 cores, 16 threads, 3 GHz Windows 2019; 64 GB RAM, 2x1TB NVMe SSD, 1 IP (8 total $14), 1 Gbit/s: $1685/year

Click on these options, as well as on "Our services" goes nowhere. It is unclear that they have any support at all. They are basically website designers, who got into hosting early on by fronting for other companies, for better or worse (which lately has mostly been worse).

2gbHosting: Reseller Hosting. Based in India.

A2 Hosting: VPS: Managed (Takeoff [4] $35.99/mo, Soar [8] $54.99) vs. Unmanaged (Launch $2.99/mo, Ascent $29.99/mo). Soar includes 8GB RAM, 150GV NVME SSD, 3TB transfer, SSL certificate, Imunify360, CloudLinux, cPanel, LiteSpeed. Ascent is slightly more power, but no software. Also have Reseller Hosting Plans: $17.99 to $39.99 (introductory prices, renew at more than 2X, to $94.99): 250GB SSD, 3500GB Transfer, Free SSL Certificates, cPanel/WHM, free WHNMCS or Biesto.

AccuWeb: Cheap hosting plans (36 months, up from $4 to $15 after that, or whatever is "then current"), but no Reseller Hosting per se. VPS. Also seems cheap but shady.

Asura: See Reseller Hosting. VPS. These are also very cheap, with VPS 5 at $39.99/mo (6 CPU, 24GB RAM, 24TB bandwidth), OpenVZ-Based Virtualization, control pahnel (DirectAdmin?).

B3 Clouds: Reseller Hosting: $19.99: 150GB SSD, 2000GB bandwidth, 100 cPanel accounts, SSL. Also Managed VPS.

Bluehost: Reseller Hosting. VPS: Recommended Enhanced NVME 8 (4 vCPU cores, 8 GB RAM, 200GB NVMe, 1 IP, unmetered bandwidth, cPanel included). Bad reports.

Chemicloud: Reseller Hosting. Pricing goes up after 12 months; cPanel accounts. Nearest datacenter Dallas.

Chicago VPS: Reseller Hosting: Plans for $10.95, $20.95, $29.95, all with cPanel. Few details, but aside from beginner tier there seem to be few limits. Company also offers Cloud VPS, Bare Metal Servers.

Crown Cloud: VPS: DirectAdmin VPS hosting: DA 2 (4GB RAM, 100GB SSD, 4vCPU cores, 2TB bandwidth, 1 IPv4 address, DirectAdmin): $50/mo.

Cloudways [by Digital Ocean]: Reseller Hosting: "Most popular" plan $54/mo (4GB RAM, 2 Core Processor, 80GB Storage, 4TB Bandwidth). No info on panel software (turns out it's custom). They seem to be pushing a commissions model, as opposed to most others' "white label" approach.

Contabo: Bare Metal: "bare metal power at wallet-friendly prices": e.g., DS1: $121/mo. (+$10.35 for central US; $57 for cPanel, $14 for Plesk; Ubuntu or RHEL Variants (AlmaLinux 9, Rocky Linux 9) included; SSL $88.99 one off, $289.99 wildcard; server management $144.99).

Dedicated.com: Dedicated Severs: Big enough that I'm finding articles that offer Alternatives to Dedicated.com. Web page offers "dedicated servers prices starting from $34.99/mo," actual prices listed (excluding obsolete-ish "budget" servers) range from $49.99/mo (64GB RAM, 2x512GB SSD, 100TB bandwidth) to $129.99/mo (128GB RAM, 2x2TB SSD, 100TB bandwidth, 10Gbsp uplink). All servers include OS (Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux, Debian, or Ubuntu), 5 usable IP addresses, remote power reboots, backup power, IPMI/KVM access, Synergy Control Panel, "24/7 customer support."

DedicatedCore: Managed cPanel VPS.

Digital Ocean: VPS: "Sign up and get $200 in credit for your first 60 days with DigitalOcean.*" They call their resources "droplets." There is a chart that compares their prices for various virtual machines to GCP, Azure, and AWS.

DomainRacer: Reseller Hosting: Inexpensive cPanel reseller deals. Also: VPS. Has +91 phone number (India).

DreamHost: Doesn't offer Reselling Hosting per se, but offers end-user hosting, VPS, and Fully-Managed Dedicated Servers (starting at $165/mo).

ElySpace:

Fast Comet: CPanel Shared Hosting: Pricing is very suspicious ($4.99 or $24.99?), claims "no hidden fees," tries to push you to "contact sales." Seems to have good outside reviews.

Fat Cow: Web Hosting Plans: No mention of reselling, but options up to 100 websites, intro discounts, pricey renewals, "sister company" of Bluehost, which seems to have broken service. Looks like a must to avoid.

GigaPros: Reseller Hosting: Professional $30/mo; Enterprise $60/mo.

GlowHost: Reseller Plans, including cPanel. Plans start at $24.95/mo (25 cPanel accounts, 50GB, 5TB xfer, 2IP); $39.95 for 40 accounts, 80GB; $59.95/mo for 65 accounts, 130GB.

GoDaddy: VPS: plans from $8.99/mo to $44.99 and up (cPanel or Plesk extra). Reseller Program seems somewhat different (like you're reselling for them).

Green Geeks: Reseller Hosting Plans: Special price $34.95/mo (160 GB SSD, 1600 GB transfer, 80 cPanel accounts, SSL, managed support. Not a lot of detail here, and the "sale" pricing is suspect. Also VPS: Managed VPS, uses cPanel, strikes me as pricey ($129.95/mo for 8GB RAM).

GTHost: Instant Dedicated Servers: "most popular specs" for $64/mo, $89/mo, $149/mo (all 300MBit/s unmetered), IPMI. They also have Virtual Private Servers, from $4-50/mo (limits include traffic, from 8-32TB; some discussion of managed vs. unmanaged VPS not clear.)

HelioHost: Free Hosting: Hobbyist-run 501(c)(3) organization, has provided free web hosting services for 20+ years.

HiVelocity: VPS:: Hosting plans $7-40/mo (12 vCPUs, 24GB RAM, 640 GB storage, 10TB/1GBps bandwidth, Ubuntu 22.04, no panel: cPanel 6-30 accounts $29).

Host for Web: VPS: Plans from $39-189 (16 CPU cores, 32GB RAM, 640GB SSD). Includes own VPS Panel.

Host4Geeks: Reseller Hosting: Unlimited SSD/Bandwidth, SSL, 20 cPanel accounts $14, 40 cPanel accounts $23; $41 offers 60 cPanel accounts, WHMCS. Also Managed VPS with "free" cPanel & DirectAdmin. 2 US data centers + UK and India.

Hostao: Reseller Hosting: Packages $17.50-$59.50, WHMCS but no mention of cPanel or any other panel.

HostArmada: Managed Reseller Hosting: starts at $28/mo; Web Giant $46.70 (100 cPanel accounts). Uses Spam Experts. Also Managed VPS: Prices include 5 cPanel accounts, NGiNX.

Hostbillo: Reseller Hosting: Plans priced annually, $148.68 getting you 80GB SSD, WHM, 40 cPanel accounts, SSL, Softaculus, weekly backup. "See all features" doesn't show you much.

Hostens: Reseller Hosting: More sneaky pricing, 3-year commitments. Based in Lithuania.

HostGamma: Reseller Hosting: $19.95-$59.95/mo. Unless there's some hidden costs ("start from"), the $39.95 package looks pretty solid: 150GB "premium space," 3TB monthly bandwidth, 100 cPanel accounts. No more info in shopping cart. Locations in US and Canada. Based in Canada (Mississauga).

HostGator: Seller Rehosting "introductory" plans at $34.99, $53.99, $82.99/mo (renews at +50%). Also VPS, same plans.

Hostinger: Offers Cloud Hosting, VPS, Business Email. Hostinger: Introductory pricing is cheap, but more than doubles "when you renew." Software extra: VPS offers a wide range of panels (e.g., DirectAdmin $4.99-$19.99/mo.; cPanel same).

HostingSource: Web Hosting: "unlimited domains" but no mention of reseller hosting. NY/NJ.

Hostman: VPS. Comparison chart vs. Digital Ocean, Google Cloud, AWS, and Vultr.

Hostndoc: Dedicated Servers: Techr1: $69.95 (32GB RAM, 240GB SSD, 1GBPS 20TB); Techr2: $89.95 (64GB RAM, 480GB SSD, 1GBPS 20TB). Also VPS.

Hostek: Reseller Hosting: Offers Windows, cPanel, ColdFusion, Lucee VPS plans (the latter two on Windows or Linux). CPanel plans go to VPS. VPS: Managed cPanel plans from $49.20 up (5 cPanel accounts); self-managed plans from $29.95 (Silver: $46.75).

HostingRaja: "No. 1 Indian hosting company."

HostKey: Reseller Hosting: Seem to be offering discounts or commissions, but also claim to be white label. Based in Amsterdam, but have servers in US, Europe, Asia, Russia.

HostPapa: Reseller Hosting: Packages from $31.99-$121.99/mo, with 20-150 cPanel accounts, 500GB-2.5TB bandwidth, Spamexperts.

HostUS: Reseller Hosting: $29.99/mo for 220 GB SSD, unlimited transfer, 50 cPanel accounts, dedicated IP, WHMCS, SSL, Softaculous, global distributed DNS. Also OpenVZ VPS; Managed VPS ($49.95-$109.95/mo); Dedicated Servers (start at $299, so too expensive).

Hostwinds: Reseller Hosting. Ultimate starting at $8.24/mo, but no info available (they want you to sign in first, or use chat). VPS: Fully managed and unmanaged plans. Uses Cloud Control Portal; cPanel license available on checkout.

Hudson Valley: Reseller Hosting: Advanced $25/mo: 150GB SSD, 1500GB bandwidth, cPanel/WHM unlimited websites, dedicated IP. Also: VPS: Self-managed, cPanel extra ($40/mo for 50 accounts, $55/mo for 100 accounts); Dedicated Servers.

InMotion: Reseller Hosting: Plans start on sale, renew much higher (e.g., $39.99 to $55.99/mo). Seem to have cPanel and WHMCS, and include dedicated IP. Cybernews top pick. VPS: VPS 16 vCPU starts at $39.99/mo, renews at $121.99/mo. Panel options cPanel, Control Web Panel. See product guides.

Ion Blade: Reseller Hosting: Silver/Gold/Platinum plans (from $24.95-$49.95/mo), cPanel. Pasadena.

Ionos: Dedicated Servers: Prices not obvious. Also offer VPS.

InterServer.net: See Seller Rehosting, VPS. They also have Dedicated Servers: Xeon E3-1230v5 (4 cores, 3.4GHz), 64GB RAM, 2x2TB SATA, 1GBPS unmetered, no control panel, 1 IP, Linux (AlmaLinux, Ubuntu LTS, Debian, or IPMI install), NYC region: $84/month). Other servers are significantly more expensive.

Kamatera: Cloud infrastructure, flexible pricing (monthly, hourly), unlimited scaling; offers a virtual private cloud, load balancers, block storage, and data centers around the world. "Web hosting server" is one of many "popular use cases." There is a Reseller Hosting page, but very little info on it. VPS: Simple configurations $4-12/mo (to $95/mo for 2 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 250 GB NVMe, 1 IP, cPanel 30 accounts).

KnownHost: See Reseller Hosting.

Krystal: Reseller Hosting: UK.

Liquid Web: Reseller Hosting: Not very clear, but starts at $99/mo ("Bronze," but configurations are larger than most: 2x480GB SSD, 10TB bandwidth; cPanel "available," "free standard SSLs 10/mo"). Bare Metal: Some low prices for short terms (6 months), but "best deal" is $525/month.

LogicWeb: Reseller Hosting: cPanel, LiteSpeed, starting at $15/mo.

Little Creek: VPS: KVM-12GB (12GB RAM, 12 CPU vCores, 240GB NVME, 12TB monthly transfer) $21.00/mo. No options.

M2Host: Reseller Hosting. Personal (35 cPanel accounts, $15.25/mo * 36); Expert (unlimited, $29.25/mo *36). Also VPS.

MayoHost: Reseller Hosting: Plans from $3-$15/mo. Includes DirectAdmin, Softaculous, SSL, CloudLinux, MariaDB. Also VPS.

MilesWeb: Reseller Hosting. Deep discounts, unclear what happens next, lots of cPanel accounts but small SSD.Also Managed VPS.

Name.com: Seems to mostly be a registrar, but offers Web Hosting, including plans with 25 and unlimited websites, also cPanel (pricing unclear for that).

Namecheap: See under Reseller Hosting. Also VPS: Magnetar $24/88/month (8 CPU cores, 12GB RAM, 240GB SSD RAID 10, 6000 GB bandwidth; add-ons for extra RAM, Disk look expensive); software options: Webuzo $2.88, cPanel $16.88, Softaculous $1.50, WHMCS $8-48. Also see cPanel license price updates for 2024.

NameHero: Reseller Hostingo: ResellerGold plan $26.80/mo: 60 client accounts, 100GB NVMe, 1000GB bandwidth, SSL, LiteSpeed, WHMCS, cPanel/WHM, WHMCS or Blesta (billing automation); Also Platinum ($38.80) and Diamond ($46.80) plans ("prices reflect a 3-year billing cycle where the discount is only valid for the first invoice"; so Diamond goes to $116.99?).

Neolo: Reseller Hosting: $4.95-$28.80/mo, but renew at 2X.

No Frills Cloud: Cloud Reseller Hosting: Seems about average, from $9.99 (10 cPanel accounts) to $49.99 (50). Not obviously cut rate, seems to include everything, pricing seems straightforward, gets good ratings from review services. Singapore? (There's a US server named Mason.)

NodeSpace: Reseller Hosting: cPanel/WHM, $27/mo for 25GB NVMe, 1.5TB bandwidth, 20 cPanel Accounts; $52/mo for 50 GB, 2TB, 30 cPanel. Ypsilanti, MI.

OchaHost: Reseller Hosting: Affogato Reseller III: $20/mo, 2x on renewal..

OrangeHost: Resellers Hosting: $19, $39, $59, $78/mo (100 cPanel accounts), and up. USA, 25k customers.

Oryon: Hosting. "Singapore's largest web hosting provider."

OVH: Hosting Reseller: Comfort: $15.98/mo (4 vCores); Elite: $33.49/mo; cPanel/Plesk optional (actually unclear what's going on here). Bare metal; RISE-1 ($66.50), RISE-2 ($76), RISE-3 ($115.90), etc. For example, RISE-1: Intel Xeon-E 2386G - 6c/12t - 3.5GHz/4.7GHz, 32GB RAM (upgrades $12.35 for 64GB, $26.60 for 128GB), 2x512GB NVMe soft RAID, 1Gbit/s unmetered, 12 months commitment.

Owrbit: Reseller Hosting. Uses DirectAdmin. India.

PebbleHost: VPS: UK? Pro-12 VPS (4 vCores, 12GB RAM, 120GB NVMe, 30TB server bandwidth: $30/mo; includes VPS control panel

Peoples Host: Reseller Hosting: Plans for "as low as" $29, $49, $78/mo, (24 months, billed one time, presumably up front), additional fees for cPanel/WHM ($20 for 5 accounts, $30 for 30 accounts, $45 for 100 accounts).

Perfect Quality Hosting: VPS: Seems to be based in NL, but offers US hosting.

PlanetHoster: Premium Hosting: Don't see a reseller option. Canada (Laval, near Montreal).

ProHoster: Unlimited Website Hosting: cPanel or ISPmanager. Netherlands.

Rackspace: Bare Metal.

Raidlayer: Reseller Hosting: $10-$40/mo, cPanel/WHM. Sever locations: US, India.

RamNode: Reseller Hosting: goes straight to order form.

Reseller Club: VPS: Managed VPS Hosting from $82.99/mo. Managed dedicated server from $137.99/mo. Also Cloud Hosting and Web Hosting. Free cPanel. Poor reputation.

Satisfyhost: Reseller Hosting: Advanced $39.16/mo, renews at $55.95.

Scalahosting: See Reseller Hosting, VPS.

ServerHub: Reseller Hosting: Prices start at $19.95-$39.95, regularly $39.95-$69.95, include WHM (50-300 accounts)..

A Small Orange: Reseller Hosting: Redirects to Web.com.

Temok: Managed Cloud and Dedicated Servers. Headquarters Dubai, servers in Netherlands and US (also Romania and Pakistan). Reseller Hosting: Diamond $14/mo (3 years, renews at same), 25 cPanel accounts.

TMD: Shared hosting servers, but doesn't seem to have a reseller program. VPS: "Smart" package $79.99/mo: 180GB SSD, 4TB bandwidth, 8GB RAM, cpanel/WHM, free SSL.

SiteGround: Founded in Bulgaria, provides hosting for over 3 million domains. Hosting Plans don't include reseller hosting per se, but do have a plan for "unlimited domains." Also larger-scale Cloud Hosting Plans.

SkyNet: See Reseller Hosting. Also VPS: $79.95/mo, 8GB RAM, 80GB SSD, 1 IP, 2TB bandwidth, cPanel/WHM.

Squidix: Reseller Hosting. Plans for $15.95, $31.95, $63.95, vary by SSD and bandwidth (25-100 GB, 500GB-2TB), unlimited cPanel accounts. Also VPS, Dedicated Servers, fully managed with cPanel/WHM (but start at $174.95/mo).

Stablepoint: cPanel Reseller Hosting. Uses Mailchannels/SpamXperts outbound email reputation protection. Unlimited Reseller $16.28/mo (3-year term paid in advance of $585.90; $837 on renewal), for 25 accounts, unlimited disk/bandwidth, 2GB LVE RAM per cPanel.

SupportHost: Reseller Hosting. Prices in Euros.

This Web Host: Reseller Hosting: Just an order form.

TotalChoice: Reseller Hosting: Plans from Simple ($21.99) to Deluxe (40GB, 500GB data transfer, cPanel/WHM, $46.99). Also offer VPS, Dedicated Servers.

TrueHost: Reseller Hosting: Silver/Gold/Platinum packages, from $19.99 to $30.49 (discounts, but renew at same price). Delaware.

20i: See Reseller Hosting. Also have VPS.

UKHost4u: UK.

Ultahost: Reseller Hosting: Sftarts at $23.50/mo: 25 cPanel accounts; other plans for $32.99 (50) and $44.50 (100), billed for 24-month term.

UnivaHost: Reseler Hosting: R-Smart $18.99/mo (WHM/Plesk, 60 accounts); R-Business $28.00.mo (100GB SSD, 5TB Bandwidth, 120 accounts). Also VPS. They have a +88 phone number, which is Bulgaria.

Verpex: Reseller Hosting: $20/$30: 50 cPanel accounts; $39.99/$59.99: same but more RAM/SSD. Outbound mail via MailChannels or SpamExperts

Vultr: Bare Metal: Bare metal starting at $120. Cloud Compute not obvious. Seems to put a lot of emphasis on AI GPUs.

Warez-Host: Offshore Reseller Hosting: "We accept a wide variety of contents. Almost freedom." Four datacenter locations, including Russia, Sweden, Bulgaria, and Netherlands. They offer "Bitcoin hosting," "anonymous registration," and "fully DMCA ignored hosting."

Web.com: Hosting. Mostly end-user tools (web design, etc.; home page pushes AI tools).

WebHostingHub: Plans: Unlimited websites, but no mention of reselling.

WP Engine: "Finally, a fully managed WordPress hosting service."

WPMU DEV: Premium Managed Hosting: WordPress optimized resources. Offers Reseller program.

Zalvis: Reseller Hosting: Big intro discounts (or big renewal price hikes). Also VPS.

Unclear how these big companies fit into the deal:

Amazon Web Services: Among several dozen products, these seem the most relevant

• Amazon Lightsail: "Build applications and websites fast with low-cost, pre-configured cloud resources." Includes something about "resell instance plans." Their information on pricing is very nebulous.
• Amazon EC2: "Secure and resizable compute capacity for virtually any workload." "EC2" stands for "Elastic Compute Cloud."

Google Cloud: Like Amazon, they have a lot of products where VPS is mixed in with much else (e.g., cloud storage, AI). Most relevant appears to be Compute Engine ("comparable to Amazon EC2 and Azure Virtual Machines").

Microsoft Azure. 'Nuff said.

Activity Log

[01-17]: I received a message from GoDaddy about the expiration of my notesoneverdaylife.com domain name (cancels on 2025-02-15; renewal $43.98/2 years). It is not set for auto-renew. Evidently, there is a 12-day grace period beyond expiration date for renewal of the domain without additional fees.

[01-18]: I sent the following to Hosting and Designs via their contact form:

I've been a customer of yours for many years now. I lease a dedicated server, IP address 199.217.115.158, for which I am billed $115 monthly, most recently paid Jan 13, 2025. I need to open a support ticket: my WHM software has passed its "End of Life" date, so needs to be updated. I've been reluctant to bother you with details, but this seems momentous enough that I thought I should get more information before I did something (assuming there is something I can do, which so far is unclear to me). However, my previous saved link for your support ticket system no longer works, the email addresses I've found bounce, the phone number on your receipt went to voice mail, and my attempt to open a ticket with cPanel (which previously worked) told me to contact Server4You Gmbh, but gave me no contact information. All this is (a) bewildering and (b) pretty aggravating.

[01-19] I received the following message back from Lars Jensen at Hosting and Designs:

I'm sorry about this. Cpanel has changed their licensing fees. Everyone, including the datacenter is now paying double for Cpanel licenses because Cpanel decided to jack up their prices 100%. You should get a license directly with Cpanel. They could have done that for you instead of being this vague. I would tell them you need to move/renew your license with them but not sure if they will do it in 5 minutes or make it difficult. We do not offer Cpanel support since this is now a Cpanel matter. (They also own Plesk and have increased pricing there too. DirectAdmin might be a viable alternative.)

[Link] You need to order the $65.99 version since they will not let you order a less expensive one since you are on a dedicated server . . .

[01-20] I received this reply back from ?:

Thanks for the inquiry! As for pricing, it sounds like we have two options that might work for you. We have a "Lite" license for $15/mo and a Standard (unlimited) license for $29/mo. There is no difference in functionality between the two. It's just that the Lite license has a limit of 10 accounts (control panel logins) and 50 domains total (it doesn't matter how you split the domains between accounts). So you can save some money if the Lite license fits your needs (and you can always upgrade/downgrade later). Also, we don't price increase each year, so we have a reputation for stable pricing.

Dedicated server suggestions are another story. There's a million providers out there so your possibilities are endless. Obviously you want enough CPU/RAM/disk to support your sites (I have no idea how resource-intensive they are). And perhaps a geographical location with good latency so everything feels fast. The good news is that its' a competitive industry so you can find good deals, and here is a good place to start: https://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=36

I'm no spring chicken myself so I should be honest and point out that switching panels is a huge learning curve, and many people just don't have time time or patience to do it. Even though cPanel is doing huge price increasing all the time, completely migrating to something else creates a huge pain-point that seems to keep people staying with cPanel just because they don't want to deal with the mess. I know your questions were more technical but this is a real deal-breaker for some people so I thought I would throw it in there.

Jargon

Seems we ought to note some terms along the way. Most generic terms I'm moving into the Server Jargon file.