@lattkkkthxbbye

If you’re wanting a control panel, there'a few options, though the first one I’d recommend would be a free, open source control panel – VestaCP.

DigitalOcean actually has a guide that covers installation and setup on Ubuntu 14.04, though it should work on Ubuntu 16.04 as well (which is newer, and the latest LTS release for the OS).

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-vestacp-and-set-up-a-website-on-ubuntu-14-04

There’s also commercial control panels, such as cPanel and Plesk, though pricing varies and the cost is per month (generally $15-$30 per license). They’re relatively easy to install and configure, though all control panels are simply a GUI to what you could do from the CLI.

Some of them implement basic security (i.e. a firewall), though they are not all-inclusive. You still need to know, or learn how to properly manage a server.

Hello, lattkkkthxbbye

There a lot of web panels available (most of them are free to use) that you can choose in order to manage your server. What I can recommend is to try them as in this way you can see if it really suits your needs.

I will list the top control panels that I recommend:

CentOS Web Panel
Vesta CP
Webmin
Ajenti
ISPConfig

and of course I need to mention Plesk although it’s not free it’s been available for a while and it’s always been the main cPanel competitor. It has a lot of build-in features and a lot of plugins that you can install and you can always reach to their support team if needed which is something that might come handy in time.

You’ve now got some great options if you want to use a control panel with your server but you don’t want to pay for a license. I’ve tried to lay out most of the available options, but which one is best will ultimately depend on your individual needs.

Hope that this helps!
Regards,
Alex