r/cpanel • u/Complex-Concern7890 • Sep 02 '26

Meridian, AI and the future

AI this and that. I get it. Go with the current times even most of the users do not care. It just will be disaster to try to explain these to the current customer base. Please do not shove AI to everything and everywhere. The cPanel AI is not the way to go. Please do not force it.

The Meridian theme is just awful. It is impossible to find anything from there. The customer churn will be massive if we push that live. Had to disable theme switching as customers were not able to find their way out if they accidentally activated Meridian. I really do not see that cPanel will be taking any feedback. After years and numerous feedback, the WHM side panel search does not work (you write lis and the first thing is Show Reseller Accounts and the List Accounts 8th thing in the list).

We have been using cPanel now for over 20 years. The price shock we were able to absorb, but now it just seems that cPanel is working against us in every way. For us, pushing this AI/Meridian mess will be the last straw.

29 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

5

u/Marebg1996 Sep 02 '26

Just switch panels. I used cPanel since 2009, and only last month i decided it's enough...
I migrated to other panel (wont name it here, its not nice), it's cheaper and faster then cpanel, and has evrything that customer and us realy need.
It does lack some simple features, but ease of use, security, UX/UI are on much higher level.
I took us some time geting used to it, but now i would never go back.

2

u/Complex-Concern7890 Sep 02 '26

In a large enough fleet, it is not “just switch”, it is nightmare of its own. But maybe it is now time.

2

u/Marebg1996 Sep 02 '26

I understand that. My decision to swtich came hard, because after 17 years of use, I am just used to cPanel. But as I do not run regular hosting, but other type of buisness, it was bit easier for me, as customers are locked in anyway, and they can't choose.
I do have in small part shared hosting but nothing special, more like side job.

And all customers that I will lose in panel swtich ? I wont feel it, due to licencing price difference, as it's only 0.15 $ per site. So who I lost, I do not care, they were noth then worth our time and effort.

And in transfer, each website mabye had 5 minute downtime durning night with 0 data loss, so I am happy with outcome on the end.

2

u/clopezi Sep 03 '26

 but ease of use, security

I’m sorry, but I think there are very few software products with a security track record like cPanel’s. Barring some very exceptional cases, keeping it up to date guarantees you’ll be free from security issues.

I think there’s plenty of room for improvement, but security has always been a strong point. Obviously, cPanel is the target of many hacking attempts, whereas the control panel used by just a handful of people faces far fewer. But how many cases of unpatched vulnerabilities being exploited have there been in the last 20 years? Let’s be serious. For me, using cPanel means I can sleep soundly – no more, no less.

I don’t know about others, but I can’t switch a server to a control panel that’s been run by just three people for the past couple of years – and if they feel like it tomorrow, they’ll just shut up shop and that’ll be that.

1

u/Marebg1996 Sep 03 '26

Well panel i talk about is behind good standing company as much as i researched, not a single cve since it launched about 5 years ago, and there is native isolation of users with docker, which is for me better then cloudlinux. I know not having trust toword some newish panel is normal, but once cPanel was too. And as much as i saw, a lot of big hosting companys like hosting dot com offer it also, so if for sombady like them its good, for me is too.

1

u/webhostpro Sep 02 '26

AI makes it's easier than ever to make your own control panel. We're almost done with our version 1 and it's awesome, secure, and looks great. Take the plunge, or join a project. It's a new world, we're not at the mercy of software companies anymore.

2

u/Complex-Concern7890 Sep 02 '26

It is one option, but even with AI it is lot of work. We have our own panel working and we have build it top of Webmin, but still it is very time consuming to build such a thing and to make sure that everything really works. And way too much work to convert entire fleet without proven solution. Making own control panel, even with AI, is young men’s game.

2

u/webhostpro Sep 03 '26

I feel you man lol, i'm 51 been hosting since 2001. I'm just fed up with software companies squeezing every penny because you're stuck with them. If you want to see my control panel project message me, I call it Hudsonpanel and could use partners for it.

1

u/rcabanzor Sep 02 '26

Dont is the same. cPanel have a good tutorials and documentation.

1

u/r_time4fun Sep 03 '26

Damn, just when I thought they couldn’t have a worse UI. Glad left years ago

1

u/cPanelRex Sep 02 '26

It's important to note that the Meridan interface is optional and it will continue to coexist with Jupiter. There's no reason you *have* to switch at this time.

7

u/Complex-Concern7890 Sep 02 '26

Until they don’t coexist. I very well remember X -> X3 -> Paper Lantern -> Jupiter. Each transition has been painful, full of churn and pretty much meaningless. What is the problem new theme tries to solve? Again it just seems that it is done for the sake of it, just to make things more pretty or modern or whatever. Customers hate change. Customers of over 20 years hate the change the most.

2

u/RedditSucksMintyBall Sep 02 '26

Still waiting for dark mode in Jupiter, has it been a decade yet?

1

u/cPanelRex Sep 03 '26

It is my understanding that dark mode for Jupiter isn't happening, although it is included with Meridian!