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OpenPanel
MITOpenPanel replaces legacy cPanel hosting with rootless Docker container isolation, per-tenant database stacks, and automated Caddy reverse proxying.
Overview
Stefan Pejčić started OpenPanel to replace the monolithic daemon model of traditional hosting panels with isolated container stacks. Operating through a split interface of OpenPanel for users and OpenAdmin for operators, the platform assigns each account an independent rootless Docker environment. That architecture replaces fragile host-level runtime sharing with strict process and network isolation on standard Linux servers.
Why OpenPanel instead of cPanel
cPanel operates shared host-level Apache, PHP, and MySQL services, relying on system permissions or proprietary kernel extensions to separate tenants. When a single site suffers a traffic spike or crashes a database worker, adjacent tenants feel the strain, and scaling accounts drives up per-seat licensing invoices. OpenPanel takes the container approach: every account runs an isolated Docker Compose stack with its own database, selected web server, and dedicated network bridge, fronted by Caddy for automated TLS termination.
This shifts the operational burden. cPanel offers decades of third-party plugins, native multi-server DNS clustering, and automated migrations. OpenPanel includes a CLI migration utility for cPanel backup archives, but moving complex legacy configurations still requires verifying custom rewrite directives and cron tasks manually. In exchange, operations teams receive deterministic boundaries: resource quotas map directly to Linux cgroups, upgrading a tenant from PHP 7.4 to PHP 8.4 takes an image tag change, and runaway processes cannot breach user namespaces.
What it does well
- Rootless Docker isolation per user, keeping application runtimes, databases, and filesystem storage strictly contained.
- Automated reverse proxying and SSL management through Caddy, removing manual virtual host and certificate renewal maintenance.
- Independent runtime stacks per tenant, allowing side-by-side execution of PHP, Node.js, and Python without host dependency conflicts.
- Granular cgroup quotas for CPU, memory, storage, and bandwidth managed through the administrator interface.
- Flexible web server selection per account, supporting Apache, Nginx, OpenLiteSpeed, or Varnish based on application profiles.
- Native billing and provisioning extensions for WHMCS, FOSSBilling, and Blesta to automate account creation and suspension.
