CyberPanel Complete Usage Tutorial: Free VPS Control Panel, Comparison with Baota Panel

1. What is CyberPanel? Is it suitable for domestic website owners?

CyberPanelis a free, open-source server management panel developed based on OpenLiteSpeed, specifically designed for website owners pursuing website performance. Unlike traditional cPanel and Baota Panel, CyberPanel adopts a lightweight architecture and provides deep optimization for WordPress websites.

Naiba used it many years ago, then switched toBaota Panel. Today, I purchased a new VPS and plan to use CyberPanel again to manage websites. I'll take this opportunity to write a CyberPanel usage tutorial and compare it with Baota Panel to help everyone choose the right VPS management panel.

The relationship between CyberPanel and OpenLiteSpeed

Before starting the tutorial, it's necessary to introduce OpenLiteSpeed.OpenLiteSpeed is the open-source version of LiteSpeed（HostingerSome WordPress hosting providers use LiteSpeed by default), renowned for its exceptional performance and caching mechanisms. CyberPanel is a web management panel developed based on OpenLiteSpeed, allowing website owners to enjoy the powerful features of OpenLiteSpeed without command-line operations.

Core Highlights

• Completely free and open-source: No commercial licensing fees
• Ultra-lightweight architecture: Low resource consumption
• Deep WordPress optimization: Built-in LSCache plugin, no complex configuration required
• One-click deployment: Supports quick installation of WordPress, Joomla, and other CMS (requires additional purchase of add-ons)
• Supports multiple users: Can create separate accounts for website users to log into the CyberPanel admin dashboard

Target Audience

✅ Individual Website Owners - Need to build 1-5 websites, seeking cost-effectiveness
✅ Multiple WordPress Site Networks - Manage a large number of WordPress sites, requiring centralized management
✅ Users Pursuing Speed - Website loading speed directly affects SEO and user experience

Not Suitable For

❌ Beginner Users - Have no knowledge of Linux and servers, limited Chinese resources, no help available
❌ Domestic Server Users- Installation may fail due to network issues, or the admin dashboard may be sluggish

2. Detailed steps to install CyberPanel

Hardware Requirements

Recommended operating systems are Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, or Ubuntu 18.04.. Naiba tested Ubuntu 24.04 and 20.04, both failed; installation succeeded smoothly on 20.04.

RAM greater than 1GB, storage greater than 10GB.

Installation Script

Use an SSH client to connect to your VPS server, then use the following script command to update the system:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Then copy the following installation script to install:

sh <(curl https://cyberpanel.net/install.sh || wget -O - https://cyberpanel.net/install.sh)

If you are not logged in as the root account, use the following installation script:

sudo su - -c "sh <(curl https://cyberpanel.net/install.sh || wget -O - https://cyberpanel.net/install.sh)"

Installation Process

After entering the installation script, several options will appear; follow the prompts to complete the installation.

The first option is definitely to install CyberPanel, enter 1 and press Enter.

Next, it will ask which version to install, select CyberPanel with OpenLiteSpeed (1, Enter)

The LiteSpeed Enterprise version (option 2) requires payment to use.

Next, it will ask if you want a full installation of all components or not; it is recommended to enter 'n' here for a partial installation.

You will encounter a sequence of prompts offering various options and add-ons for selection.
– Full Service (default Y):(It is not recommended to install all of them. Enter n, and when prompted for the following three software, enter n to skip the installation each time.）

PowerDNS – an open-source DNS server
Postfix – open-source mail transfer agent
Pure-FTPd – open-source FTP server

We basically have no use for the three software above. DNS resolution is handled by the domain name provider, so there's no need for server-side resolution; installing a mail system will likely result in emails going to spam, which is pointless; FTP software is somewhat redundant, as we can directly use SFTP or upload via the web interface.

For the following options, select the default option as prompted, press Enter all the way, and wait for the installation to complete.

For detailed step-by-step instructions, please refer to the official help documentation:Installing CyberPanel - Knowledge Base

After the installation is complete, the installation results will be output, including the backend login username and password. Remember to save them locally.

3. CyberPanel Usage Tutorial

Modify administrator account password

After logging into the backend using the login information output from the previous installation, go to the Users menu, select Modify User, then choose admin to change the password.

Modify website packages (Packages)

CyberPanel supports multiple users and allows setting different resource limits for each user. Therefore, we need to first modify the limits for each Package.

Packages - List Packages- Edit directlyDefaultPackage Information

(If you plan to have multiple users, you can create a new Package.)

Main modificationsDisk Space 和 BandwidthFor both options, set them to 0 to impose no limits on disk space and traffic.

Add a website

In the CyberPanel backend menu, go to Websites - Create Website to create a website.

Before creating the website, it is recommended to set up the domain name resolution first. This way, the SSL security certificate can be installed directly during website creation.

For SELECT PACKAGE, directly choose the Default package we modified above. For SELECT OWNER, choose admin. The PHP version is recommended to be 8.3.

Then click the Create Website button.

Install WordPress

Under the WordPress menu in the CyberPanel backend, you can deploy WordPress with one click, but this is a paid component. Therefore, we choose to install WordPress manually.

1. Under the Websites menu, select List Websites. You can see the website you just added. Click on Filemanager at the back to enter the file management interface.

2. Double-click to enter the public_html folder, select Upload in the top-left corner, and upload theWordPress Installation Packagefile.

3. Select the installation package file, right-click, choose Extract, and then click the Extract button again to decompress it.

4. Double-click the extracted WordPress folder to enter, then click Select All.

5. Click Move in the top menu, delete "wordpress" from the address under Move to in the pop-up interface, then click the Move button.

6. Return to the CyberPanel admin dashboard, click Create Database under the Databases menu, select the website you just added, and create a database. (Save the database information.)

7. Open your website URL to enter the WordPress installation wizard interface and follow the steps to install. If you have any questions, please refer to theWordPress Installation Tutorial。

WordPress compatible caching plugin

LSCache is the official WordPress caching plugin provided by LiteSpeed, perfectly compatible with OpenLiteSpeed.

Installation and Configuration:

1. Install the LSCache Plugin:
   • WordPress Admin Dashboard → Plugins → Search for "Litespeed Cache"
   • Install and Activate
2. Basic Optimization Settings:
   • Go to LSCache Settings → Cache
   • Enable "Enable Cache"
   • Enable "Enable Login Cookie"
   • Set "Cache Public Posts" to "Enable"
3. Advanced Optimization (Optional):
   • Enable "Cache Mobile" - Independent caching for mobile devices
   • Enable "Cache Query Strings" - Cache URLs with parameters
   • Enable "Object Cache" - Use Redis object caching

CyberPanel vs Baota Panel: Which one is better to use?

Many people don't want to use Baota Panel and have been looking for alternatives. Naibabiji has used CyberPanel intermittently over the years.

In summary:Baota Panel is easier to use.

Comparing CyberPanel and Baota Panel, advantages:

1. It uses several dozen megabytes less memory than Baota Panel.
2. The OpenLiteSpeed + LSCache combination runs WordPress websites faster than Baota's Nginx/Opcache.

Comparing CyberPanel and Baota Panel, disadvantages:

1. No Chinese support, including panel language pack and Chinese documentation. There is basically no reliable Chinese content online, so you have to figure things out yourself.
2. Some operations are not user-friendly. For example, when adding a website, Baota Panel creates the database simultaneously during manual setup.
3. Server management features are not as comprehensive as Baota Panel.
4. Not stable enough. Naibabiji had to change the system several times to successfully install it on officially supported Ubuntu versions.

Summary

If youdo not have strong self-learning abilities, it is not recommended to use CyberPanel.If you encounter an error, you may not find the desired solution through searches, whereas for the domestic Baota Panel, there is a wealth of information available.

If you have self-learning abilities and want to experience the charm of OpenLiteSpeed + LSCache caching, you can consider installing CyberPanel first to try it out for a while. If it seems okay, then migrate your main website over (mainly concerning operational habits and potential bugs. Naiba previously used a machine with CyberPanel for about a year but ultimately did not get accustomed to the foreign operational style; using Baota Panel is more efficient).