Frequently asked questions

Unicorn Panel (UPCP) is a self-hosted, multi-server hosting control panel. One Primary panel runs the operator-facing UI; any number of Secondary hosts run the workloads, websites, databases, mail, DNS, and report back. Every server and every resource is managed from that one panel, with no separate login per host.

It’s multi-server from day one rather than bolted on, every site runs in its own container, and it ships a complete first-party stack (Sleipnir, Hermes, Mimir, Heimdall) you can run with no third-party daemons. Backups are per-resource, and the reseller model gives real white-label branding and SMTP. See the comparison page for the details.

No. The first-party engines are the default, but the familiar third-party engines stay fully supported: NGINX, Apache, and OpenLiteSpeed for web; MariaDB, MySQL, and PostgreSQL for databases. You choose per host and per site.

Every major version from PHP 5.6 through 8.5, twelve in total, each a swappable Podman role you can change per-site without rebuilding the container. Legacy installs don’t have to upgrade just to use the panel.

Yes. The built-in website import detects Unicorn Panel-native, cPanel, Plesk, and DirectAdmin backups, by drag-and-drop or by fetching from a URL, and targets any host, PHP version, and web engine. Watch the Releases page for the latest import capabilities.

Yes, fully self-hosted. Your operator data (sites, databases, mailboxes, accounts) lives on your own servers, never on ours.

Two small calls do reach us. The first is a billing signal that fires whenever you add or remove a server or an account, with a once-a-day catch-up in case one of those events was missed. It carries the current server count, the current account count, a timestamp, and a random install ID your panel generates on first boot. That is how your invoice adjusts automatically.

The second is the license check. It runs when you save your key, when the panel upgrades, and when you install or update a server role. It is not called on every request. If we are unreachable, your panel keeps working on the paid plan for up to 30 days before it falls back to the free tier.

Nothing about your sites, domains, database contents, mailboxes, customers, traffic, or resource usage is ever sent.

Yes. ARM is first-class. Every binary is cross-compiled for amd64 and arm64, so you can run Unicorn Panel on Ampere, Graviton, a Raspberry Pi, or a Mac mini.

Unicorn Panel is a self-hosted, license-gated panel. Two servers and two panel accounts are free with unlimited everything; past either limit, $5 a month covers 3 servers and 10 accounts, then it is $1 per extra server and $0.30 per extra account. White-label reselling is included, not an add-on. See Pricing for a calculator, or get in touch to size a license to your fleet.

Not for you. Whatever you pay when you buy is what you keep paying, for as long as your subscription stays active. We may raise prices as the product grows, but any increase applies to new customers only: existing licenses stay grandfathered at the rate they signed up at.

Yes. Each reseller gets their own panel domain, logo, colors, and favicon, plus their own SMTP so transactional mail goes out from their address. Their customers never see the upstream operator. More on the resellers page.

Websites, databases, mailboxes, and panel config are backed up separately, each with the right semantics: incremental files, full SQL dumps, per-mailbox maildirs. The Primary sees every backup across the fleet and can download a Secondary’s backup without staging to disk. See Backups.

Yes. Unicorn Panel ships a sandboxed, read-only demo account that shows the real panel without exposing any customer data. See the demo page.

Vote on and propose ideas in Feature suggestions, see what’s coming under Planned features, or reach the team via Contact us.