Kloxo

Overview

Kloxo (formerly Lxadmin) is a free, open-source (AGPL v3) web hosting control panel originally developed by LxCenter and open-sourced in 2009, targeting cloud server/hosting operations and letting administrators manage websites, email, DNS and databases through a web interface. Its modern forks KloxoNG and Kloxo 8 run on RHEL 8/9-family systems (Rocky Linux / AlmaLinux / CentOS Stream) and support PHP 8.

Kloxo's value is "free plus graphical management": build a multi-domain hosting panel on RHEL-family servers with no license fees, one-click installation of about 130 web apps, and switchable Apache/lighttpd and BIND/djbdns combinations. Since the original project has been largely unmaintained since 2017, it is currently maintained mainly by community forks, so users must handle security hardening and upgrades themselves - see the open-source software market analysis.

Key Strengths

• Zero license cost: free and open source (AGPL v3) with no license fees, suited to individuals and small hosts on a budget - see the open-source commercial software market.
• RHEL-family support: installs on RHEL 8/9-family systems (Rocky Linux / AlmaLinux / CentOS Stream), with Kloxo 8 supporting PHP 8 for common virtual hosting stacks.
• One-click app installs: the built-in InstallApp market offers about 130 web apps, with Installatron plugin support, lowering the website-building barrier.
• Flexible web stack switching: switchable Apache/lighttpd and BIND/djbdns combinations, with a GUI for websites, email, DNS and databases.
• Multi-domain and multi-user: supports multiple domains and users; the historical Kloxo Enterprise edition can migrate web/mail/dns across servers.
• Well-known legacy: once regarded as a free cPanel alternative, with plenty of historical community material and tutorials.

Product Ecosystem

Kloxo Panel (Original / Lxadmin)

The original edition: a multi-domain hosting panel for CentOS/RHEL-family systems covering websites, email, DNS and databases; the original project has been largely unmaintained since 2017.

Kloxo_MR

A community fork maintained by Mustafa Ramadhan (mratwork) that keeps the original features while patching and extending them, targeting CentOS 6/7 users.

KloxoNG (Kloxo Next Generation)

A modernized rebuild released in September 2020, rebuilt on the Fedora Copr build system with bug fixes and PHP 7.4 support.

Kloxo 8

The newest fork, released in August 2024 for RHEL 8/9-compatible systems (Rocky Linux / AlmaLinux / CentOS Stream), integrating KloxoNG features with PHP 8 support, suited to Linux server operations.

Limitations

• Community-maintained: the original project has been largely unmaintained since 2017, so long-term stability and security updates depend on community activity.
• Security history: a serious 2009 incident (the VAserv hack deleted 100,000 sites' data) means production environments need strict hardening - see initial server security.
• Limited documentation and community: mostly English material with little depth, raising troubleshooting and customization costs.
• Limited enterprise features: dated features and UI with limited clustering and API capabilities, so large hosts are not a good fit.

Use Cases

• Self-managed servers on a budget (recommended ★★★★): free and open source with graphical management for individuals and micro hosts.
• Learning control panel internals (recommended ★★★★): multi-web-stack switching and multi-domain management for learning and experiments.
• Low-cost virtual hosting (recommended ★★★): one-click app installs enable quick virtual hosting environments.
• Production-scale large hosts (recommended ★★): community maintenance and security history suggest evaluating commercial panels.
• Modern UI and commercial support (recommended ★★): the interface is dated, so commercial options like cPanel/Plesk are better fits.

Pricing

Note: all editions are free and open source; you supply the server and ops skills, and handle installation, hardening and upgrades yourself - see the open-source software market analysis.

FAQ

• How does Kloxo compare with cPanel/Plesk? Kloxo is completely free and suits budget scenarios; cPanel/Plesk offer richer ecosystems and commercial integrations. Compare the cPanel and Plesk docs as needed.

• Is the project still maintained? The original project has been largely unmaintained since 2017; it is currently maintained mainly by community forks (Kloxo_MR/KloxoNG/Kloxo 8) - see the open-source software market analysis.

• Which systems does it support? Modern forks run on RHEL 8/9-family systems (Rocky Linux / AlmaLinux / CentOS Stream), with Kloxo 8 supporting PHP 8, see server selection guide for system choices.

• Is there commercial support? There is no official commercial support; rely mainly on the community forum and material, and combine strict security hardening in production - see initial server security.