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If you’ve worked with servers for any amount of time, you’ve probably bumped into cPanel — it’s practically everywhere. For shared hosting, it’s fine. But once you start managing multiple cloud servers, things start to feel clunky. That’s when I moved over to RunCloud. And honestly, it felt like stepping into the modern world.

RunCloud doesn’t just give you a control panel — it gives you control. You can manage several servers, handle deployments, monitor performance, and automate everything without logging into each box manually.

If you’re still on the fence about switching from cPanel, let me walk you through what actually makes RunCloud worth it — straight from real experience.

1. Managing Multiple Servers Is Actually Simple

When you’re running several servers, cPanel feels like juggling — one panel per server, multiple logins, and lots of confusion.

RunCloud fixes that headache. You get one dashboard where you can see and manage all your servers, web apps, databases, and services. You can deploy updates, tweak configs, or check resource usage for any server — from a single login. And yes, you can choose your stack among Nginx, OpenLiteSpeed (OLS), or even Docker. It’s flexibility without the chaos.

2. Docker Made Easy

When I tried to configure Docker manually on a cloud instance, it took an entire evening with dependencies, networking, permissions, everything was a chore.

RunCloud makes containerized deployments as simple as clicking “Add Container.” You can launch Docker apps, manage them visually, and still have the flexibility to customize the environment.

Here’s what I’ve noticed in practice:

• Containers run fast — way faster than traditional VMs.
• With fewer resource usage, you can run more apps on the same server.
• RunCloud isolates containers properly, so there are no worries about one app interfering with another.

It’s honestly one of the cleanest Docker integrations I’ve used.

3. Staging Environments That Actually Save You

Every developer knows the fear of “pushing to live.” One small mistake, and your client’s site goes down.

The staging feature in RunCloud is awesome. A full copy of your app can be created, changes can be made, test everything, and when you’re confident, merge it back into production with a click. It’s the safest way to test plugins, new designs, or version upgrades without breaking your live site. I use this constantly for WordPress clients, and it’s saved me from a few embarrassing calls, to be honest.

4. Clone Apps in Minutes

Sometimes, you just need to replicate an app — maybe you’re moving to a new server, or you want a sandbox to test changes. RunCloud’s Clone Web App does that instantly. It copies files, configurations, and environment variables, and you can place it on the same server or a different one. No complex migration tools. Just a few clicks and it’s done.

5. Atomic Deployment (No More Broken Live Sites)

This feature alone made me a fan. When you deploy code the usual way, you’re updating live files — which means users can hit the site mid-deploy and see errors. RunCloud uses Atomic Deployment, which builds the new version quietly in the background. When it’s ready, it flips a switch — traffic moves instantly to the new version.

• No downtime
• No half-deployed files
• Safe rollbacks

It’s clean, professional, and foolproof. I wish every hosting platform did this.

6. Built-In Test Domains

Every new site in RunCloud gets a temporary test domain, so you can launch and check things before touching DNS. If you’ve ever had to wait hours for propagation, you’ll appreciate this. It’s perfect for quick setups or client demos.

7. Resource Monitoring That Actually Tells You Something

Here’s where RunCloud blows cPanel out of the water.

In cPanel, you get basic stats — CPU, RAM, disk. That’s it.
In RunCloud, you get deep visibility:

• Top Process Monitoring – Find which app is eating up resources in real time.
• Slow Query Analysis – Detect which MySQL queries are slowing your site down.
• Storage Monitoring – See how space is being used by apps, logs, and databases.
• IP Hit Monitoring – Track IPs hammering your app and block suspicious ones instantly.

All from one dashboard, with no extra tools or SSH commands.

8. Backups That You Control

If you’ve ever lost data, you know the panic that follows. RunCloud doesn’t assume you want automatic backups — you set them up the way you want:

• Choose which site or database to back up
• Pick how often (every 12 hours, daily, weekly, etc.)
• Decide how long to keep them
• Get alerts on Slack, email, or Telegram if something fails

And you can back up locally, use RunCloud’s Cloud Backup, or push to Amazon S3, DigitalOcean, or Vultr. It’s flexible and reliable. I’d still recommend testing restores regularly (because every sysadmin learns that lesson the hard way).

9. RunCloud API: Automation Heaven

Automating everything from creating web apps, managing cron jobs, and deploying databases, all from your code can be done with RunCloud API. It’s perfect for those building CI/CD pipelines or automating multi-server management. If you like efficiency, RunCloud is the choice.

10. Cloudflare Integration Done Right

Cloudflare integration in RunCloud helps you manage DNS, validate SSL certificates, and manage domain settings from a single dashboard. It’s a one-step approach that keeps everything secure and centralised.

Final Thoughts

cPanel is familiar, stable, and fine for small shared hosting. But for modern cloud hosting, RunCloud is just smarter. You get container support, one-click staging, zero-downtime deployment, deep monitoring, and automation tools that cPanel simply doesn’t offer. And RunCloud costs less and scales better. It’s built for the kind of hosting we do today, not the shared servers we used a decade ago.

If you’re managing cloud servers and want performance, control, and sanity, RunCloud is worth every bit of the switch.And if you ever get stuck setting it up or just want a sanity check on your configuration we’re happy to help.  We’ve been there before, and once you move to RunCloud, you won’t want to go back.