Member OP
Hi everyone sorry total noob here 😅 I am trying to figure out if learning cPanel is still worth it for getting a job? I see a lot of jobs asking for it but also everyone complains about the prices now? I am doing a course on linux admin and my teacher said cPanel is what most small hosts use but I dont want to learn something that is dying sorry if this is a dumb question
CPanel is the Internet Explorer of hosting panels.
It is not dying in the sense of disappearing, but the economics have shifted dramatically. CPanel's pricing model changed in 2019 to per-account billing, which fundamentally broke the business model of many small resellers. A provider with 500 accounts on a single server went from paying ~$45/month to $200+/month in licensing alone. This pushed significant migration to DirectAdmin, Plesk, and open-source alternatives like Froxlor and Hestia. However, cPanel still dominates in shared hosting because of ecosystem lock-in: Softaculous, WHMCS integration, third-party plugins, and the sheer institutional knowledge base. If you are seeking employment at established hosts, cPanel knowledge remains relevant. For freelance work, DirectAdmin specialization is currently commanding higher rates because fewer admins have deep expertise and demand from price-sensitive clients is strong. The BGP commun
Actually I have never saw this prices in europe so basically this is crazy for me. In the internet I am working with DirectAdmin from two years and this is much better for small clients. I have change from cPanel and basically my freelance rate is doubled actually. The clients are happy because this is cheaper and I am happy because I have less tickets about license problems. This is not working for big hostings but for small this is perfect. I have never understand why people still pay this crazy money for cPanel
I feel you, @nate_pad. Have you tried looking at job postings for "control panel admin" generally rather than cPanel specifically? A lot of the skills transfer. The "dumb" questions happen because cPanel made things very point-and-click, so hosts hired cheaper support staff who never learned the underlying Linux. When pricing forced migrations, those same hosts discovered their team could not troubleshoot Apache without the GUI. I have seen this pattern repeatedly. If you learn the fundamentals well, you can adapt to any panel. CPanel knowledge is a plus on a resume, not a requirement. Have you considered setting up a home lab with both cPanel and DirectAdmin to compare?
