AdminBolt vs cPanel vs Plesk

See how the next generation of hosting panels compares - on price, footprint, and the fleet-scale features the others simply do not have.

Start 30-day free trialView pricing

The number one reason hosting providers switch

One flat price per server while the others scale their bill with your account count. An honest side by side at every tier.

TierAdminBoltflat per-servercPanelPleskDirectAdmin
Starter (up to 5 accounts)$20/mo$35.99/mo€12.04/mo-
Growing (30+ accounts)$20/mo$53.99/mo€18.29/mo$29/mo (Standard)
Scale (100+ accounts)$20/mo$69.99/mo€31.38/mo$29/mo (Standard)
Unlimited accountsFrom $20/moNot available€31.38/mo$29/mo (Standard)
Per-account feesNoneYes ($0.49/account over 100)NoNone
Price lockedYesAnnual increasesRaised 26% Jan 2026-
200 accounts on one server: AdminBolt $20/mo vs cPanel $118.99/mo. Save $1,187.88/year per server. Competitor figures from published list prices, early 2026; verify before publishing.

What you get that you won't find anywhere else

Beyond the price tag, these are the capabilities that move teams off cPanel and Plesk - and keep them on AdminBolt.

Only in AdminBolt

Multi-Server Management

Manage all your servers from a single panel. Add web nodes, email nodes, database nodes. Scale without multiplying admin interfaces or licenses.

Only in AdminBolt

Email Infrastructure Separation

Run email on dedicated nodes, completely separated from web hosting. Better deliverability, isolated problems, independent scaling. When a site goes down, email keeps running.

Only in AdminBolt

AI Assistant and MCP Server

A built-in AI assistant on the client dashboard, plus an MCP server so any AI agent - Claude, Cursor, VS Code - can drive the panel in plain language. First-class agent access, not a bolt-on.

380 MB Memory Footprint

AdminBolt uses ~380 MB of RAM. That means more server resources for your customers, not for the panel.

Native REST API

Every action in AdminBolt is an API call. Single, consistent REST API with full documentation. Build integrations, automate provisioning, connect your billing stack.

One Command. Five Minutes.

Install alongside your current panel. No license keys, no installer wizards, no dependency hunting. Running in under 5 minutes.

The cost you don't see on the invoice

List prices are only half the story. The other half is the overhead and the increases that quietly eat your margin.

One panel for the whole fleet
Add dedicated mail servers separate from web and panel. See load and status of every node from one place. Email notifications for admins; Slack and other channels coming. All logs available in the panel. No more jumping between servers to find the issue.
Management overhead
10 servers with cPanel = 10 separate WHM logins. 10 separate interfaces. 10 separate license invoices. AdminBolt: one panel, one invoice.
Growing costs
cPanel increases prices annually. Plesk raised prices 26% in January 2026. Your margins shrink while your costs grow.
Add-ons that add up
The base license is only the start - malware scanning, backups and extras are paid add-ons on cPanel and Plesk. AdminBolt ships the full stack included, so the invoice is the whole cost, not a starting point.

See the difference on your own server

Install AdminBolt alongside your current panel. Compare side by side. No migration required.

Start 30-day free trialView pricingDocumentation
$ curl -sSL https://get.adminbolt.com/install.sh | bash