What Is DirectAdmin? A Plain-English Guide to the Control Panel

If you have just bought hosting and the welcome message mentions DirectAdmin, this guide explains what it is, what you can do with it and how it fits into a shared hosting account. You do not need a technical background to follow it. Every ProWebHosting plan runs on DirectAdmin, so this is the panel you will use week to week.

DirectAdmin in one paragraph

DirectAdmin is software that runs on the hosting server. It gives you a web page, protected by a username and password, where you control your account with menus and forms. When you click "Create" on an email address, DirectAdmin makes the mailbox on the server for you. When you upload a file, it places it in the right folder with the right permissions.

You never see the Linux operating system underneath. That is the whole point of a control panel: it translates ordinary tasks into the correct server changes, and it stops you from breaking anything outside your own account. DirectAdmin has been developed for many years by the company of the same name and is used by hosting providers worldwide. Its documentation is public at docs.directadmin.com, so anything you learn here applies to any host that runs it.

What you can do from a DirectAdmin account

Almost everything a small business or freelancer needs from hosting lives inside DirectAdmin. The table below lists the everyday tasks and where each one sits in the menu. The names match the current Evolution skin, which is the default interface.

Notice that nothing in the table needs a separate tool. Email, databases, files and SSL are all in one place with one login. For a walk through every menu, read our DirectAdmin dashboard tour.

Two companion tools open from inside DirectAdmin without a second password. phpMyAdmin, for looking inside a database, launches with one click from the MySQL Management page. Webmail, for reading email in a browser, is linked from E-mail Manager. Both are standard open-source tools, so any tutorial you find for them applies.

The three account levels: Admin, Reseller and User

DirectAdmin has three levels of account. The Admin level manages the whole server: software, IP addresses, updates and security. The Reseller level creates hosting packages and user accounts. The User level manages one hosting account: its domains, email, files and databases.

On a shared hosting plan you receive a User level login. That is not a limitation; it is the level that contains every tool listed above. Reseller and Admin accounts see a dropdown in the Evolution skin to switch between levels. A User account does not, because there is nothing to switch to. ProWebHosting looks after the Admin level: server updates, security, backups of the whole machine and the emergency support line.

The Evolution skin: what you actually see

A skin is DirectAdmin's word for the look and layout of the panel. Evolution is the modern default. It runs in your browser as a single page application, so moving between menus is quick, and it works on a phone screen as well as a laptop. It ships with light and dark modes and lets the host adjust colours, logo and menu order.

The left-hand navigation groups every tool into five categories: Account Manager, E-mail Manager, Advanced Features, System Info & Files and Extra Features. A search box at the top finds any page by name, which is faster than browsing once you know what a tool is called. If you have seen screenshots of an older, greyer DirectAdmin, that was the Enhanced skin, which is being phased out.

Because hosts can rename, hide or reorder menu items, your panel may not match a tutorial screenshot exactly. The page names themselves stay the same, which is why this site refers to tools by name (File Manager, MySQL Management) rather than by position. If a tool you expect is missing, it is usually disabled on your package rather than absent from DirectAdmin; ask support before assuming.

How DirectAdmin fits into shared hosting

On a shared server, many customers' accounts run side by side, each isolated from the others. DirectAdmin is what gives each customer a private door into their own slice. It also enforces the plan limits: storage, bandwidth, number of databases, addon domains and so on. Those limits are set by the host in the package, and DirectAdmin shows your usage against them on the dashboard.

Isolation is the part you do not see but benefit from most. Each account runs as its own Linux user, so a badly written plugin on a neighbour's site cannot read your files or your database. DirectAdmin also tracks resource usage per account, which is how a plan's CPU share and entry process limits are enforced fairly rather than letting one busy site slow everyone else.

At ProWebHosting every plan includes DirectAdmin, a free Let's Encrypt SSL certificate, email accounts on your domain, MySQL databases, a one-click app installer for WordPress and a PHP version selector. The plans differ in storage, bandwidth, domains, databases and CPU share. You can compare them on our hosting plans page, and our guide to what shared hosting is explains how the sharing works.

What DirectAdmin is not

• It is not a website builder. It hosts and manages your site; you still build the site with WordPress, hand-written HTML or another platform.
• It is not a domain registrar. You register your domain elsewhere and point it at your hosting. See our domain vs hosting guide if that distinction is new to you.
• It is not the WordPress admin. WordPress has its own login at /wp-admin for posts, pages and plugins. DirectAdmin sits underneath, managing the files and database WordPress runs on.
• It is not cPanel. The two panels do the same jobs but with different menus and licensing. Our DirectAdmin vs cPanel comparison covers the differences fairly.

Your first five tasks in a new DirectAdmin account

Frequently asked questions