Excerpt Talks Episode #2 – Shoaib Khan Khattak of CyberPanel

Transcription

Lawrence Ladomery

In our second episode of the Excerpt Talks, I spoke to Shoaib Khan Khattak, Lead Support Engineer at CyberPanel. CyberPanel is known for its web hosting panel product, which is fast becoming an industry standard, but their offering is broader than that. They also sell hosting directly.

Thinking about partnerships and collaboration, which is what this series is all about, we looked at CyberPanel from the perspective of a WordPress agency looking to package a compelling hosting proposition for businesses. Not only from a pricing standpoint but also from a go-to-market perspective, ensuring the offer is both valuable and positioned for future technical requirements.

On that point, we talked about n8n, a solution that’s quickly becoming popular among developers to orchestrate and integrate applications and AI services.

To recap, here are the main topics we covered:

• Aggressive pricing and a broad offering, including well-specced VPSs starting from only $10/month.
• Additional solutions such as n8n.
• How improving UX drives better outcomes, especially in light of their recent panel refresh.
• How agencies can generate $3,500 in MRR by offering single VPS instances at managed WordPress hosting prices.
• And finally, how using n8n alongside WordPress can help build infrastructure-level stacks for the AI era.

I hope you find this interview useful. Let us know if you have any ideas for topics to cover in future talks.

Lawrence Ladomery

Thank you, Shoaib, for joining us on Excerpt Talks. I’m quite excited because it’s not often we get to speak to a panel company in the WordPress space. Let’s start by learning a bit about you. What’s your background and what’s your role in the company?

Shoaib Khan Khattak

Thank you, Lawrence, for having me. My background is in the hosting industry. I’ve been working in this field since the start of my career. I joined CyberPanel in 2019 and have been here ever since, working mainly on security and support. My expertise is entirely in web hosting – that’s my domain!

Lawrence Ladomery

So you’re very much a specialist in hosting and DevOps. Tell us about CyberPanel and what makes it unique.

Shoaib Khan Khattak

CyberPanel started in 2017. At that time, there was no one in the industry offering OpenLiteSpeed or LiteSpeed integration with their control panel. CyberPanel was the first to introduce OpenLiteSpeed integration. Now, there are many, but back then, we were the first.

What makes CyberPanel unique is that it’s the only panel in the industry that offers both OpenLiteSpeed and LiteSpeed Enterprise on the same platform. You can even convert from OpenLiteSpeed to LiteSpeed Enterprise. The product is rooted in LiteSpeed technology, which makes it special.

The basic version is completely free and open source. It’s lightweight and easy to use – if you have even a little technical knowledge, you can manage it without issues.

Lawrence Ladomery

I’ve come across LiteSpeed quite often – it’s becoming a preferred technology in our space. It makes sense that it’s core to your product. CyberPanel is known for its control panel, but you also offer managed WordPress hosting and cloud VPS. How do these offerings complement each other?

Shoaib Khan Khattak

When a farmer sells his own produce, it’s fresher and better priced than when sold through a third party. Similarly, when users buy directly from us, they get better value and fewer hassles.

Many users face issues with their hosting or VPS from third parties, so we wanted to provide everything under one roof. That’s how our VPS hosting store started. Then, to make it even easier for end users, we introduced managed WordPress hosting.

Our main goal is to provide all solutions – control panel, VPS, and hosting – on one platform so users don’t have to manage multiple providers.

Lawrence Ladomery

That makes sense. You’re a one-stop shop for agencies and even other hosting providers who might want to use you as their infrastructure. You’ve also recently upgraded your panel. Can you tell us about the improvements?

Shoaib Khan Khattak

Yes! The biggest improvement was to the UI and UX. We completely redesigned it – it’s now more modern, clean, and easy to navigate. In the old version, the UI was fine, but we wanted something more in line with modern design trends.

We also added seamless installations, including one-click Docker app installation. SSL and backup systems have been improved, and the latest version supports Ubuntu 20.04 and 22.04.

Lawrence Ladomery

Do you have any data comparing usage before and after the upgrade?

Shoaib Khan Khattak

We don’t share specific sales data, but we can tell from our community feedback. Before, users often reported issues on our forums and Facebook group. Now, those complaints have disappeared. The community’s reaction has been very positive, and that’s the best indicator of success.

Lawrence Ladomery:

That’s great – improved UX always pays off. Let’s talk about your partner program. Who is it for, and what are its benefits?

Shoaib Khan Khattak

Our partner program is for web hosting providers, digital agencies, and freelancers. The main benefits are:

1. You get access to the full version of CyberPanel with all features unlocked.
2. You get direct support from our team and developers.

If you face any issue, you can contact us directly. Partners can also request special features – if it benefits the broader community, we often implement them.

Lawrence Ladomery

Are you seeing more agencies or hosting providers joining your partner program?

Shoaib Khan Khattak

Mostly hosting providers, like Hostinger – one of our big partners. After that, agencies are second, followed by freelancers. Freelancers often join because they need quick support for client sites, and agencies join because not every agency has a dedicated DevOps person.

Lawrence Ladomery

And your pricing is quite accessible – there’s no huge investment required to start partnering with you.

Shoaib Khan Khattak

Exactly. Our pricing is very competitive. Our focus is on providing powerful servers at affordable prices. For example, our VPS plans start at $10 a month, which include strong specs and all paid CyberPanel add-ons (worth about $8/month).

Lawrence Ladomery

Let’s move to our “Win-Win Economics” section. Here’s an example scenario: an agency hosting 50 WordPress websites, each on an individual VPS running CyberPanel, plus n8n for automation and integrations.

Each VPS has 3 cores, 8 GB RAM, 90 GB storage – priced at $10/month. I didn’t find anyone else offering this much value at that price.

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Shoaib Khan Khattak

Yes, exactly. Each plan includes NVMe premium storage and all CyberPanel paid add-ons. No one else offers these resources at this price point.

Lawrence Ladomery

I think that’s sufficient even for large WordPress sites – eCommerce or membership sites, for example. It’s also great for agencies offering dedicated VPS hosting at managed WordPress prices.

Now, if the agency sells this at $45/month, that’s a $35 margin. Including maintenance and n8n, the total cost might be $45, but the selling price could be $115, giving a $70 margin per client – or about $3,500/month for 50 clients.

Shoaib Khan Khattak

Yes, exactly – that’s the idea. Agencies can offer something powerful and profitable.

Lawrence Ladomery

Let’s talk about n8n. It’s like Zapier but open-source and self-hosted, right?

Shoaib Khan Khattak

Yes, n8n is open-source and free if you self-host it. You only pay if you use their cloud. It’s one of the best automation tools on the market. With CyberPanel, you can install n8n with one click on our VPS. We even offer managed n8n hosting for users who only want to host that application.

Lawrence Ladomery

That’s really interesting, especially as AI and automation become more important. n8n lets you connect different apps and AI workflows easily.

Shoaib Khan Khattak

Exactly. It’s perfect for orchestrating AI workflows.

Lawrence Ladomery

How technical do you have to be to manage a CyberPanel instance?

Shoaib Khan Khattak

Not very. You just need basic sysadmin knowledge. We’ve made the UI so simple that even non-technical users can deploy WordPress with a few clicks. Of course, since it’s self-hosted, having some familiarity with SSH helps, but overall, it’s beginner-friendly.

Lawrence Ladomery

And with tools like ChatGPT, even non-technical users can manage more complex tasks.

Shoaib Khan Khattak

Yes – ChatGPT has made life much easier for users!

Lawrence Ladomery

What kind of traffic can your $10 VPS handle?

Shoaib Khan Khattak

It can handle thousands of visits per month. We don’t limit bandwidth. For a simple blog, it’s more than enough. Even eCommerce sites perform well on these specs.

Lawrence Ladomery

What kind of agencies do you work with?

Shoaib Khan Khattak

A mix – some technical, others not. Many agencies without a DevOps person rely on our partner program for support. We also work with marketing agencies who host client sites and need reliable infrastructure.

Lawrence Ladomery

What’s on CyberPanel’s roadmap?

Shoaib Khan Khattak

We’re planning to enhance n8n and WordPress integration further. We’ve already added an AI website scanner, and more AI-based features are coming. I can’t share too much, but we’re evolving quickly while keeping CyberPanel open source and free.

Lawrence Ladomery

It’s exciting to see AI becoming part of hosting panels too. Any final thoughts on collaboration within the WordPress ecosystem?

Shoaib Khan Khattak

Yes – collaboration is key. Products that integrate, affiliate, and evolve with others will survive. Those that stay isolated won’t. The future belongs to those who connect – just like bundling n8n with WordPress hosting.

Lawrence Ladomery

Exactly. Even conversations like this help strengthen those connections. Finally, what’s the best way for people to learn about CyberPanel and connect with you?

Shoaib Khan Khattak

Join our Facebook community – it has over 8,000 members. If you post a question, you’ll get multiple answers within minutes. We also have a full knowledge base for learning, and of course, our support team is always ready to help.

Lawrence Ladomery

That’s fantastic – your community sounds really active. Shoaib, thank you so much for joining me. CyberPanel is doing fascinating work, especially around AI and orchestration. It’s been a pleasure talking to you.

Other Excerpt Talks episodes

• Episode #1 – Tom Fanelli of Convesio