Servoke

Servoke vs DirectAdmin

DirectAdmin is the closest relative to Servoke: a light, compiled panel with admin, reseller and user levels, cgroup limits and an OpenAPI described API. Servoke adds unlimited accounts on every licence, PostgreSQL beside MariaDB, a built in MCP server, updates that verify their signature and put the last build back on their own, and Michael, the assistant that reads the server.

Lightweight, from small VPS to busy dedicated servers
Admin, reseller and user levels in one login
Recovers from crashes on its own

Servoke and DirectAdmin, area by area

Pricing. Servoke: $4.99 a server a month. $3.99 each from 100 servers. A quote from 500 servers. DirectAdmin: Personal Plus $5, Lite $15 and Standard $29 a month.
Accounts per licence. Servoke: Unlimited on every server. No fee per account, ever. DirectAdmin: 2 accounts and 20 domains, 10 accounts and 50 domains, or unlimited, by licence.
Licence. Servoke: Commercial licence per server, checked on the server from a signed document. DirectAdmin: Commercial licence per server, by account count, for VPS or dedicated servers.
Websites, PHP and certificates. Servoke: nginx with PHP-FPM, Apache and OpenLiteSpeed engines, certificates issued and renewed for you. DirectAdmin: A choice of five web servers, including nginx and OpenLiteSpeed, built through CustomBuild.
Email hosting. Servoke: Postfix, Dovecot and Rspamd, with SPF, DKIM and DMARC written for you, and webmail. DirectAdmin: Exim and Dovecot, with Rspamd and webmail.
DNS hosting. Servoke: PowerDNS zones created with each domain. DirectAdmin: Built in, with Multi-Server Setup to share DNS between servers.
Databases. Servoke: MariaDB and PostgreSQL. DirectAdmin: MySQL or MariaDB, without PostgreSQL support.
Resellers. Servoke: Reseller accounts with their own packages and limits. DirectAdmin: Admin, reseller and user levels.
Per-account resource limits. Servoke: CPU, memory and IO limits per account on cgroup v2, with no add-on. DirectAdmin: CPU, memory, IO and task limits per user on cgroups v2.
Firewall and brute force guard. Servoke: Firewall, brute force guard, web application firewall and a security advisor. Every change in the audit log. DirectAdmin: Brute Force Monitor with CSF firewall integration, set up by default on new installs.
AI that reads the server. Servoke: Michael reads the real server and proposes each step for you to approve. Paid with JagAI credits. DirectAdmin: No AI assistant is listed in its documentation.
API, CLI and MCP. Servoke: Every console action is an /api/v1 call in OpenAPI. The CLI mirrors it, and an MCP server is built in. DirectAdmin: A JSON API described in OpenAPI on each server, plus the legacy API.
Updates. Servoke: Checks hourly, verifies the signature, saves its state and puts the last build back if a new one is unhealthy. DirectAdmin: Built in automatic updates with release channels and staged rollouts.
Moving from cPanel. Servoke: Installs beside cPanel and imports its accounts. Take over stops cPanel and WHM in one click while every site, mailbox and zone keeps running, and Bring cPanel back is one click. DirectAdmin: Converts and restores cPanel account backups, except PostgreSQL and Ruby sites.
Core runtime. Servoke: One Rust daemon with the consoles built in. Privileged changes are typed operations, never shell strings. DirectAdmin: A C++ daemon behind a Go front end, with CustomBuild compiling the hosting software from source.

When DirectAdmin is the better fit

If you rely on CustomBuild to compile your web server and PHP from source, DirectAdmin was built around that and is a mature choice.

From DirectAdmin to Servoke

Install Servoke beside DirectAdmin or on a fresh server: Servoke leaves the existing panel's work alone.
Bring accounts across: The DirectAdmin importer is written and in testing with real backups. Until then, move files and databases with SFTP and the database tools.
Point DNS and mail: Move the zones and mailboxes once the sites check out.

Related comparisons

Compare Toolbox Terms of Service EULA Privacy Policy