7 Best cPanel Hosting Providers: Take Control of Your Hosting Today

Best Overall Hosting Provider

Are you looking for hosting for your WordPress site? Look no further! Bluehost can’t be beaten – not only did it come out as the best overall hosting provider in our research, it’s also the number one recommended provider by WordPress itself. 

We think that’s something worth shouting about, especially as our research supported Bluehost’s claim to WordPress fame. It caters for websites of all types and sizes, with shared, VPS, and dedicated plans, as well as specially tailored shared WordPress hosting, WooCommerce hosting, and managed WordPress hosting.

Bluehost goes above and beyond for its users. For example, Bluehost’s managed WordPress plans include:

• A free domain, to give your site a stronger identity
• Automatic software updates to keep your site up to date and secure
• Free backups for a stress-free experience
• Unlimited storage so your site can grow freely
• Unmetered bandwidth so you can enjoy high levels of traffic

For online stores, Bluehost’s WooCommerce plans come with an ecommerce theme pre-installed, plus a one-click installation of popular payment processing tools.

For managed WordPress hosting, you’re looking at a starting price of $19.95 per month up to $37.95 per month with Bluehost’s promotional prices.

Bluehost’s cPanel is consistent with the rest of its brand – clean, simple, and reliable.

Further Information

• Read more about Bluehost in our thorough Bluehost Review
• Make sure Bluehost fits your budget with our Bluehost Pricing Review
• Why is Bluehost so good for WordPress? Find out in our review of the Best WordPress Hosting Providers
• Find the perfect provider for your WordPress site with the Best Managed WordPress Hosting Providers

Best for Uptime

HostGator not only takes the prize for the best uptime score, it also steals the win for best dedicated hosting provider.

So just what makes it so good? For starters, it bursts onto the scene with an impressive 99.99% uptime. That’s the highest uptime score you can realistically expect from any provider, due to minor updates and malfunctions that will affect the server.

HostGator is a close second to Bluehost, combining its high uptime score with a full range of support options, tons of hosting types, and a full house of quality features (such as CodeGuard).

What’s more, HostGator has customized its cPanel to make it even easier to use – it’s very simple to navigate and find everything you need. There are plenty of videos, articles, and guides in the HostGator support portal too, in case you do get stuck!

HostGator performed especially well when it came to dedicated hosting. You get a solid range of features, including:

• Built-in SSL Security to keep visitors safe and Google happy
• 1TB disk space to store tons of content
• A choice of Linux or Windows hosting to suit your needs
• Unmetered bandwidth to handle high traffic
• 8GB RAM to keep everything running smoothly

… and that’s just on the cheapest dedicated plan!

HostGator’s cheapest dedicated plan is its aptly named Value Server plan, costing $89.98 per month for new users. If you’re not ready for dedicated hosting, you can host with HostGator for as little as $2.75 per month on its cheapest shared plan.

Further Information

• Read our full HostGator Review for more details on this popular provider
• Read more about the Best Dedicated Hosting Providers
• Compare HostGator with its competitors:
  • HostGator vs GoDaddy
  • SiteGround vs HostGator
  • Bluehost vs HostGator

Best for Shared and VPS Hosting

InMotion can’t be beaten when it comes to shared hosting and VPS hosting. It came top of the league for both types of hosting, scoring impressively for features, disk space, and help and support.

Most people start out on shared hosting as it’s the most basic option, and InMotion includes a range of features to make sure your site gets the best start in life. The $2.49 per month Lite plan is a great starting point, with unlimited bandwidth, and a free SSL certificate. Website Builder Expert readers get additional InMotion discounts – just go to InMotion’s site and these will be automatically applied.

And, when it’s time to give your site a more robust hosting plan, you can count on InMotion to provide stellar VPS hosting as well. Plans start at $29.19 per month, and include features such as root access (for ultimate control and customization over your server), free backups (for peace of mind), and up to 260GB storage to give your site room to grow.

InMotion’s cPanel is uncluttered and clear, with everything laid out on a single page.

This makes it easy to manage different sections of your site, as well as track your statistics like bandwidth usage. You can scroll or use the menu links at the top to jump straight to the section you want, or, you can use the search bar to narrow down your results.

One of the extra bonuses of InMotion using cPanel is that you get a really tailored service, since cPanel can be specially optimized for VPS hosting. cPanel VPS Optimized makes sure resources are used minimally, improving performance and speed.

This version of cPanel is included in all of InMotion’s VPS plans – combine that specially optimized service with InMotion’s top notch features, and you’ve got a winning combination!

Further Information

• Read our full InMotion Hosting Review for an in-depth look at this impressive provider
• Find out more about the Best Shared Hosting Providers in our review
• Compare the Best VPS Hosting Providers in our full review
• Choose the best provider for your site and your budget with our review of the Best Cheap VPS Hosting Providers
• Not sure which type of hosting you need? Our Shared Hosting vs VPS Hosting comparison will set you on the right path!

Best for Cloud Hosting

Bad customer service is one of the most frustrating things around – you don’t want to be the last person to know when something goes wrong with your site! That’s something you don’t need to worry about with A2 Hosting. Lightning fast and happy to help, you can count on A2 Hosting for customer service!

In our research, A2 Hosting also stood out for its superb cloud hosting, which lets you customize your plan resources depending on your needs.

A2 Hosting uses cPanel because of its intuitive design and easy to use interface. It uses this popular control panel to power its shared, VPS, dedicated, and reseller servers, and combines cPanel with high-performance SwiftServers to give your site the power and speed it needs.

And what about its hosting? A2 Hosting is a solid choice – in our research, it scored a very respectable 4.3 stars out of 5 overall. It has a full range of help and support options, as well as a wide selection of different hosting types.

Where A2 Hosting fell down, however, was its pretty low uptime score of 99.95%. Despite this flaw, it still finished in the top three providers for shared hosting, VPS hosting, cloud hosting, and managed WordPress hosting.

A2 Hosting’s prices start at $3.92 for its cheapest shared hosting plan, and it also offers a generous 90-day money back guarantee.

There are plenty of tutorials and articles in the A2 Hosting support center to help you get to grips with cPanel, and it’s easy to reach out in person with any questions you might have.

Further Information

• Read our full A2 Hosting Review to see if it’s the right choice for you

Best for Reliability

If your main focus is on steady, stress-free, reliable hosting, then SiteGround is the choice for you. All SiteGround plans come with cPanel included to make managing your account easy. Manage your domains, track your billing, and even access support through your control panel with SiteGround.

You have lots of hosting options with SiteGround. It didn’t stand out in our research for good or bad reasons – it sits comfortably amongst its competitors, with 4 out of 5 stars overall.

SiteGround offers six types of hosting. Out of these, it’s strongest in its managed WordPress hosting. It’s not in the number one spot, (that honor goes to Bluehost) but it is recommended by WordPress because of its tailored features.

From $6.99 per month, you get essential WordPress features such as free installation and migration, daily backups, automatic updates, and specialist WordPress support. It’s not quite on Bluehost’s level, but it’s a safe and solid choice.

Further Information

• Read our full SiteGround Review for in-depth detail on its features, prices, and more
• Torn between providers? Read our expert comparisons to find your best choice:
  • SiteGround vs GoDaddy
  • SiteGround vs InMotion
  • SiteGround vs Bluehost
  • SiteGround vs HostGator

Best for Extra Features

For an all-round service including hosting, domain names, email, marketing and more, take a look at GoDaddy. It’s not the most advanced hosting provider out there, but it does have a whole set of extra tools to arm you with.

GoDaddy provides a whole host of options, which you can easily manage all in one place. This makes it a popular, if not particularly powerful choice.

In our research, GoDaddy actually scored top marks for the features of its shared hosting plans. Just on its cheapest Economy plan, you can benefit from free backups, a free domain, a free business email for the first year, and more.

Because of all those nifty extras, GoDaddy scored highly for features in our research.

However, GoDaddy plummeted down the ranks when it came to value for money. With no money back guarantee on most hosting plans (including shared hosting) and pretty hefty renewal costs, GoDaddy won’t get you the most bang for your buck.

cPanel doesn’t support Windows hosting, so you only get cPanel with GoDaddy if you sign up for any of its Linux hosting plans. We usually recommend Linux hosting as it’s faster and generally cheaper, while Windows is more specific and isn’t needed by most users.

Further Information

• Read our GoDaddy Hosting Review to find out what it’s got in store

Best for Stinging You With Expensive Renewal Prices

HostPapa has a solid range of features, and actually scored a personal best in our research for its shared WordPress hosting plans. You get a range of features, including:

• Free domain
• Software updates
• SSL Security
• Unlimited bandwidth

We think it’s best to be honest upfront, which is why you should be aware that HostPapa has some pretty pricey renewal costs. While it might have appealing sales features for new users, HostPapa isn’t so appealing when renewal time rolls around.

As long as you sign up aware of the long-term costs, then HostPapa can be a great choice.

Promotional prices range from $3.95 per month to $12.95 per month for HostPapa’s three shared WordPress hosting plans. With 99.97% uptime, plenty of disk space on offer, and a user-friendly cPanel, HostPapa has upsides worth thinking about.

Further Information

• Read our HostPapa Review to find out if it’s right for you

cPanel is one of the most widely used control panels on the market, mainly because it’s so easy to use. Of course, it makes sense there are more providers out there using cPanel than the seven in our list – but these are the best seven!

There are other providers using their own version of cPanel, which we’ve researched and can recommend. These providers are best if you want something a little bit different, but just as user-friendly.

iPage

Without a doubt, iPage is strongest when it comes to value for money. You can host with iPage from as little as $1.99 per month on its shared hosting plan – that’s 75% off the regular price, and includes free domain registration!

The main thing you need to know about iPage is that it doesn’t use cPanel – it has its own iPage Control Panel. The aim of using this custom control panel is to simplify the design even more than cPanel, making it as beginner-friendly as possible. This dashboard also provides quick and easy access to all your management tools, and can tailor its design to reflect iPage itself.

Overall, iPage is a good, budget friendly hosting provider, which is perfect if you just want to keep things simple. Its “one-size-fits-all” shared hosting plan means you don’t have to worry about increasing costs as your site grows.

DreamHost

DreamHost is the best hosting provider for storage space. Instead of cPanel, DreamHost has a custom control panel called DreamHost Panel.

DreamHost Panel works in a similar way to cPanel, giving you controls to manage everything from payments and servers to your account, access support, and more. It has simple menus, helpful links, and the all-important search bar for quick fixes.

DreamHost is another provider which is recommended by WordPress, and has an impressive range of features to go with it.

WPEngine

WPEngine is aimed at WordPress users, with four managed WordPress hosting plans to choose from.

It’s no surprise that this WordPress specialist package comes with top notch help and support. You’ll need to sign up to the $115 per month Growth plan to unlock 24/7 phone support, or be bold and go for the Custom plan to access consultative onboarding (ooh).

WPEngine uses its own version of cPanel, which it has created to bring users the best experience of WPEngine possible. This control panel is called User Portal, and allows you to access all major features, such as visitor stats, storage and bandwidth usage, and domain management.

cPanel or Custom Control Panel – How Do They Compare?

At the end of the day, all control panels will do a similar job – you’ll have a central, all-in-one center to manage the important features of your site.

While different providers will customize their cPanel, on the whole, the basics remain the same. You have the benefit of standard cPanel guides and manuals online to help you out, and switching between providers is easy.

Custom control panels provide a more tailored and specific service, filled with the provider’s own data and design to benefit you and your site. However, there’s also more room for risk – you don’t know how easy or difficult it might be to use, and switching providers later on could be more difficult.

Some providers actually provide a demo of their control panel, which is a great way to see if it ticks your boxes before signing up.

Further Information

• Want to know more about cloud hosting? Read about the Best Cloud Hosting Providers in our in-depth review
• Read our iPage Review to find out more about this budget friendly provider
• Fancy seeing more low prices? See how iPage compares with the Best Cheap Web Hosting Providers on the market
• If you liked the look of WPEngine’s control panel, read our WPEngine Review and see if it’s right for you!

This article has thrown together the seven best providers that use cPanel, and even introduced you to some which have gone their own way but can still be highly recommended.

cPanel is a control panel which makes it easy for you to manage and run your website, domains, server settings, email accounts, and more, all from one place. It’s a popular, beginner friendly control panel which is used by most hosting providers.

What about the rest? These aren’t the only top quality providers out there – we’ve researched others which use their own custom control panels, and DreamHost, iPage, and WPEngine have all worked hard to bring you a control panel to rival cPanel.

Overall, we’d have to recommend Bluehost as the best provider to choose. It’s got the features, the prices, and the reliable control panel to boot. Claiming the title of best overall hosting provider, as well as the undisputed champion of WordPress hosting, Bluehost doesn’t leave much room for competition.

Don’t let the dust settle after this epic showdown – pick your winner, take control of your cPanel, and enjoy happy hosting!