aaPanel Hosting on Your Own VPS
A free web control panel for managing sites, databases and certificates on your own server.
Size a server for aaPanel
Every stop is a real configuration you can deploy. Priced per 30 days, billed by the hour, exclusive of 18% GST.
What aaPanel is
aaPanel is a web-based server control panel - a graphical way to manage sites, databases, PHP versions, certificates and cron on a Linux server without living in the terminal. It is the international build of BaoTa, and it is free.
It occupies the space between raw SSH and a licensed panel like cPanel. There is no per-account fee and no licence to renew, and the feature set covers what most people need: a file manager, one-click stacks, Let's Encrypt integration, scheduled backups and a process monitor.
The trade-off is worth stating. aaPanel expects to own the server: it installs and manages its own web server, PHP and database builds, and it wants a clean machine. It also opens an administrative web interface, which needs to be treated as a privileged surface - restricted by IP or firewall, not left on a default port.
Why run aaPanel on a VPS
No licence cost, and no cap on how many sites or databases you create.
Root access alongside the panel - the terminal does not stop working because a panel is installed.
Install it on a clean OS image, which is what it expects.
Firewall rules are yours, so the panel port can be closed to everything but your address.
aaPanel features
Site, database and FTP management from a browser
One-click LNMP and LAMP stacks with multiple PHP versions
Free Let's Encrypt certificates with automatic renewal
Scheduled backups to local disk or object storage
File manager with an in-browser editor
Process and resource monitoring
A plugin marketplace for extras like Redis or Docker
Recommended server
A starting point for aaPanel, not a hard floor — size it on the sliders.
| Memory | 2 GB minimum; 4 GB once you run several sites and a database |
|---|---|
| CPU | 2 vCPU |
| Storage | 40 GB, more if backups are kept on the same disk |
| Operating system | A clean Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12 or AlmaLinux 9 image |
How deployment works
aaPanel is installed onto a clean OS image, since it builds and manages its own web server, PHP and database. You receive the panel URL and its initial credentials at handover, and root over SSH. Change the default panel port and restrict it to your own address before putting anything live on the machine.
What people run it for
Hosting your own sites
Run several sites on one VPS without paying per-account panel licensing.
Moving off cPanel
A familiar graphical workflow without the licence fee, when the cPanel feature set is more than you need.
Developer staging
Quick PHP version switching and per-site configuration for testing.
Client servers
Hand a non-technical owner a web interface while you keep SSH.
aaPanel hosting questions
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ClusterControl Hosting Deploy, monitor and fail over database clusters from one interface. Deploy aaPanel on your own server
Root access, your choice of size, and no container between you and the application.