Servoke

Servoke vs HestiaCP

HestiaCP is a light, free panel that covers web, mail and DNS, with a REST API and a cPanel backup importer. Servoke adds reseller accounts, per-account CPU, memory and IO limits, a built in MCP server and Michael, the assistant that reads the server, with signed updates that put the last build back on their own.

Lightweight and open source
Made with ease of use in mind
Extendable through its API

Servoke and HestiaCP, area by area

Pricing. Servoke: $4.99 a server a month. $3.99 each from 100 servers. A quote from 500 servers. HestiaCP: Free. Development is funded mainly by donations.
Accounts per licence. Servoke: Unlimited on every server. No fee per account, ever. HestiaCP: No licence limit. The admin sets users and their packages.
Licence. Servoke: Commercial licence per server, checked on the server from a signed document. HestiaCP: Open source under GPLv3.
Websites, PHP and certificates. Servoke: nginx with PHP-FPM, Apache and OpenLiteSpeed engines, certificates issued and renewed for you. HestiaCP: nginx with Apache or PHP-FPM, several PHP versions and Let's Encrypt.
Email hosting. Servoke: Postfix, Dovecot and Rspamd, with SPF, DKIM and DMARC written for you, and webmail. HestiaCP: Exim and Dovecot, with SpamAssassin, ClamAV and Roundcube webmail.
DNS hosting. Servoke: PowerDNS zones created with each domain. HestiaCP: BIND.
Databases. Servoke: MariaDB and PostgreSQL. HestiaCP: MariaDB by default, with MySQL 8 or PostgreSQL as options.
Resellers. Servoke: Reseller accounts with their own packages and limits. HestiaCP: No reseller accounts are documented.
Per-account resource limits. Servoke: CPU, memory and IO limits per account on cgroup v2, with no add-on. HestiaCP: Optional CPU and memory limits per user through cgroups. The vendor notes they apply to SSH sessions but not yet to PHP-FPM.
Firewall and brute force guard. Servoke: Firewall, brute force guard, web application firewall and a security advisor. Every change in the audit log. HestiaCP: An iptables firewall and Fail2Ban by default, with two factor sign in.
AI that reads the server. Servoke: Michael reads the real server and proposes each step for you to approve. Paid with JagAI credits. HestiaCP: No AI features are listed in the docs.
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. HestiaCP: A REST API with scoped access keys that runs the panel's commands, and a full command line.
Updates. Servoke: Checks hourly, verifies the signature, saves its state and puts the last build back if a new one is unhealthy. HestiaCP: Automatic updates from the vendor's apt repository can be switched on.
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. HestiaCP: A command imports a cPanel backup into a new user.
Core runtime. Servoke: One Rust daemon with the consoles built in. Privileged changes are typed operations, never shell strings. HestiaCP: Bash scripts with a PHP interface.

When HestiaCP is the better fit

If you run one small personal server and want something free and minimal, Hestia does that well.

From HestiaCP to Servoke

Install Servoke on a fresh server: Keep the Hestia server running while you move.
Move sites and databases: Copy files with SFTP and load the MariaDB or PostgreSQL databases with the database tools.
Point DNS and mail: Move the zones and mailboxes once the sites check out.

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