Virtualmin vs. The Rest
Virtualmin has competition. A lot of it. We even compete with ourselves when it comes to choosing to purchase your tools or choose an Open Source option. We think we've built the most powerful webserver administration tools in the world in nearly every category. Feel free to let me know if you think we're wrong about that. We'd like for this table to be accurate in every regard, and corrections are welcome.
Note: I'm not bothering to list all of the obvious stuff. Everybody has domain accounts, various types of sub-server or sub-domain accounts, etc. I believe Virtualmin handles all of that stuff in a cleaner, safer, and more intuitive manner, but no chart is going to convince you of that. You can safely assume that if it's a standard feature across cPanel and Plesk, then Virtualmin also has it. This table is about the highlights. The hard stuff. The things I'd be really excited to show you we'd been working on, if you came over to my house for dinner. This is the stuff that sets us apart from the current market leaders, as well as the smaller also-rans in the hosting control panel market.
| Features | Virtualmin Professional | Virtualmin GPL | cPanel | Plesk |
| Price | Tiered pricing from $139-$499/server first year, $49-$166 per year thereafter, based on number of domains | Free and Open Source under the GNU GPL | $425/year with unlimited domains | Tiered pricing from $199-$799/server/year depending on number of domains |
| Install and Manage Applications | Over 80 easily installable applications included at no extra cost. | None. | 19 scripts included in core cPanel. 49 additional scripts available with third-party Fantastico add-on product. Add $90/server. | 30 scripts available with Application Pack. Add $199/server. |
| Spam and Anti-Virus Filtering | Per-user and per-domain SpamAssassin and ClamAV included. | Per-user and per-domain SpamAssassin and ClamAV included. | Account-based SpamAssassin and ClamAV support included. | Add $49 for SpamAssassin and $299 for Plesk Anti-Virus per server per year. |
| PHP Versions | PHP 4 and PHP 5, switchable per-domain and per-directory, with suexec and mod_fcgid. | It is what you make of it. Possible, but not setup for you automatically or switchable via the GUI. | PHP 4 and PHP 5, switchable per-domain and per-directory, with suexec and mod_fcgid. | Only one version, running under mod_php. Insecure by nature, even in "safe" mode. |
| PHP PEAR | Complete UI support for PHP PEAR module installation for both PHP4 and PHP5. List, install, update, and remove modules easily and quickly. | Free optional module | List, install, update, and remove modules from the UI | Command line only |
| Ruby and Ruby on Rails | Comprehensive support for Ruby developers working with Ruby on Rails, Mongrel, etc. Many Ruby on Rails applications install quickly and easily from the Install Scripts interface. | None | Ruby on Rails support includes application creation, starting/stopping applications and web server rewrite rules | None |
| Ruby Gems | Complete UI support for Ruby Gems. Automatic installation of necessary modules when installing scripts using the Virtualmin Install Scripts interface. List, install, update, and remove modules easily and quickly. | Free optional module | List, install, update, and remove modules from the UI | None |
| Python and Django | Installation and management of the Django web application development framework, and instantiation of new Django applications from the Install Scripts interface | None | None | None |
| Website Creation | Built-in WYSIWYG website editor and template-based page creator. | Simple WYSIWYG HTML editor in the File Manager | Only with optional third-party SiteBuilder. Add $61.20/year. | Only with optional third-party SiteBuilder. Add $199-$949/year. |
| Mobile | Nearly complete mobile access via our Mobile Theme, plus mobile alerts. Virtualmin auto-detects mobile devices and serves appropriate content for limited capability browsers. Also includes iPhone support. | Nearly complete mobile access via our Mobile Theme, plus mobile alerts. Virtualmin auto-detects mobile devices and serves appropriate content for limited capability browsers. Also includes iPhone support. | Mobile style and mobile alerts. | None |
| Developer Access | Complete, simple to use, remote and command line API. Flexible and open API for creating third party modules. | Create/Read/Update/Delete remote and command line API. Flexible and open API for creating third party modules. | Create/Read/Update/Delete remote HTTP-based API. Limited Perl API for writing third party modules. | Create/Read/Update/Delete remote HTTP-based API. Limited PHP API for third party modules. |
| Database Support | Virtualmin includes the uniquely powerful Webmin MySQL and PostgreSQL modules. Optional phpMyAdmin and phpPgAdmin installation via Install Scripts. | Webmin modules identical to Virtualmin Professional, but no automated installation of phpMyAdmin and phpPgAdmin. | phpMyAdmin and phpPhAdmin. | phpMyAdmin only. Add $49 for PostgreSQL support via phpPgAdmin. |
| Support | Unlimited premium support via issue tracker for all Virtualmin Professional customers, with usual response time under 24 hours. | Unlimited free support in the Virtualmin.com forums, and free bug fixes via the bug tracker. No premium support available. | Telephone support available for $65/incident. Variable support policy based on who you purchased cPanel from. Free email support. | $75 per incident via a ticket tracker, or $299/year for unlimited email support or $549/year for unlimited premium incidents. |
| Total Price | $139-$499 per server per year | Free and Open Source | $576.20 per server per year | $994-$1594 per server per year (plus $75-$549 if any level of support is required) |
