GSH

OpenPanel

Multi-user hosting panel that isolates every hosting user in rootless Podman containers.

Hosting Panels

OpenPanel is a self-hosted, multi-user web hosting control panel built around rootless Podman containers: every hosting user gets an isolated environment with its own web server (Nginx, Apache, OpenResty or OpenLiteSpeed), its own MySQL, MariaDB or Percona server, a PHP version, a Redis instance and full root access. The free Community Edition is capped at 3 user accounts and 50 domains, runs on Ubuntu 24.04 only and is licensed for private, non-commercial use. Enterprise is a flat 14.95 EUR per server per month with unlimited accounts, and adds email and FTP management, container management, API access, white-label branding, reseller accounts and direct cPanel backup imports. Source is published on GitHub, but under an EULA plus a non-commercial Creative Commons licence rather than an open-source licence — the vendor's own blog states that visibility does not grant redistribution rights.

Key features

Self-hosted editions

Community EditionFree self-hosted
LicenceSource availableUsersUp to 3 usersDeploymentSelf-hosted
Enterprise Edition14.95 EUR per instance / month
LicenceProprietaryDeploymentSelf-hosted
Limits, notes & source

Community Edition

Limits
Capped at 3 user accounts and 50 domains, and supports Ubuntu 24.04 only. Email and FTP account management, container management, REST API access, reseller accounts, billing integrations, ARM support and the other operating systems all require Enterprise. The licence covers personal, educational, evaluation, non-commercial and internal business use; commercial hosting of third parties is not permitted. Updates ship monthly.
Notes
The vendor calls it free forever with no trial period or credit card. Licensing wording is inconsistent on the vendor's own side: the community FAQ claims OpenAdmin, configuration and terminal commands are '100% open source' with only the UI core closed, while the LICENSE page is an End User License Agreement and the repository README puts OpenAdmin and the UI under the EULA with OpenCLI and configuration files under CC BY-NC. No OSI-approved licence is named anywhere, so this is recorded as source-available, not open source. The full instrument names are the OpenPanel End User License Agreement for OpenAdmin and the OpenPanel UI, and Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial for OpenCLI and the configuration files.
Source
openpanel.com/community ↗

Enterprise Edition

Limits
Unlimited user accounts, websites and domains per server. Adds email accounts with webmail, FTP accounts, container management, REST API access, billing integrations, white-label branding, reseller and multiple administrator accounts, dedicated IPs, account transfers between servers, direct cPanel backup import, ARM support and the remaining operating systems. Priority support with an SLA.
Notes
Priced per server rather than per user or account, with a 30-day free trial and annual billing at 149.50 EUR per year. The vendor states the price is fixed for life at the starting rate, and offers refunds within 7 days for licences that have not been activated. Still self-hosted: this is a licence key for software you run, not vendor-operated hosting. The vendor bills per server; recorded here as the per-instance unit, which is what the price table compares across apps.
Source
openpanel.com/enterprise ↗

Pros & cons

Strengths

  • Enterprise is a flat 14.95 EUR per server per month with unlimited accounts, not per-user billing. Source
  • Community Edition is free forever, with no trial period and no credit card. Source
  • Every hosting user gets their own MySQL server, PHP version and Redis instance. Source

Trade-offs

  • Community Edition is capped at 3 user accounts and 50 domains. Source
  • Community runs on Ubuntu 24.04 only and receives updates monthly, not continuously. Source
  • The licence is an EULA, not open source: commercial hosting and paid forks need Enterprise. Source
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  • Community cannot be used for commercial hosting of third parties. Source

OpenPanel replaces

Products this app is built to take over from, with the vendor's own evidence.

Moving your content across: Documented per product: what you do on the side you are leaving, what this app does with the result, and what does not survive the trip. Every step links to the page that documents it.

  • cPanelA vendor page is titled 'OpenPanel - cPanel Alternative' and states accounts can be imported from a cPanel backup.Source
    • ExportCreate the cPanel account backup with the cPanel backup wizard (or download one from JetBackup 5) and transfer the archive to the OpenPanel server.Source
    • ImportOpenAdmin → Backups → Import account: pick the backup file and its type (OpenPanel, cPanel or CyberPanel) and start — the import runs in the background with a progress log.Source
    • CaveatThe import menu item requires an Enterprise licence and stays hidden for reseller logins.Source
  • PleskA vendor page is titled 'OpenPanel - Plesk Alternative'; the vendor states migration from it is manual.Source
    • CaveatVendor FAQ: "There is no automatic import tool, migration needs to be performed manually."Source
  • DirectAdminA vendor page is titled 'OpenPanel - DirectAdmin Alternative'; the vendor states migration from it is manual.Source
    • CaveatVendor FAQ: "There is no automatic import tool, migration needs to be performed manually."Source