Input Why I'm quitting Plesk after nearly a decade

[bootted]

The problem with SaaS licenses is that they are perpetual. You end up paying for the same service, slightly improved, for years without ever truly owning anything. I quickly calculated how much I’ve spent on Plesk licenses, and it’s an astronomical number that far exceeds my server expenses. This is a serious issue, which I imagine you are already noticing in your sales data.

I started with a Web Host subscription where I also hosted other clients' sites, then moved to Web Pro, managing less demanding projects with Webmin. Recently, I was about to downgrade to the Web Admin plan, hosting the 10 most demanding sites on Plesk and all the others elsewhere. However, I mustered a lot of patience and finally migrated the last few projects to Webmin and CloudPanel, implementing missing features directly on the server.

Over the years, Plesk has become a very comprehensive platform but also overwhelming and complex to manage. So, here are some suggestions:

• Improve the UI for managing sites and settings. It’s not normal that you have to navigate through layered sections just to enable previous PHP versions;
• Simplify the feature set, especially for managing Nginx and Apache;
• Stop selling extensions for as low as $0.99 per month. This business model is predatory. You get users hooked and then prevent them from accessing important features that should be included;
• Offer a very basic version, similar to CloudPanel, that is not limited by the number of sites. This would be useful for managing school and hobby projects with limited resources.

I know you're a large company that needs to make a profit. I respect that, and I am aware that if Plesk is such a good tool today, it's also thanks to this drive. However, by increasing the price every year, you will only push away loyal customers, the ones who have supported you for many years.