Why KarnakPanel
Hosting software shouldn't tax your growth.
Per-account licences mean every new customer raises your bill. Free panels often make you give up speed, mail or DNS. KarnakPanel lets a $5 VPS run a real hosting business with $0 in software costs.
Who it's for
Hosts & resellersPackages with enforced limits, suspensions, usage per client and billing hooks when you grow.
AgenciesOne-click WordPress with staging and fleet updates, or let clients build their own site with Karnak Builder.
SysadminsBIND with DNSSEC, Exim and Dovecot, FTPS-only, MariaDB, and Bash scripts you can read.
TinkerersSupervised app daemons, cron history, API tokens and transfer tools on the cheapest VPS that meets spec.
Head to head
How the panels compare.
Correct at time of writing (v1.5.51). These are all good products; this is where each one differs in practice. cPanel is the paid reference, the rest are the free alternatives people weigh up. Swipe the table on a phone.
| Feature | KarnakPanel | cPanel | HestiaCP | CyberPanel | aaPanel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free forever, no paywall, no licence server | $20–$80/mo, per-account | Free & open source | Free core (OLS); paid tiers + add-ons | Free core; many plugins paid |
| Web server | OpenLiteSpeed + LSCache | Apache / paid LSWS | Nginx + Apache / Nginx-only | OpenLiteSpeed (Ent. paid) | Nginx / Apache / OLS |
| PHP versions per domain | 8.3 / 8.4 / 8.5, own PHP master + limits per account | Multi-PHP | Multi-PHP | Multi-PHP | Multi-PHP |
| Mail stack | Exim + Dovecot + SA + ClamAV, lists, sieve, scoring, CalDAV/CardDAV | Exim + Dovecot + SpamAssassin | Exim + Dovecot + SA + ClamAV | Postfix + Dovecot + Rspamd | Postfix + Dovecot (variant) |
| Deliverability scoring + DKIM wizard | Yes | Partial (deliverability UI) | No | No | No |
| DNS + DNSSEC | One-click DNSSEC + DS output, validation | PowerDNS + DNSSEC | BIND, manual DNSSEC | PowerDNS, manual DNSSEC | BIND/PowerDNS, manual DNSSEC |
| Backups | Incremental + encrypted + offsite mirror + cPanel importer | Full + incremental + S3 | Full + incremental | Incremental (v2) | Scheduled, S3 (some paid) |
| 1-click apps | WordPress (+ staging clones), Joomla 6, Drupal 11, PrestaShop, phpBB, Flarum, Vvveb | WordPress toolkit + Softaculous (paid) | WordPress + app installer | WordPress + staging | WordPress + many (some paid) |
| Website builder | Karnak Builder built in: drag & drop, 75 templates, blog, publish to any domain | Not included | No | No | Plugin ecosystem (varies) |
| Signed updates + staff 2FA enforcement | Yes, plus passkey logins | 2FA, unsigned-ish updates | No / No | No / No | No / No |
| Bot shield + upload AV + egress watch | Yes | ModSecurity / Imunify (paid) | No | No | No |
| Reseller model | Packages, limits, usage views | WHM resellers | Basic | Basic | No |
| Billing integration | HostBMS with built-in KarnakPanel module · WHMCS hooks | Built-in + extensions | No | No | Partial / paid |
| Best for | Single-VPS hosts wanting OLS + mail + DNS free | Established hosts needing ecosystem | General shared hosting | OLS speed + WP staging | Beginners wanting GUI plugins |
The short version
Client 5 and client 500 cost the same.
Nothing. Price your plans against your VPS bill, not a licence ladder.
- Your margin stays yours. No per-account fee, no licence server to phone home to.
- Fast by default. OpenLiteSpeed and LSCache with PHP isolated per account, a stack that usually costs extra, set up for you.
- Room to grow. Start with packages and manual billing, then add WHMCS or HostBMS and move accounts between servers without changing panels.
- No lock-in. Per-account backups and standard config files, so you can always leave.