Built for
Full stack- BeAdmin
- Hosting panel
- Webmin
- Server admin
Webmin is the veteran server‑admin toolkit — services, configs, users, packages, firewall and PostgreSQL, all from one web GUI on almost any OS, free and open source. BeAdmin sits in a different category: a full hosting panel with sites, a mail server, DNS, backups and a built‑in VPN. Both are free; the real difference is what each is built to do. We lay it out plainly below.
Free core · 512 MB RAM · Debian & Ubuntu
Built for
Full stackHosting layer
Out of boxBuilt‑in VPN
Wider choiceMulti‑tenant
For clientsWebmin manages OS services, configs, users and packages from the web. BeAdmin is a hosting panel: sites, mail, DNS and clients out of the box. Different jobs, both done well.
BeAdmin ships managed vhosts, a mail server, DNS and backups as one workflow. On Webmin the hosting layer comes from the Virtualmin add‑on, set up on top.
Xray, WireGuard, OpenVPN, Outline, Amnezia and Mimicry are modules in the same UI. Webmin ships only IPsec and PPTP modules: a modern VPN (WireGuard, Xray and the like) you would wire up by hand, and OpenVPN comes as a third‑party module.
BeAdmin manages several servers from one place and is built to host clients. Webmin administers one machine by hand — a strength for sysadmins, not for resale.
Values pulled from each project’s public docs; Webmin’s hardware figures are our estimate. Webmin has unmatched system‑admin reach — PostgreSQL, Fail2Ban, firewall and a huge module catalogue across almost any OS; BeAdmin is a full hosting panel with sites, mail, DNS, backups and a VPN. We mark each row plainly, including the ones Webmin wins.
If you need to host sites and serve clients, BeAdmin gives you vhosts, a mail server, DNS and backups out of the box. Webmin is a server‑admin toolkit — hosting comes from the Virtualmin add‑on you set up on top.
Managed vhosts, a mature mail server with Roundcube webmail, DNS zones and a backup scheduler are all one BeAdmin workflow. On Webmin you assemble them from modules, or add Virtualmin for the hosting layer.
Xray, WireGuard, OpenVPN, Outline, Amnezia, Mimicry — turn any of them on with a single click. Webmin has only IPsec and PPTP modules; the rest you would set up as an OS service and maintain yourself.
BeAdmin manages several servers from one place and is built to host clients. Webmin is designed to administer a single machine by hand — exactly what makes its system reach so deep.
These are two different tools. Webmin is a mature, exceptionally broad server‑admin toolkit; BeAdmin is a full hosting panel. Synthesised from public docs and our own usage — your mileage may vary.
Webmin and the BeAdmin core are both free and open source. The question is not price but scope: a server‑admin toolkit (plus Virtualmin for hosting) versus a full hosting panel with modules you switch on.
From 1 €/mo. Enable only what you need, disable any time — no site cap. The VPN family lives here.
open source
GPL hosting layer
per year (10 domains)
Webmin is entirely free and open source. The hosting layer comes from Virtualmin: a free GPL edition, or Virtualmin Pro ($75 a year for 10 domains) that adds resellers, 60+ installers, Podman and priority support.
Webmin and Virtualmin details from webmin.com and virtualmin.com. BeAdmin module pricing from beadmin.com.
Webmin itself is light; a full Virtualmin hosting stack with mail, spam and AV wants more (Virtualmin’s vendor says 4 GB or more). Webmin publishes no hardware requirements, so the figures below are our estimate. BeAdmin numbers are vendor‑stated.
Source: webmin.com and virtualmin.com for OS and architecture; Webmin’s RAM and disk figures are our estimate. BeAdmin requirements from internal documentation.
If your sites already live on Webmin or Virtualmin on Debian or Ubuntu, there is no OS switch. The old panel stays up until you retire it.
If you are on Debian or Ubuntu, no OS change is needed — one apt command brings up the free BeAdmin core. Run it alongside Webmin and switch over only when ready.
Transfer vhost configs, databases (mysqldump), mailboxes and BIND zones manually or with your own scripts. BeAdmin does not import Virtualmin backups directly, so this is an honest manual step.
Flip DNS when you are comfortable. If anything looks off, revert DNS to the old server — the rollback is just one record change.
Both are free, so this is not about price — it is about category. Webmin is a deep server‑admin toolkit: services, users, packages, firewall, PostgreSQL, all from one GUI. BeAdmin is a full hosting panel: managed vhosts, a mail server, DNS, backups, clients and a built‑in VPN, as one workflow. If you administer a server by hand, Webmin is superb. If you host sites, mail and clients, BeAdmin is built for that.
Virtualmin is the hosting add‑on that sits on top of Webmin — it is what gives Webmin per‑account vhosts, mail and DNS. So by task, BeAdmin compares to Virtualmin, not to bare Webmin. The difference is that BeAdmin ships that hosting layer as one product out of the box, plus a built‑in VPN, where Virtualmin is assembled on top of Webmin; the free GPL edition of Virtualmin already covers the hosting core, while paid Pro adds resellers, 60+ installers and priority support.
Partly. Webmin ships standard IPsec and PPTP modules, and OpenVPN comes as a third‑party module; there is no modern managed VPN (WireGuard, Xray and the like). BeAdmin includes six protocols — Xray, WireGuard, OpenVPN, Outline, Amnezia and Mimicry — as modules in the same UI, each enabled with a single click.
Webmin’s system reach is a genuine strength — PostgreSQL and Fail2Ban are managed out of the box, and its firewall GUI is excellent. On BeAdmin, PostgreSQL is coming as a managed module and there is no bundled Fail2Ban today. If deep OS administration is your priority, Webmin wins those rows; if you run hosting, BeAdmin is built for it.
Choose Webmin if you want the deepest server‑admin toolkit to manage OS services by hand — and you are comfortable adding Virtualmin for hosting. Choose BeAdmin if you want a hosting panel: sites, mail, DNS, backups, clients and a built‑in VPN, free at the core with modules from 1 €/mo. They are different tools for different jobs.
The panel core is free. Pay only for the modules you connect.