LightKeeper PRO or a hosting control panel?

cPanel, Plesk, ISPConfig and DirectAdmin are proven hosting control panels. LightKeeper PRO manages shared hosting too, but it's built around security monitoring, and we deliver it as a service with support and monitoring included in a monthly fee. Here's an honest comparison, including what LightKeeper PRO doesn't have.

In a nutshell

The main difference: a panel is a tool, LightKeeper PRO is a tool plus monitoring

You buy or download a hosting panel and take care of operations, security add-ons and evaluating their output yourself. Panels have more management features (DNS, resellers, API). LightKeeper PRO has more monitoring: it shows attacks, spam, compromised websites and certificate problems, and for the monthly fee we watch over the entire ecosystem for you.

As of November 2026. Panel information is based on the vendors' public documentation (see Sources) and applies to Linux servers. Features and prices may change; check the current status with the vendor.
	cPanel & WHM	Plesk	ISPConfig	DirectAdmin	LightKeeper PRO
Service and operations
Type	commercial panel	commercial panel	open source panel	commercial panel	management and monitoring system as a service
Price	license by number of accounts	license by edition and number of domains	free	license per server	monthly fee based on number of domains and complexity
Support and updates	vendor and partners	vendor and partners	community, paid manual	vendor	included in the fee, directly from the developers, including rule updates and monitoring
Operating system	AlmaLinux, CloudLinux, Ubuntu	Debian, Ubuntu, AlmaLinux, RHEL and Windows	Debian, Ubuntu, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux	Debian, Ubuntu, AlmaLinux, RHEL	Debian 13
Web server	Apache, LiteSpeed at extra cost	Nginx with Apache	Apache or Nginx	Apache, Nginx, OpenLiteSpeed	Apache, a dedicated PHP-FPM pool for each website, PHP 5.6–8.5
Multiple servers	DNS cluster	one server per license	web, mail, DNS and databases across multiple servers	DNS cluster	separate web, mail and database servers
Interface language	8 languages, no Czech	over 30 languages depending on license	22 languages including Czech	English and community translations	Czech and English
Security
Web application firewall	ModSecurity with OWASP CRS	ModSecurity (Atomicorp rules)	not part of the panel	ModSecurity (OWASP or Comodo)	ModSecurity with OWASP CRS, narrow exceptions created directly from the blocked request, attack overviews by website, IP, rule and country
Brute-force protection	cPHulk	Fail2Ban	depends on server configuration	Brute Force Monitor	fail2ban for web and mail, per-mailbox statistics, alerts on guessed passwords
Compromised website scanning	ImunifyAV, Imunify360 at extra cost	ImunifyAV, WP Guardian	not part of the panel	ClamAV, Imunify360 at extra cost	nightly WordPress and Joomla integrity checks, heuristics for all PHP files, vulnerabilities and file change tracking (no automatic cleanup)
Certificates	AutoSSL	Let's Encrypt (extension)	Let's Encrypt	Let's Encrypt	Let's Encrypt plus a daily check of all websites as the browser sees them
Panel sign-in	two-factor authentication (TOTP)	multi-factor authentication	two-factor authentication	two-factor authentication (TOTP)	passkeys
Mail
Mail server	Exim, Dovecot	Postfix, Dovecot	Postfix, Dovecot	Exim, Dovecot	Postfix, Dovecot
Antispam	SpamAssassin	SpamAssassin	rspamd	rspamd or SpamAssassin	rspamd with learning, ClamAV, rejection before acceptance; spam is only tagged, never deleted
DKIM for domains in the panel	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes, also for customers in the client portal; signing starts only after the DNS record is verified
Customer and data management
DNS zone management	yes	yes	yes	yes	no; monitors daily where customer domains point (web and mail)
Quarantine for deleted data	not included	not included	not included	not included	a deleted domain with all its websites, mailboxes, databases and certificates stays in quarantine for 30 days, one-click restore
Resellers	yes	yes	yes	yes	no
API and billing	API, WHMCS module	API, WHMCS module	API, built-in billing module	API, WHMCS module	no
Client portal	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes, permissions per domain

Straight talk

What LightKeeper PRO doesn't have

Before you decide, you should know this too. Some things we left out on purpose, others just aren't there yet. We'll discuss which of them matter to you and how you handle them before deployment.

DNS zone management

You keep your zones with your registrar or on your own DNS servers. LightKeeper PRO checks daily where customer domains point and alerts you when a website or mail moves elsewhere.

Resellers, plans and API

Hosting is managed by your technicians; customers have the client portal. LightKeeper PRO has no reseller sales, no plans with limits and no API integration with a billing system.

SSH and SFTP

Customers have access via FTP and FTPS, not via SSH or SFTP.

Other web servers

Apache with PHP-FPM only. Nginx, LiteSpeed and Node.js or Python application hosting are not supported.

Systems other than Debian 13

It installs from signed packages on Debian 13 only. Windows servers are not supported.

Languages other than Czech and English

The interface is in Czech and English, and each user chooses their language. Other languages aren't available yet.

Which one when

When a panel fits and when LightKeeper PRO does

Hosting control panel

If you need Windows servers (Plesk), reseller sales and billing system integration (cPanel, Plesk, DirectAdmin), free multi-server management (ISPConfig), or DNS management in one tool.

LightKeeper PRO

If you run shared hosting for businesses, don't want to piece security together from add-ons, and want a single overview of attacks, spam and compromised websites, with support directly from the developers. Plus quarantine for deleted data, a System log with the original values of every change, and monitoring of its own jobs (reliable operation).

Migration

If you use the original LightKeeper PRO, we recommend moving to the new generation, as the original has not been maintained for more than 10 years. Migration from another system is discussed individually.

Sources

We took the panel information from the vendors' documentation as of November 2026. Features and prices may change; check the current status with the vendor. If you find an inaccuracy, write to us and we'll correct it.

Considering a switch? Let's talk it through.

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