Plesk is a commercial web hosting and server data center automation software developed for Linux and Windows-based retail hosting service providers.

Plesk
Developer(s)Plesk International GmbH
Initial release2001
Written inPHP
Operating systemWindows, Linux
Available inEnglish
Russian
Spanish
German
Portuguese
Japanese
TypeWeb hosting control panel
LicenseTrialware[1]
Websitewww.plesk.com

It was developed by Plesk International GmbH, a company with headquarters in Toronto, Canada, and Schaffhausen, Switzerland, with offices in Barcelona, Spain, Cologne, Germany, Tokyo, Japan, and in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, where it was originally created in 2000 by Dimitri Simonenko.[2]

The hosting automation software was initially released by Plesk Inc. and first went live in 2001. In 2003, Plesk was sold to SWSoft,[3] which became Parallels in 2008.[4][5][6] In March 2015, Parallels renamed the service provider division to Odin. In December of the same year, Plesk became a separate business entity.[7] In 2017, British Oakley Capital Limited acquired Plesk[8] and it has since been a part of WebPros, a global SaaS platform for server management. Currently, WebPros comprises Plesk, cPanel, WHMCS, XOVI, and SolusVM.

Licenses

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Plesk, with latest version Obsidian 18.x, is available in the following license configurations:[9]

  • Plesk Web Admin Edition: 10 domains.
  • Plesk Web Pro Edition: 30 domains. It also includes Plesk WordPress Toolkit full-featured.
  • Plesk Web Host Edition: Unlimited domains. The administrator can also create additional reseller accounts.

The license price[10] also distinguishes whether a license can be used for a dedicated server or a virtualized server. Licenses for dedicated servers are usually slightly more expensive.[citation needed]

Pricing

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Plesk sells all three licenses for a monthly or annual price directly. All three editions can also be obtained from official license resellers.

In March 2018, Plesk announced[11] its first price adjustment in 18 years of business, increasing the prices of all Plesk licenses that had versions earlier than 12. The company claimed that it was to cover the increasing cost of support and management over the past two decades. Following the announcement, Plesk created a FAQ page.[12]

Support

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Live and email support[13] for Plesk is available in English, Russian, Spanish, German, Portuguese, and Japanese. Plesk licenses purchased directly from Plesk include full free support.

Criticisms

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One criticism of Plesk is that the recommended method of removing it is a complete reinstall of the OS[14] after backing up, which complicates the concept of trialware by binding an administrator to the product by facing considerable downtime of a server.

Version history

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Product Released Extended Support End of Life[15]
Plesk Obsidian;[16]

(Free Trial[17])

Current: every 1.5 months;[18]

Initial: release 4 June 2019;

Two the latest releases are supported[19]
Plesk Onyx[20] 11 October 2016 11 October 2020 20 April 2021
Plesk 12 16 June 2014 16 June 2018 1 January 2019
Plesk 11 13 June 2012 13 June 2016 13 December 2016
Plesk 10 3 November 2010 31 January 2015 3 May 2015
Plesk 9 9 December 2008 9 December 2012 9 June 2013
Plesk 8 20 September 2006 1 March 2012 September 2012
Small Business Panel November 2009 1 August 2011 July 2012
Plesk 7 and earlier 10 February 2004 1 January 2012

Timeline

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Date Milestone
1999 Release on Linux
2003 Release on Windows – Acquired by SWsoft
2007 Merged with Parallels
2009 Focus towards Parallels automation away from Plesk going forward – Plesk moved into Maintenance mode
2014 Launch of Plesk 12
2014 Launch of Plesk extensions catalog
2015 Renaming of service provider business to ODIN – Acquisition of Odin Automation by Ingram Micro
2016 Relaunch of Plesk as a separate business unit in January 2016 – Launch of Plesk Onyx
2017 Launch of WordPress Toolkit 2.0 – Launch of WordPress Business Server – Acquisition of XOVI
2018 Launch of SEO Toolkit and Joomla! Toolkit – Launch of Smart Updates – Acquisition of SolusVM
2019 Launch of Plesk Obsidian – Launch of My Plesk portal
2020 Launch of SolusIO

Plesk University

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In January 2016, Plesk launched Plesk University online.[21] Through its university, Plesk provides courses on how to use their products and services.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Plesk: Download and Trial". www.plesk.com. Plesk. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  2. ^ Pressler, Margaret Webb (12 June 2000). "inBusiness". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  3. ^ Inc., DevStart. "SWsoft Acquires Plesk and Confixx to Create Global Hosting Software Powerhouse - HostReview.com". {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  4. ^ "SWsoft to abandon itself and become Parallels". The Register.
  5. ^ SWsoft Parallels does Virtuozzo Containers 4.0 thing - Hypervisors are for the weak - Posted in Servers, 30 January 2008 20:59 GMT(By Austin Modine) The Register
  6. ^ SWsoft to change its name to Parallels - Date: 11 December 2007 Author: Paul Mah (TechRepublic.com)
  7. ^ ""New hyperscale cloud offerings, eCommerce and WordPress solutions and more in the offing from newly acquired Plesk" - Lukas Hertig, Plesk. - Web Hosting - Cloud Computing - Datacenter - Domain News". 9 May 2017.
  8. ^ Henderson, Nicole (15 May 2017). "With Acquisition by Oakley Capital, Plesk Ready for Growth". Web Host Industry Review. Archived from the original on 2017-07-29.
  9. ^ "Plesk License Configurations". www.plesk.com. 24 November 2017.
  10. ^ "Plesk License Types". www.plesk.com. 20 March 2017.
  11. ^ "Plesk End-of-life Versions Price Increase". www.openprovider.com. 7 March 2017. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  12. ^ "Plesk Price Increase FAQ Page". www.plesk.com. 30 September 2017.
  13. ^ "Plesk Help Center". support.plesk.com.
  14. ^ Yakubov, Stefan (13 March 2023). "How to uninstall Plesk". Plesk. Archived from the original on 13 March 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  15. ^ "Plesk Lifecycle Policy". www.plesk.com. 25 September 2019.
  16. ^ "Change Log for Plesk Obsidian 18.0". docs.plesk.com.
  17. ^ "Download Plesk Obsidian". 3 July 2022.
  18. ^ "Short Releases in Plesk Obsidian". www.plesk.com. 25 September 2019.
  19. ^ "Short Releases in Plesk Obsidian". www.plesk.com. 25 September 2019.
  20. ^ "Hosting Control Panels and Hosting Platforms: The Definitive Guide - Plesk". 20 December 2017.
  21. ^ "Plesk University". www.plesk.com. 22 March 2017.