NovaPanel
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cPanel alternative

A free, modern cPanel alternative

cPanel still works — but the per-account licensing keeps climbing and the UI hasn't aged well. NovaPanel is a self-hosted hosting control panel built for the people leaving cPanel: flat per-server pricing, a genuinely free tier, a modern stack, and a one-line install.

root@vps 
$ curl -fsSL https://license.novapanel.dev/install.sh | sudo bash

Fresh Ubuntu 22.04 / 24.04 / 26.04 or Debian 12 / 13 VPS — installs in ~10 minutes.

No per-account licensing

cPanel charges by account count — a busy server can run $50+/mo just for the panel. NovaPanel is flat per-server: free on Community, £4.99/mo on Pro. Same box, a fraction of the cost.

Modern, not 1996

A single Go binary with Caddy auto-TLS, PostgreSQL + MariaDB, and a clean dual-panel UI (separate admin and customer logins). No Perl, no AutoSSL config dance.

One command to install

curl one line, ~10 minutes, on a fresh Ubuntu or Debian VPS. The binary is signed and SHA-verified; updates are one click in-panel.

Free tier that isn't crippleware

The Community tier auto-issues at install and never expires: real sites, databases, mail-less hosting, DNS, auto-TLS, file manager, backups. Pro adds WAF, virus scanner, offsite backups, email and white-label.

The honest version

cPanel has a 20-year ecosystem — plugins, integrations, marketplace presence — that NovaPanel doesn't match yet, and an automated cPanel→NovaPanel importer isn't shipped. If you're deeply wired into cPanel's API or WHMCS, that switching cost is real. For a single VPS under ~100 accounts, NovaPanel saves roughly £500/year per server and gets you a nicer UI. Read the full breakdown on the NovaPanel vs cPanel page.

cPanel alternative — FAQ

Is NovaPanel a free cPanel alternative?
Yes. The Community tier is free forever and includes the core hosting stack — sites, databases, DNS, auto-TLS, file manager, local backups, FTP, cron. Pro (£4.99/mo per server) unlocks WAF, virus scanning, offsite S3/Backblaze backups, email accounts, git deploy and white-label branding. There is no per-account fee at any tier.
Can I migrate my cPanel accounts to NovaPanel?
A cPanel-import tool is on the roadmap but not shipped yet. Today, migrating a handful of sites (files + database + DNS) is straightforward and manual. If you run hundreds of accounts with deep cPanel/WHMCS integration, wait for the importer — it's the headline roadmap item.
What does NovaPanel run on?
Ubuntu 22.04 / 24.04 / 26.04 LTS or Debian 12 / 13 (plus apt-based derivatives). It installs PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Caddy, Postfix/Dovecot, PowerDNS and the rest of the stack for you.
Is it open source?
The installer is public and MIT-licensed so you can audit exactly what runs on your server. The panel binary itself is closed-source and distributed via a license-gated CDN — that's how a one-person project funds ongoing support and updates.

Try the free cPanel alternative

No card needed for Community. Upgrade in-panel any time.

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