Plesk Hosting

What is Plesk hosting and who is it for?

Plesk hosting is a service in which you manage your hosting account with Plesk Obsidian, a web-based control panel. Plesk brings site, email, database, DNS, SSL, backup and security settings together in a single domain-centred interface and offers the same experience on both Linux and Windows servers.

What sets Plesk apart from other panels:

• Cross-platform: the same panel runs on Linux and Windows infrastructure, so PHP sites and ASP.NET applications are managed with the same habits.
• WordPress Toolkit: install, clone, update and security-check several WordPress sites from one screen.
• Built-in Git: deploy straight from a repository, a good fit for developer workflows.
• Security tools: Fail2Ban and ModSecurity work integrated with the panel.

That is why Plesk hosting particularly suits agencies managing many WordPress sites, developers who use Git and teams with both PHP and .NET projects.

What is included in a Plesk hosting plan?

Every Plesk hosting plan includes NVMe storage, the Plesk Obsidian panel, free Let’s Encrypt SSL and WordPress Toolkit; plans differ in traffic, number of mailboxes, Git, database type, backup frequency and support priority.

For rows marked “depends on plan”, the feature list on the plan card is authoritative. Values such as disk space, traffic quota and number of mailboxes are shown in the plan table on this page. Fail2Ban and ModSecurity are part of the security layer of the Plesk infrastructure.

Should you choose Linux or Windows for Plesk hosting?

On Plesk hosting, the operating system is chosen according to the technology your site is written in: Linux for projects using PHP, WordPress, Laravel and MySQL; Windows for projects using ASP.NET, ASP.NET Core and MSSQL. Because the Plesk interface looks almost the same on both platforms, your panel experience does not change.

Choosing the right operating system when ordering matters; changing it later means moving the account to a new server. For the detailed needs of .NET projects (version selection, IIS settings, MSSQL connection), see the Windows hosting page.

Which Plesk menu does what?

In Plesk Obsidian, most tasks start from the Websites & Domains screen, which lists domain cards; the tools for each site are listed under its domain. The most frequently used menus are:

You can switch the Plesk interface to other languages from the profile menu at the top right; menu names here are given in English.

What does WordPress Toolkit do?

WordPress Toolkit is a tool integrated with Plesk that lets you manage all WordPress installations on your account from one screen. Installing, cloning, syncing, updating and security checks are done from the panel without plugins or the command line.

• Installation: sets up a new WordPress site with language, admin details and database settings in a few steps.
• Cloning: prepares a test environment by creating a copy of the live site on a subdomain.
• Syncing: pushes file or database changes from the test copy to the live site; you can choose files only or specific tables only.
• Bulk updates: shows core, theme and plugin updates across all sites in one list and applies them.
• Security check: scans known weak points such as file permissions, the admin username and XML-RPC access, and hardens them in one click.
• Maintenance mode: shows visitors an information page while you work.

If your whole site is a single WordPress install and caching is the priority, LiteSpeed-based WordPress hosting is also worth considering.

How does automatic Git deployment work in Plesk?

Plesk’s Git feature connects a GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket repository to your site and moves the code to the deployment folder automatically or with one click after every push. It is standard on the Plesk Pro plan.

1. Add the repository: open the Git tool under the domain and enter the remote repository address. For private repositories, add the SSH public key shown by Plesk to your repository as a “deploy key”.
2. Choose the deployment mode: in Automatic mode changes are deployed after every push; in Manual mode they are deployed when you approve.
3. Set up the webhook: for automatic mode, add the webhook URL provided by Plesk to the repository settings.
4. Set the deployment folder: for example, in Laravel projects put the code in a separate folder and point the document root to the public folder.
5. Write extra deployment commands: you can add dependency installation or cache clearing commands in the Additional deployment actions field.

Connecting the main branch for production and the develop branch for testing to two separate domains creates a simple and safe workflow.

How is Let’s Encrypt SSL managed in Plesk?

On Plesk hosting plans, free SSL is issued per domain with Let’s Encrypt and renewed automatically before it expires. The certificate is obtained in a few clicks from the SSL/TLS Certificates screen under the domain; for Let’s Encrypt validation it is enough for the domain to point to the server.

Options to watch when getting a certificate:

• www and subdomains: include the www version and subdomains such as webmail in the same certificate.
• Wildcard certificate: a Let’s Encrypt wildcard certificate requires DNS validation; if your domain’s DNS is managed in Plesk, this option can be used.
• HTTPS redirect: send all traffic to HTTPS with the permanent 301 redirect option on the Hosting Settings screen.
• Mail server: you can also assign the certificate to the mail service so your email clients do not show certificate warnings.

Where your company name needs to appear in the certificate, organisation-validated SSL certificates are a separate option.

How do Fail2Ban and ModSecurity protect your site?

Fail2Ban and ModSecurity are security tools that work at two different layers of the Plesk infrastructure: Fail2Ban stops brute-force login attempts, and ModSecurity stops malicious HTTP requests aimed at the web application. Before either of them, the RouteFence firewall on the LIONFIN network filters DDoS traffic at network level.

ModSecurity is a web application firewall (WAF); occasionally it can mistake a legitimate request for an attack. For example, if a form submission is rejected with “403 Forbidden”, open a support ticket with the time and address of the request; the rule logs are reviewed and, if needed, an exception specific to your site is defined. If your own IP address has been blocked because of failed password attempts, it is lifted the same way.

How do backup and restore work in Plesk?

Plesk hosting plans back up your account automatically; on the Business plan backups are kept hourly. In addition, you can create a manual backup at any time from Plesk’s Backup Manager screen, download it to your computer or define scheduled backups.

Key features of Backup Manager:

• Selective backup: back up only site files, only databases or only email.
• Selective restore: restore a single database or a single domain from inside a full backup; other data is not affected.
• Incremental backup: saving only changed files in scheduled backups reduces disk usage.
• Remote storage: send backups to remote storage targets supported by the panel to keep a copy in a different location.

Backups count against your account’s disk quota; deleting old backups regularly or sending them to remote storage keeps the disk from filling up. We recommend completing your backup plan with the 3-2-1 backup rule: three copies, two media, one off-site.

How do you choose between Plesk Starter, Pro and Business?

When choosing a Plesk hosting plan, decide on your expected traffic, whether you need Git deployment and which database type you use. These three criteria are the clearest differences between the plans.

• Plesk Starter: a single WordPress or PHP site, or a business brochure page with predictable traffic. Linux or Windows is available, WordPress Toolkit and Let’s Encrypt are included, and there is a monthly traffic quota.
• Plesk Pro: developers working with Git and agencies managing several WordPress sites. Unmetered traffic, more mailboxes and Git deploy are on this plan.
• Plesk Business: .NET applications using MSSQL, and shops and portals with frequently changing data. It offers MSSQL and MySQL support, hourly backups, unlimited email and priority support.

You can monitor your resource usage on Plesk’s statistics screens. Checking the share of backup files and mailboxes in your disk usage separately makes your growth plan realistic.

Plesk or cPanel, and how do you move from cPanel to Plesk?

Plesk is a versatile panel with Linux and Windows support, WordPress Toolkit and built-in Git, while cPanel is the most widely used panel and runs on Linux only. If you manage PHP sites only and are used to cPanel, cPanel hosting will feel more familiar; if you have a .NET project or will manage many WordPress sites in bulk, Plesk comes out ahead.

Because the panels use different backup formats, a cPanel backup cannot be uploaded straight into Plesk. The move is done in one of two ways:

1. With a migration tool: tools such as Plesk Migrator run with server administrator rights, so this route is handled through a support ticket; files, databases and mailboxes are transferred together.
2. Manually: transfer files over FTP and databases as SQL dumps, re-create email accounts in Plesk and move messages over IMAP. For WordPress sites, WordPress Toolkit’s migration feature can also be used.

Either way, leave pointing the domain until last and test the new environment using your hosts file.

When is Plesk hosting not enough?

Plesk hosting is not enough when you need to install software on the server with root or administrator rights, run your own Plesk server or sell hosting to your customers. There is a different LIONFIN product for each of these needs.

• Your own Plesk server: you can install Plesk on a VPS server and manage the whole server. In that case a panel licence is needed separately (Web Admin, Web Pro and Web Host editions); licences are offered on the control panel licenses page.
• Selling Windows hosting: Plesk-based Windows reseller hosting plans let you open separate panels for customers using ASP.NET and MSSQL.
• Selling Linux hosting: reseller hosting plans, where you open cPanel accounts with WHM, are designed for this business model.
• A managed environment without neighbour effects: business hosting with a dedicated resource share.