ISPConfig vs Scaleway

What ISPConfig is

ISPConfig is a free, BSD-licensed control panel for administering Linux web, mail, DNS, database, FTP, shell and cron services. One panel can manage a single server, multiple servers or mirrored configurations, with separate administrator, reseller, client and email-user access levels. The core software has no license fee, but servers, administration, monitoring, backups and incident response remain the operator's responsibility. Optional materials and extensions use separate commercial terms: the current billing module is €59 excluding VAT per master panel and includes 12 months of updates.

What Scaleway is

Scaleway is a proprietary European cloud with virtual and GPU instances, bare metal, object/block storage, networking, Kubernetes, databases and serverless services. Virtual instances are pay-as-you-go by powered-on time; the advertised compute rate excludes storage and attached public IPv4, while list prices include IPv6 and egress. Savings Plans trade commitment for discounts. On raw instances the customer owns operating-system updates, access, application security, availability and backup design; managed products move only specified responsibilities to Scaleway.

What ISPConfig is built to do

Multi-server control

Administers one or more Linux servers from a central browser-based panel.

Hosting service management

Controls Apache or nginx sites, Postfix and Dovecot mail, DNS, FTP, databases, shell users and cron jobs.

Role-based portals

Separates administrator, reseller, customer and email-user workflows.

Remote API

Supports automation through the project's documented remote API and example clients.

What Scaleway is built to do

Virtual instances

Offers development, general-purpose, memory, compute, GPU and other VM families.

Storage choices

Attaches local or block volumes and provides object, archive and snapshot services.

Managed cloud products

Includes Kubernetes, databases, registries and serverless services with product-specific boundaries.

Usage and commitments

Combines hourly use with optional Savings Plan discounts for committed consumption.

Choose ISPConfig if

• Self-managed Debian or Ubuntu hosting estates with experienced Linux operators
• Hosting providers needing reseller and client delegation across several servers
• Teams prepared to automate backups and test service-by-service restoration

Skip ISPConfig if

• You need a fully managed SaaS control plane with infrastructure and recovery included
• No one owns OS patching, mail reputation, DNS, TLS, monitoring and incident response
• A proprietary billing add-on or paid support is assumed to be included with the free panel

Choose Scaleway if

• Development and production VMs whose instance family exists in the required availability zones
• European cloud strategies after legal, residency and disaster-recovery review
• Workloads benefiting from included VM egress and explicit hourly component pricing

Skip Scaleway if

• The architecture requires a service or global region footprint absent from the current catalog
• The team assumes storage, IPv4, snapshots and support are included in the compute price
• No owner exists for instance hardening, OS updates, backups and multi-zone recovery

ISPConfig: pros & cons

• Open and inspectable: The core panel is distributed under the permissive BSD license.
• Multi-service administration: Web, mail, DNS, databases, users, quotas and monitoring are managed from one interface.
• Multi-server support: A single control plane can administer multiple servers and mirrored configurations.
• Role separation: Administrator, reseller, client and email-user levels support hosting-provider workflows.
• Self-hosted responsibility: Installation, OS hardening, patching, capacity, backups and recovery belong to the operator.
• A panel is not isolation: Secure tenant boundaries still depend on the underlying Linux services and configuration.
• Commercial extras differ: Billing, manuals and professional installation or update support are not part of the free core license.
• Migration needs proof: Existing sites, mailboxes, DNS zones and databases require service-specific validation and rollback.

Scaleway: pros & cons

• Published component pricing: Instance families show hourly and approximate monthly compute rates by availability zone.
• Egress-inclusive VM pricing: Current list rates include outbound traffic and IPv6 for virtual instances.
• European footprint: Products run in named European regions and availability zones.
• Automation options: Console, APIs, CLI and infrastructure-as-code tooling support programmatic operations.
• Compute is not the full bill: Local/block storage, snapshots and attached public IPv4 are separate line items.
• Powered-on time bills: CPU instances accrue charges during startup and standby, not only active workload execution.
• Availability varies: Instance families, SLAs and products differ by region and availability zone.
• VM operations are customer-owned: OS patching, configuration, access control, backups and application resilience are not managed away.