[opensourcedex]

OpenPanel is a free, open source server & vm management project written in Go and released under a custom open-source licence. It has 767 GitHub stars, 113 forks and 4 open issues, and was last pushed 19 hours ago. On this registry it ranks #10 of 10 tracked projects in Server & VM Management, with 5 head-to-head comparisons available. It gained 19 stars over the last 30 tracked days.

What is OpenPanel?

What it is

OpenPanel is an open-source web hosting control panel built around containers, and it lives in the self-hosted infrastructure operations ecosystem for Docker and Podman hosting panels. It is offered as a free community edition and as a fully supported commercial version.

The concrete problem it solves is weak isolation in traditional shared hosting control panels, where many users often share a single Apache, MySQL, or PHP runtime. OpenPanel provisions a dedicated Podman context for each user, with a separate web server container, database container, PHP-FPM containers, private network, and scoped storage volume. This design aims to provide VPS-level isolation on shared hosting infrastructure without requiring each customer to operate a full VPS.

Key capabilities

  • OpenPanel gives each hosting user an isolated Podman environment with a private network and scoped file storage.
  • It supports dedicated web server containers per user, including Nginx with Varnish, Apache with Varnish, OpenLiteSpeed, and OpenResty.
  • It can run separate database containers per user for MySQL, MariaDB, Percona MySQL, or PostgreSQL, while using MySQL for panel metadata.
  • It allows multiple PHP-FPM versions, and the documentation diagram shows Node.js and Python applications.
  • The server stack includes OpenAdmin for administration, Caddy for reverse proxy and SSL, BIND9, and phpMyAdmin for database access.
  • Users can set CPU, RAM, and storage limits, view domain logs, restart services, modify server configurations, and configure backups.
  • It provides billing integrations for FOSSBilling, WHMCS, Blesta, and paymenter.org.

Who uses it and how

  • Hosting providers use OpenPanel to run shared hosting on containerized infrastructure while giving each customer an isolated environment.
  • Server administrators use OpenAdmin to manage users, DNS, SSL, reverse proxy behavior, database access, and activity logs.
  • Site owners and developers use the user panel to change web server settings, select PHP versions, manage databases, restart services, inspect logs, and configure backups.
  • Billing teams integrate OpenPanel with FOSSBilling, WHMCS, Blesta, or paymenter.org to connect hosting provisioning with billing systems.

Getting started

The README excerpt does not list a package manager, Docker image name, or hosted deployment command. It points to openpanel.com and documentation for community and commercial editions, security, extensions, billing integrations, and per-user Docker configuration.

When to use it — and when not to

OpenPanel is suitable when operators need container-based per-user isolation for web hosting and can operate Podman, Caddy, BIND9, MySQL, phpMyAdmin, storage volumes, resource limits, and backups. It is less suitable if a team needs a mature, clearly licensed project or a simple installation path, because the repository is new, lists zero contributors, has four open issues, and uses a NOASSERTION license. Teams wanting commercial support can consider the fully supported version, while teams needing clear licensing or established community signals should evaluate that risk.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline

OpenPanel - Web Hosting Control Panel

OpenPanel is a web hosting control panel built around containers. Every user gets a fully isolated environment: dedicated web server, dedicated database, private network, and scoped file storage - delivering VPS-grade security on shared hardware.

openpanel screenshot

Available as a free community edition and a fully-supported commercial version.

What is OpenPanel?

OpenPanel is a web hosting control panel that uses containers to give every hosting user a completely isolated environment. Unlike traditional control panels that share a single Apache, MySQL, or PHP runtime across all users, OpenPanel provisions a dedicated Podman context per user: each with their own web server container, database container, PHP-FPM containers, private network, and storage volume. The result: VPS-level isolation on shared hosting infrastructure, without the VPS price tag.

                   ╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
                   ║                     🖥️  OPENPANEL SERVER                       ║
                   ╠════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
                   ║  • 🎛️ OpenPanel - user control panel                           ║
                   ║  • ⚙️ OpenAdmin - administration panel                         ║
                   ║  • 🌐 Caddy – Reverse Proxy & SSL                              ║
                   ║  • 🔍 BIND9 – DNS Server                                       ║
                   ║  • 🔍 phpMyAdmin – shared by all users                         ║
                   ║  • 🗄️ MySQL – User Management & Metadata                       ║
                   ╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
                                                   │   
        ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┐
        │                                          │                                          │
        ▼                                          ▼                                          ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│           👤 USER 1             │ │           👤 USER 2             │ │           👤 USER 3             │ 
├─────────────────────────────────┤ ├─────────────────────────────────┤ ├─────────────────────────────────┤
│  🌐 Web Server:                 │ │  🌐 Web Server:                 │ │  🌐 Web Server:                 │
│  • Nginx + Varnish              │ │  • OpenLitespeed                │ │  • Apache + Varnish             │
│                                 │ │                                 │ │                                 │
│  ⚡ Applications:               │ │  ⚡ Applications:               │ │  ⚡ Applications:               │
│  • site1.com → PHP 8.4          │ │  • api.site.com → Node.js 20.1  │ │  • classic.com → PHP 7.0        │
│  • site2.com → PHP 8.2          │ │  • main.site.com → PHP 8.3      │ │  • modern.com → PHP 8.1         │
│  • legacy.com → PHP 7.0         │ │                                 │ │  • vintage.com → PHP 5.6        │
│                                 │ │                                 │ │  • api.site.com → Python 3.11   │
│                                 │ │                                 │ │                                 │
│  🗄️  Databases:                 │ │  🗄️  Databases:                 │ │  🗄️  Databases:                 │
│  • MySQL 8.0                    │ │  • MariaDB 10.11                │ │  • Percona MySQL                │
│                                 │ │                                 │ │  • PostgreSQL                   │
├─────────────────────────────────┤ ├─────────────────────────────────┤ ├─────────────────────────────────┤
│  📊 Resource Limits:            │ │  📊 Resource Limits:            │ │  📊 Resource Limits:            │
│  • CPU: 2 cores                 │ │  • CPU: 4 cores                 │ │  • CPU: 1 core                  │
│  • RAM: 4 GB                    │ │  • RAM: 8 GB                    │ │  • RAM: 2 GB                    │
│  • Storage: 50 GB SSD           │ │  • Storage: 100 GB SSD          │ │  • Storage: 25 GB SSD           │
└─────────────────────────────────┘ └─────────────────────────────────┘ └─────────────────────────────────┘

Why choose OpenPanel for your hosting business?

OpenPanel offers a distinct advantage over other hosting panels by providing each user with an isolated environment and tools to fully manage it. This ensures that your users enjoy full control over their environment, simillar to a VPS experience. They can effortlessly run multiple PHP versions, modify server configurations, view domain logs, restart services, set limits, configure backups and more.

Why use OpenPanel for your hosting business?

[^1]: not actively maintained

OpenPanel vs OpenAdmin

  • The OpenAdmin offers an administrator-level interface where you can efficiently handle tasks such as creating and managing users, setting up hosting plans, and editing OpenPanel settings.
  • The OpenPanel interface is the client-level panel where end-users can manage their containers: edit settings, configure limits, manage backups, create websites and more.

Supported OS

OpenPanel is a truly OS-agnostic control panel. Supported OS:

Operating System Version Last Tested Status Average install time[^2] Notes
Ubuntu 24 2026-09-07 11:35 UTC ✅ Pass 2m2s recommended for AMD CPU
Ubuntu 26 2026-09-07 11:30 UTC ✅ Pass 2m46s
Debian 12 2026-09-07 11:41 UTC ❌ Fail 1m25s
Debian 13 2026-09-07 11:43 UTC ✅ Pass 1m54s
AlmaLinux 9.7 2026-09-07 11:46 UTC ✅ Pass 1m42s recommended for ARM CPU
AlmaLinux 10 2026-09-07 10:53 UTC ✅ Pass 9m20s
OracleLinux 10
RockyLinux 9.6
RockyLinux 10 2026-09-07 11:48 UTC ❌ Fail
CentOS 9.5
CentOS 10 2026-09-07 11:17 UTC ✅ Pass 9m23s

[^2]: Average installation time for the install script on a VPS with the following specifications: 2 CPU cores and 2 GB of RAM.

Installation

Install on any supported VPS or dedicated server with a single command:

bash <(curl -sSL https://openpanel.org)

For full installation options and configuration flags: https://openpanel.com/install

Documentation

Team

Stefan Pejčić

Radovan Ječmenica

Petar Ćurić

Lazar K.

Special thanks to all contributors for extending and improving OpenPanel.

Contribute

Check out CONTRIBUTING.md for more information on how to help with openpanel.

License

  • OpenAdmin and OpenPanel UI are distributed under EULA.
  • OpenCLI and configuration files are distributed under Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) license.

✨ All openpanel docs are hosted on openpanel.com ✨

Frequently asked questions

Is OpenPanel free to use?

OpenPanel is open source. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does OpenPanel do?

Simplify server management with an intuitive interface

What is OpenPanel written in?

OpenPanel is primarily written in Go. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/stefanpejcic/openpanel, and it has 767 GitHub stars.