cPanel has (yet again) published higher direct license prices for 2027 (download official PDF here), with the new rates taking effect on 16 December 2026. The change increases the monthly cost of Solo, Admin, Pro, and Premier licenses, together with the charge for accounts above Premier’s included allowance.
The Premier licence rises from $69.99 to $76.99 a month. Its additional-account fee increases from $0.49 to $0.55, a larger percentage change than any of the four base licence tiers.
The announcement gives VPS owners, agencies, and hosting providers another expense to include in their budgets. Customers whose hosting plans include cPanel may also have questions about renewals, although the licence change alone does not establish whether their provider will increase hosting prices.
What Changes in cPanel’s 2027 Licence Pricing?
cPanel’s new Store Licensing Guide lists the following monthly prices. The comparison uses current direct Store rates, with percentage changes calculated from the published figures.
| Licence | Account allowance | Current monthly price | From 16 December 2026 | Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solo | 1 account | $29.99 | $32.99 | 10.0% |
| Admin | Up to 5 accounts | $35.99 | $38.99 | 8.3% |
| Pro | Up to 30 accounts | $53.99 | $58.99 | 9.3% |
| Premier | Up to 100 accounts | $69.99 | $76.99 | 10.0% |
| Premier additional accounts | Each account above 100 | $0.49 | $0.55 | 12.2% |
These are direct retail license prices in USD, before applicable taxes. Hosting partners and resellers may operate under different pricing arrangements, so you should compare the figures with your own provider’s license charges.
A cPanel account is a management account for websites, files, databases, and email. It is not the same as a domain or an individual email inbox. Multiple websites can sit within one cPanel account, while an agency may create separate accounts for different clients.
That distinction matters when calculating the license bill. A server hosting 100 websites does not necessarily require 100 cPanel accounts. However, combining clients under one account changes how access and administration are organized, so reducing the account count requires an operational decision.
How Does the Increase Affect VPS Owners and Resellers?
Direct license buyers can calculate the additional expense from their tier and account count. A Premier server with 300 accounts, for example, includes 100 accounts and charges separately for the remaining 200.
At current Store rates, that configuration costs $167.99 a month. Under the new rates, it costs $186.99. The difference is $19 a month, or $228 across 12 months, assuming the account count stays unchanged.
A hosting company running several licensed servers faces the combined increase across those servers. An agency managing its own VPS may see the change as a separate software expense alongside compute, storage, backups, and other services.
Customers using bundled hosting face a different situation. Their host might absorb the increase, revise renewal prices, or adjust its packages. Those are possible responses, rather than confirmed consequences of cPanel’s announcement.
For these customers, the useful next step is to review the provider’s renewal notice and included services. A licence increase and a hosting price increase should be assessed separately, even when one influences the other.
HostScore’s Take
Control panel costs belong in the total hosting budget. Comparing CPU, RAM, and storage alone can miss a recurring software charge, especially when a VPS price excludes its management panel.
Provider-developed control panels give buyers another option. ScalaHosting includes its SPanel control panel with its managed cloud VPS. Choosing that configuration removes the need to purchase a cPanel license for the server while retaining a browser interface for hosting administration. Hostinger takes a different approach with hPanel, its own platform for managing hosting and related services. Buyers using Hostinger’s hPanel-based hosting do not need a separate cPanel license for that service.
The two products serve different environments: SPanel provides server and hosting-account management; while hPanel is tied to Hostinger’s platform. Hostinger’s VPS dashboard also manages infrastructure alongside separately installed server control panels.
A control panel change still needs to fit the business. Agencies should check client access, email migration, backup restoration, billing integrations, and existing automation. Familiar cPanel workflows may justify the additional expense when switching would introduce more work or disruption.
Custom panels also do not guarantee lower renewal prices. The meaningful comparison includes hosting renewals, panel charges, required add-ons, and management support. Our VPS hosting comparison examines those broader trade-offs. The right response to this increase is to calculate the complete bill and review the available options before renewal. A different panel makes sense when it meets the operational requirements and improves the overall cost.
