Control panels are graphic web user interfaces that enable you to manage the day to day administrative tasks surrounding your web hosting account. Whether you’re the user, reseller or server administrator, there’s a set of web pages available that enable you to accomplish tasks with minimal time, effort or technical knowledge. You have the option of using a Cpanel based hosting, a DirectAdmin based hosting or any other control panel options provided by your web hosting company. . But first one needs to understand how the Cpanel and Direct admin based hosting works.
CPANEL
Cpanel is an online Linux-based Graphical User Interface (GUI) used as a control panel to simplify website and server management. Cpanel allows you to publish websites, manage domains, organize web files, create email accounts, and more. Many web hosting companies supply Cpanel to customers as part of their hosting package. It is also a popular control dashboard that helps you manage your web hosting server using a human-friendly web-based interface. It's especially popular with shared hosts, where it's the de facto solution provided by most affordable hosting providers. Also note that the Cpanel is not a web server but a control panel software. It enables administration through a standard web browser using a three tier structure.
DIRECTADMIN
DirectAdmin is a graphical web-based web hosting control panel designed to make administration of websites easier. DirectAdmin is a control panel comprising three different access level; The Admin Level has full administrative privileges and users at this level will also have access to lower user levels, allowing them to perform any administrative tasks, Resellers come after the Admin Level, mostly being used to create and manage user accounts for end users, to whom hosting packages are generally sold to. The users at the User Level are end-users who will be given administrative privileges to manage their domain hosted on the server.

Your choice of control panel plays an integral role in the overall hosting account management experience. Therefore, it’s important to spend some time researching and learning about the differences of each before committing to one.
Let’s take a look at Cpanel and DirectAdmin to see how they compare on three key areas:

1. User Interface: Both have clean, modern interfaces. While DirectAdmin is less overwhelming,Cpanel can make finding what you’re looking for easier.
2. Third party apps and integration: There are many Cpanel cost-effective plugins and addons to choose from. DirectAdmin offers fewer add-ons and they tend to be far pricier.
3. Pricing: DirectAdmin is less expensive than Cpanel, making it a worthy option for those looking for a budget-friendly solution.
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Reference:
https://www.knownhost.com/blog/a-guide-to-all-things-directadmin
https://www.wpbeginner.com/glossary/cpanel
https://kinsta.com/knowledgebase/what-is-cpanel
https://www.clientexec.com/blog/2020/04/28/cpanel-vs-directadmin-how-the-control-panels-compare-in-3-key-areas
https://www.ipserverone.info/knowledge-base/how-to-differentiate-directadmin-user-account-structure