If you’re running a server but don’t want to fuss with the command line, Easypanel lets you manage it with a graphical control panel. In this guide, I’ll show you how to install Easypanel and walk you through an example of how to get your first app online quickly.
Why Use Easypanel?
Here are some features that make Easypanel convenient for server management:
- One-click installation: You can install and configure apps with a mouse and graphical interface.
- Free SSL certificates: It will auto-renew certificates for you.
- In-Browser terminal: You can access the command line from the browser without switching to an SSH session.
Perhaps the biggest draw is that it’s free up to a number of projects, AKA, websites. So that puts Easypanel in a unique place among host management software: it’s more advanced than Webmin (which is free) but less costly than the cPanel, the market leader.
And even if you decide you want to upgrade to an Easypanel license to unlock unlimited projects, it’s still much less expensive than those offered by alternatives like Plesk.
Prerequisites for Easypanel
The hardware requirements to run Easypanel are light, so you only need:
- OS: Ubuntu Server 24.04 or another Linux distribution
- Minimum processor requirement: single core
- Minimum memory requirement: 2 GB
How to Install Easypanel on Ubuntu Server 24.04
(Note: You can skip the installation steps below if you’re running a server with LifeinCloud. We make it simple to deploy Easypanel with a single click.)
1. Easypanel depends on Docker, so we need to make sure Docker is installed first.
Install Docker using the official script:curl -sSL https://get.docker.com | sh
Add your user to the docker group for proper privileges: sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
Reinitialize your session: newgrp docker
Check if Docker is active and runs on boot: systemctl status docker
2. Now you’re ready to download and install Easypanel:
docker run --rm -it \
-v /etc/easypanel:/etc/easypanel \
-v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro \
easypanel/easypanel setupWhen it’s done, it should spit out the address for you to access the web interface on port 3000.
Congrats, you’re done with the installation! In the next section, I’ll show you how to start your first project.
Getting Started With Easypanel
To get started, we’ll want to log in to the web interface. Point your web browser to the address given during your installation. For example, http://192.168.10.183:3000 (replace 192.168.10.183 with your server’s IP).
When you see the Easypanel login screen, enter an email and password you would like to use:
Once that’s done, you’ll gain access to the dashboard where all the magic happens:
Now that you’re logged in to the web interface, let’s add an app to manage your new site.
Easypanel Templates
Easypanel is powerful enough to be customized in many ways, but I find the easiest thing for beginners is to use its 1-click installers. These are referred to as templates.
There are templates for publishing like WordPress, file syncing like Nextcloud, as well as Mattermost for business collaboration or Ollama for AI models.
You can find a complete list of supported templates in Easypanel itself or from the official website.
Easypanel Use Case Example: Filebrowser
Let’s run through a quick example of how to install an app using an Easypanel template.
Let’s say I have a hosted site that I want to manage. To make it easier to edit or move files on the site, I want to install Filebrowser, a graphical file manager. Here’s how to get it done:
1. Add a project.
Click Create Project and give it a name, perhaps the name of your hosted website. Then click Create.
Go back to your dashboard and you should see your new site under Projects. However, your site doesn’t have any services or apps associated with it yet, so let’s add one.
2. Install an app for your project by using an Easypanel template.
From the dashboard, click the + symbol to add a web service/app.
A list of available 1-click installers will appear. Use the search bar under Templates to find the Filebrowser app.
Click on it to see its popup description, and click Create. Note the default login credentials given. Then click Go To Project:
Filebrowser will start automatically and you’ll get a status screen with logs showing that it initialized successfully. Ok, but now that it’s on your site, how do we actually use Filebrowser?
3. Open your new app.
Return to your dashboard, and go to Domains from the left menu. Here you’ll see all of the apps you’ve installed for this site. Find Filebrowser, and click the icon under Open.
Filebrowser should launch in a new browser tab. Log in with the default credentials (admin/admin).
Success! Now you can manage your server files via the web.
This was a simple deployment, but there are much more advanced use cases. For example, you can use Easypanel to create MySQL databases and also manage it with the graphical phpMyAdmin app. Server management is a lot easier when you can handle everything from a web browser wherever you are.
FAQ
How do I update Easypanel?
Easypanel auto-updates without extra effort from you.
But if that doesn’t work, you can force a manual update with this command:docker image pull easypanel/easypanel && docker service update easypanel --force
Don’t forget that you can also access a terminal from your browser.
It’s found under Settings > General > Server > Console
How can I make Easypanel more secure?
Any login exposed to the internet will be at risk of attack. To protect yourself, enable 2FA by going to Settings > Authentication > Configure Two Factor Authentication.
How do I change my Easypanel password?
Log in to your server via SSH or pull up a terminal from the web interface.
Enter this command to reset your password:
docker run --rm -it \
-v /etc/easypanel:/etc/easypanel \
-v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro \
easypanel/easypanel reset-password
