PlusPanel vs ISPConfig
ISPConfig 3 is an open source hosting control panel for Linux that can manage multiple servers from one control panel. It is licensed under the BSD license.1 ISPConfig is open source and free, and you run every part of it. PlusPanel takes the OS, its updates and the control plane off your hands, priced per server.
The 3 structural differences
Architecture
ISPConfig: Installed per server; in multiserver mode slave servers connect to the master's MySQL DB2 · Panel on TCP 8080 and 8081 per the official auto-installer guide3
PlusPanel: A control plane in our EU cloud commands a minimal agent on each server. The server exposes no management port: the agent connects outbound over mTLS inside WireGuard and runs only typed, signed, expiring commands.
Licensing
ISPConfig: Open source (BSD license), free download; paid add-ons (Billing Module, Migration Toolkit)4 · Free (open source, BSD license), as of 2026-10-104
PlusPanel: Per server, with unlimited accounts and domains: Free for one server, Pro €19/server/month, founding customers €9 locked for life.
Jurisdiction & security model
ISPConfig: Germany: projektfarm GmbH, Handelsregister Lüneburg HRB 21255 · Firewall, spam filter, virus filter included; ISPProtect malware scanner listed as add-on6
PlusPanel: 2Lines Sistem, Romania (EU). The OS is a signed image we maintain, with atomic rollback; WAF, firewall, country blocking and 2FA are included at GA, with no add-on licences.
Side by side
| Axis | PlusPanel | ISPConfig |
|---|---|---|
| Licensing model | Per server; unlimited accounts and domains | Open source (BSD license), free download; paid add-ons (Billing Module, Migration Toolkit)4 |
| Architecture | EU SaaS control plane + minimal agent on each server | Installed per server; in multiserver mode slave servers connect to the master's MySQL DB2 |
| Inbound management ports | None: the agent connects outbound (mTLS inside WireGuard) | Panel on TCP 8080 and 8081 per the official auto-installer guide3 |
| OS model | PlusPanel OS: immutable signed image, atomic updates with rollback, maintained by us | Customer-run Linux: Debian 11-13, Ubuntu 22.04-24.04, AlmaLinux/Rocky 8-10, CentOS 81 |
| Account isolation | Rootless containers per account, user namespaces, SELinux MCS, kernel quotas | Per-website PHP settings (PHP-FPM/FCGI); jailed and non-jailed shell users1 |
| Email deliverability | Managed relay with IP pools over WireGuard (at GA) | Local Postfix (SMTP) and Dovecot; DKIM mail signing, spam and virus filter1 |
| Security included | WAF, firewall, country blocking, 2FA included (at GA); no add-on licences | Firewall, spam filter, virus filter included; ISPProtect malware scanner listed as add-on6 |
| Company jurisdiction | 2Lines Sistem, Romania (EU) | Germany: projektfarm GmbH, Handelsregister Lüneburg HRB 21255 |
| Migration tooling | Migration Center from cPanel/WHM, free in every edition (at GA) | Paid Migration Toolkit: from ISPConfig, Plesk 10-12.5/Onyx, Confixx 3, cPanel (beta)7 |
| Entry price | Free (1 server) · Pro €19/server/month · founding €9 locked for life | Free (open source, BSD license), as of 2026-10-104 |
PlusPanel cells marked “at GA” describe v1.0; everything else runs today.
What free covers
ISPConfig's licence, multi-server model and paid extras, quoted from the project's own pages.
- License
- ISPConfig is released as open source software under the BSD license (BSD 3-clause text in the LICENSE file of the release archive).4
- Vendor
- Payments for the ISPConfig manual are made to ISPConfig UG (haftungsbeschränkt), Lüneburg, Germany; the manual's copyright belongs to projektfarm GmbH.8
- Free
- To the question "Will ISPConfig 3 Continue To be Free?" the vendor answers "Yes."8
- Multi-server
- Single server, multiserver and mirrored clusters: one or more servers are managed from one control panel.9
- Master/slave setup
- The official multiserver tutorial installs a master server and adds MySQL users so slave servers can connect to the ISPConfig database on the master (port 3306, restricted to the local network).2
- Supported daemons
- HTTP: Apache2 and nginx; SMTP: Postfix; POP3/IMAP: Dovecot; FTP: PureFTPd; DNS: BIND and PowerDNS; Database: MariaDB and MySQL.1
- Recommended OS
- Debian and Ubuntu are the recommended Linux distributions for ISPConfig.4
- Migration Toolkit price
- ISPConfig Migration Toolkit Full Version: EUR 79.00 (excl. VAT); the license key is valid for 1 year on up to 10 source servers (as of 2026-10-10).7
- Paid manual
- ISPConfig 3.1 Manual (PDF, 400+ pages): EUR 5.00 per single copy (excl. VAT), or via a HowtoForge subscription at EUR 5 per month or EUR 25 per six months (as of 2026-10-10).8
- Billing Module
- ISPConfig Billing Module (invoicing add-on for ISPConfig 3.2): EUR 59.00 (excl. VAT) (as of 2026-10-10).10
- Current release
- Current version: 3.3.2p1 (as of 2026-10-10).4
Questions
ISPConfig also manages several servers. What is different?
In ISPConfig's multiserver mode, slave servers connect to the ISPConfig database on the master (facts above). In PlusPanel, each server's agent opens one outbound mTLS connection inside WireGuard and accepts only signed, typed jobs; no server connects to a shared database.
Why is PlusPanel closed source when ISPConfig is open?
So PlusPanel can be a sustainable, independent business without private-equity money. What you can verify instead: the drill behind every LIVE badge, signed OS images, and an SBOM for every image from GA.
Is PlusPanel an EU product too?
Yes: PlusPanel is built by 2Lines Sistem in Romania and runs on Hetzner in Germany and Finland.
Not stated on a trademark page; the LICENSE file reads "Copyright (c) 2007-2020, Till Brehm, ISPConfig UG"11 PlusPanel is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by ISPConfig's owner. Names are used nominatively, for comparison only.
Sources
Every ISPConfig fact on this page is quoted from an official ISPConfig page or document, verified on the date shown in its footnote. Prices change: check the source before you decide. We re-verify these pages every quarter.
- https://www.ispconfig.org/ispconfig/services-and-functions/ · verified 2026-10-10
- https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/ispconfig-multiserver-setup-debian-ubuntu/ · verified 2026-10-10
- https://www.howtoforge.com/ispconfig-autoinstall-debian-ubuntu/ · verified 2026-10-10
- https://www.ispconfig.org/ispconfig/download/ · verified 2026-10-10
- https://www.ispconfig.org/imprint/ · verified 2026-10-10
- https://www.ispconfig.org/add-ons/ · verified 2026-10-10
- https://www.ispconfig.org/add-ons/ispconfig-migration-tool/ · verified 2026-10-10
- https://www.ispconfig.org/documentation/user-manual/ · verified 2026-10-10
- https://www.ispconfig.org/ · verified 2026-10-10
- https://www.ispconfig.org/add-ons/billing-module/ · verified 2026-10-10
- https://ispconfig.org/downloads/ISPConfig-3.3.2p1.tar.gz · verified 2026-10-10