Experiences with serverpilot.io

April 27, 2014 31.5k

By:

jonnny

Somebody mentioned to me www.serverpilot.io. Although I kind of understood what they did, I wasn't entirely clear on the process. Is this right summary right? All my software Nginx php etc will be on Digital ocean servers (droplets), but they provide a control panel for me to use and will install whatever software I want, firewalls and anything else I may need onto my droplet? Would you recommend their service or is there any drawbacks? Until a couple of days ago I hadn't considered a managed cloud server. I am interested though, but obviously a bit apprehensive having never done it before. Any help or experience with serverpilot or I guess being new to cloud based VIPs would be great.

4 comments

dpk March 7, 2015
ServerPilot seems great -- I've been using them for a little while for fun -- but one thing I have not been able to determine from their marketing site and KB is what exactly "security updates" mean. What will they update and what will they not update -- and for how long? Like if you leave Ubuntu 12.04 and PHP 5.4 running for the next 8 years...
Umakant July 29, 2015
you could alternatively try ee or easy engine via rtcamp,com
will622857 January 19, 2016
Serverpilot is excellent for php, static and wordpress sites. It's saved me tons of management time.
thephotographyblog June 3, 2018
@Umakant Is easy engine easier to manage than ServerPilot?

It looks a little bit more complicated + it doesn't look like you get support if something goes wrong with the server.

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17 Answers

kevin209079 April 28, 2014

I'm also using ServerPilot, for several months now. The performance is very good, way better than what a standard install delivers or what you expect from DirectAdmin/cPanel.
That is because there is no GUI, nothing is running on your server except the bare minimum. Everything is managed on their site, though it is very basic, it gets the job done.

Very happy with it and I do recommend using it!

bburnsworth June 17, 2014

I have been using it for about four weeks now. I have transferred about 8 critical website/applications onto the machine and all are holding up nicely. I normally don't run a panel at all, but i'm kind of getting sick of playing with permissions, and having to type everything into terminal to make stuff work every-time I spin up a server. I just want to get coding right away. Of course i could have used cpanel, virtualmin or any of the newer panals out there, but server pilot has something that the others don't have and that i've learned to love over the years as a developer...simplicity! Server Pilot's install was quick and super simple. Because Im not a server guru, i have always struggled with is getting all the permission correct for apache and users. Server pilot set it all up perfectly during the install so i don't have to spend any time messing with permissions I've install concrete5, laravel, opencart and straight html websites on this box and not once have i had to chmod any files so yet. I also like how it sets up nginx and apache so that you can still use .htacces files. The user interface is just how i like it...Simple and plain. No fancy graphics to slow it down and everything is right in front of you. Multiple SSL website using a single IP is awesome too. This would have taken me a few hours to figure out on my own. (again, i'm not a server guru) Vhosts are also a breeze which speeds up the time it takes to get coding. The things that i don't like about server pilot is how it sets up a completely different version of everything. There are good reasons for this if you read the documentation, but I still don't love it. The last thing is that if you need a log file reader or more users than the default user, you have to pay monthly. The cost is minimal and nothing compared to cpanal, but I still hate paying monthly fees. A one time fee would be better for me, but hey...they have to make money somehow. Otherwise the project won't last. Other than that, it works like a charm and i'd recommend it.

som July 19, 2014

Hello bburnsworth, i found serverpilot interesting, but then i dont have any experience of managing a server except for using cpanel, and i find it quite easy. what i wanted to know was, will installing and running a wordpress or magento or any other site be as easy as it is on cpanel? like is there a file manager? phpmyadmin for the databases and any email client like squirrelmail or something? sorry for being such a noob, but i was really looking at going with serverpilot with DO and installing some wordpress and magento sites but couldnt find anything useful anywhere from a layman's point of view.
Thanks
Som
bburnsworth September 9, 2014

Hey, sorry it took me so long. I've been away for a while. You probably have made your decision already , but i'll answer anyway. Compared to CPanel you wont' get as much stuff like, easy apache for adding mods or squirrel mail, but its just simple. Gives you easy virtual host creation(account in cpanel) , simple database setup and, really easy to use addon domains/subdomains(capanel).

It also gives you nice security by default. Well that's what they say. I wish they would post what that actually means.

As far as Mail, you will have to use something else. I tell my customers that I don't handle mail. They have to get it on their own or setup google apps. See here for some options. https://serverpilot.io/community/articles/guide-to-hosting-email.html

PHPmyadmin can easily be installed with server pilot, but i use a flat file system called adminer. See here http://www.adminer.org/. It's not as pretty as phpmyadmin but it is just as effective and i like that i just install one file to set it up.

For a file manager, you will have to use FTP/SFTP which comes with each new app you create. You can use filezilla or other ftp programs to connect. I use Coda 2 because i'm on a mac, but sublime text editor would be my next choice on pc. http://www.sublimetext.com/

As far as wordpress and magento, yes it can handle them. It all comes down to what you like. I would spin one up if you haven't already and test it out.

CodyS April 28, 2014

Hi, ServerPilot is actually a good choice for running a website on DigitalOcean, i have been using it for a few days now and it's working so good so far.

In order to run ServerPilot you need a fresh install of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS or 14.04 LTS with nothing on it.

You create an account on there website and you will get an installation code to run on you're server once you do that ServerPilot takes care of all the web server software and security updates for you.

It's quite easy to use and there control panel is fast, basically after you have finished the installation you login to your ServerPilot account create an app and database.

For importing a MySQL database you could use phpMyAdmin as web app on ServerPilot.

CHYZ 94.3 May 1, 2014

I've also been using it for a few days now on a new droplet and I'm curently planning to move all of my curent droplets to new setups with serverpilot! Love it!

klair.di.sardari May 19, 2014

Using it for days, love it! Simple to use and no extra server load!

grant1 May 29, 2014

Server Pilot is the best solution ive found for managing wordpress sites. I run about 30 of them in conjunction with DO. I've not had one issue. The sites run very very quickly. Indeed the 20 USD/Month droplet runs faster than a 100 USD/month managed server from LiquidWeb. I contribute this all to the panel. The liquid web is running cpanel/whm, I am running serverpilot. The difference is night and day.

So, trust me, you will not go wrong with running server pilot!

wualia November 11, 2014

Hi grant,

Just a quick question. Are you using a droplet for running all the wordpress sites or are you using a droplet for each site ?

Thank you !

snixny August 28, 2014

Som, they have guides on how to install phpmyadmin and SFTP comes with every web app you make. The phpmyadmin installation is pretty painless - I'm a noob as well and I was able to set it up without an issue by following their guide and succeeded in under 5 minutes. SFTP works the same as FTP - I use FileZilla. When you make a user on serverpilot you can edit their password, and I think (not 100% sure) that's what you use to log into the SFTP service where you can upload your site files like normal. They don't provide an email client. They cite a lack of security in self-hosted mail servers as a reason, and they recommend just to use Google Apps for business (5$/month, comes with branded emails i.e myemail@mydomain.com) but also provide links to other guides in installing self-hosted email servers. I should note that emailing through php scripts still works.

[PHPmyAdmin ](http:// "https://serverpilot.io/community/articles/install-phpmyadmin.html")
[Email](http:// "https://serverpilot.io/community/articles/guide-to-hosting-email.html")

ScottyEdmonds September 16, 2014

I've been using it since Nov -- *November 26, 2013 12:22:49 AM UTC-4 (7065 hours) * in conjunction with one of my Amazon AWS servers to host some Wordpress, ExpressionEngine instances etc. I currently have 7 apps loaded and it's been flawless this entire time.

They get a 5/5 as a provider from me. I had some issues deploying a vagrant environment using them and they were right there to provide all the help I needed and got me up and running.

Their ability to create apps quickly for testing is unbelievably and easy and quick which has been so helpful. I haven't logged into my AWS server via terminal in 6+ months. 100% worth the time and the money.

The service they provide is so good, I actually seek people asking about it so I can recommend it because I want to see them be successful as I would hate to live without their service!

iivanov2 February 17, 2015

Silver Pilot is a good service, but you have to trust these guys a lot, because you have to entrust them your data, your app, your creditcard number... They rule your server , they can run on it whatever they want. And you are responsible for your server... So, it's really good service, I tested it, it's easy, it's powerful, but who are these guys, should we trust them?

iivanov2 February 17, 2015

And don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming them for something evil, it seems that they do great job, my server works as a swiss watch, I'm just telling that they must do something to become more trusted, they aren't yet a "name".

delb March 31, 2015

Hi,

DigitalOcean & Serverpilot combination is Great for running multiple Wordpress sites, even on one droplet if you like. Checkout my video / tutorial here:- https://youtu.be/J794t4OURMs

mask1014 May 2, 2015

i have been using serverpilot for about one and half month. it's easy for non-techie guy as well. it's very stable too until today,all of my sites are suddenly down at the same time due to mysql databse problems. i actually did nothing, don't know if it's the system updating to new version of phpmyadmin i will update this post later.

clint June 13, 2015

I love what ServerPilot brings in simplicity. There are a few things that I don't like with them.

Not a fan of not being able to control the firewall, well at least through SP. You have to disable SP control and handle it through command line.
I think the price is a little inflated when you compare the features with cPanel, etc. Especially with the "business" plan. Honestly that plan should have the features moved to the $10 plan and have the enhanced support be a separate package. Makes it cost more than many of the servers I run.
Little more control on the database would be good.

Overall though great idea/service. I am following them to see where they go. I am using them on smaller projects right now.

travanx June 20, 2015

I was looking to get off shared hosting, but did not want to deal with a ton of command lines and tutorials that are all slightly different as I learn what to do.

Server Pilot was much easier than I thought it would be. I spent some time watching the couple of youtube videos posted and read through some of the tutorials to get an idea of where I was headed. Everything was easy.

The first wp site I brought over was example1.com/blog and that went smoothly into example1.com/blog. Next up example2.com, obviously smooth. And then I went from example3.com/wp to example3.com.

On a windows machine I used putty for the initial install and filezilla for all the file transfers. phpmyadmin was easy enough to copy over and use. After the first go through, it took me about 5 minutes to transfer (minus the moving of files) the 2nd website over.

Hint: Using cloudflare upfront did not work out very well. I could not flush my DNS through router reset (Edgerouter Lite), flushdns or emptying the DNS in chrome. Eventually went to DO nameservers and it worked.

Next up is moving my business website over as that's why I was playing around with these little sites, to experiment. They should offer the logging for $1/month or something to capture those of us who probably won't pay for this, but want to send some money over. Should be more inline with pricing of ($5) DO droplets.

willcf July 10, 2015

You know, I think serverpilot is great, though I am deeply saddened that they made adding users a premium feature.

You want to limit the number of users, fine... but to say that apps on the free account should all run under the same user is super stingy of them and I would think a security concern.

I pay for my own personal account - but when I set up a DO server for my clients, I use serverpilot to kick it off, they don't need all the other features in the premium plans - I am sending them clients that may or may not convert to premium ones, I can;t say - regardless they should just be able to have at least one custom user.

BEPIX July 3, 2016

Been using it for the past 3 weeks and so far only positive things to say (fast, well thought, great helpdesk, works with several providers including OVH in Europe). Also, I prefer their user interface vs. cloudways.

Now I'll see in 6-months how their service evolve (new functionalities, etc. - I also made some suggestions to them by email).

If someone wants to give it a try, here is my referral link for a free 10USD (even though their basic offer is free).

bakhtiyorh October 13, 2016

anyone who uses serverpilot, please join to the unofficial slack discussion community hub, for sharing experiences about doing missing (premium) features in free plan 😉

http://serverpilot-slack.herokuapp.com/

saisatish July 29, 2017

Never use serverpilot. They are installing malwares and misusing server resources.
I have personally faced many issues...they are stealing DB also

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