A cPanel alternative you can test before you trust it.
RespireCloud is a self hosted server panel for Linux with the model hosting businesses already use: administrators, resellers, customers, plans with limits, mail, DNS, databases and backups. It reads cPanel backups, builds a test copy and lets you take the move back. It is in early access, and this page says what is not there yet.
What stays familiar.
People leave a panel for its price or its design, not for its model. The model is kept.
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Accounts, resellers and plans
Administrators, resellers, customers and sub-users, each confined to their own subtree. Plans carry limits that every module enforces, not only the sign-up form.
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Websites, mail, DNS and databases
nginx sites with a PHP-FPM pool per account, Postfix, Dovecot and Rspamd for mail with DKIM and DMARC published for you, PowerDNS with one click DNSSEC, MariaDB, MySQL and PostgreSQL.
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Billing systems
Modules for WHMCS, Blesta and HostBill, shipped as checksummed downloads and tested end to end against the panel's connector.
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Backups and restores
Encrypted, incremental backups to any storage, with a restore of a file, a database, a mailbox or a whole account.
What is different, by design.
These are statements about RespireCloud, not about cPanel.
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The web panel cannot run commands
The panel runs as an unprivileged user. Work that needs root goes to a separate agent that accepts typed operations only, never a command line.
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Every change is shown before it happens
A change is a plan with the exact difference. You approve it, risky ones with a passkey, and it can be undone.
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Isolation is in the base product
Every hosting account is its own Linux user with its own systemd slice, its own PHP-FPM pool and quotas, in every edition.
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An assistant, and a guide for beginners
Ask in plain words and get a plan to approve. RespireSoft AI comes with every licence as a monthly allowance and turns itself on; or with your own key for a model provider, or a model on your own server. A guide walks new users through their first steps.
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Updates that go back by themselves
The panel updates itself from signed releases, keeps the previous release and a copy of its database, and goes back on its own if the new release does not start. Every server and Store module follows.
How a move from cPanel goes.
The importer reads a cpmove backup, the archive that cPanel's own pkgacct script makes for an account.
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1. Install RespireCloud on a new server
The installer checks the system first and verifies the release it downloads. Do not install over the cPanel server: use a second server and move accounts across.
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2. Make a backup of an account on cPanel
Run pkgacct, or use the backup tool in cPanel, and upload the cpmove archive in the import wizard. It resumes if the connection drops, and shows the archive's checksum.
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3. Read the report
Before anything is created, the report lists what converts as it is, what converts with a change and what is skipped, each with the reason.
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4. Run the dry run
It builds the account and tests it: each site is fetched over HTTP and each mailbox is probed over SMTP. DNS and certificates are held back.
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5. Commit, or roll back
Commit creates the DNS zones and certificates. A rollback removes everything the import created: accounts, domains, zones, mail domains, databases, users, certificates and the home folder.
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6. Switch DNS per domain
Lower the TTL of your records a few days before. After the first copy, a final pass brings what changed since, and gives a DNS checklist for each domain.
cPanel and RespireCloud, in numbers.
What cPanel's own pages say, with the address and the date they were read. Their page is the authority.
What RespireCloud does not have yet.
Read this before you plan.
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CloudLinux
RespireCloud has not been installed or tested on CloudLinux.
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A public release
RespireCloud is in early access. There is no public download, the production signing keys are not made and prices are not set. One install has run on a real server; everything else ran in our lab.
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Proof on real backups
The importers have run end to end only on archives we built to match each format. A backup taken from a production server has not been imported yet, so expect differences.
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A second web server
Sites are served by nginx. Apache .htaccess rules, PHP ini overrides and redirects are not translated by the importer: a site that depends on them needs its rules rewritten.
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Recovery to a moment
A database restore goes back to the time of a scheduled dump. Recovery to a chosen moment between backups is not built. The database tool (Adminer) is built; it covers MariaDB, MySQL and PostgreSQL on the server itself.
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An independent security test
An external penetration test has not started.
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A price of zero
RespireCloud is licensed. If a free panel is a requirement, it is not the right choice.
Questions
- Is there a free cPanel alternative?
- Not here: RespireCloud is a licensed product with a free 14 day trial, and its prices are not set yet. Several open source panels exist; the comparison pages say how RespireCloud differs from CyberPanel, HestiaCP and CloudPanel, which are free.
- Can I import my cPanel accounts?
- Yes, from a cpmove backup, with a report, a dry run and a rollback. So far it has run end to end on archives we built to match the format, not on a backup from a production cPanel server, so expect differences and test on a copy.
- What will not come over?
- Passwords (mailboxes need a reset, database users get new ones), PostgreSQL databases, FTP accounts and autoresponders. Cron lines are listed, not created. Apache .htaccess rules are not translated, because sites are served by nginx.
- Is it a WHM alternative too?
- RespireCloud has one panel for all levels: the administrator sees what WHM would show, resellers see their own customers, and customers see their account. Plans, limits and acting as a customer with a banner and an audit trail are there. See the page for hosting companies.
- How much does it cost compared with cPanel?
- We cannot say yet: RespireCloud has no price. cPanel's published prices are in the table above, read on the date shown.
Read next
Planning a move from cPanel?
Tell us how many servers and accounts. We will say honestly whether RespireCloud is ready for them.
cPanel, WHM, Plesk, DirectAdmin, CyberPanel, HestiaCP, CloudPanel and LiteSpeed are trademarks or names of their respective owners. RespireCloud is made by RespireSoft and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any of them. Their names are used here only to say what RespireCloud can import from and how it differs.