Websites
3 sites · nginx · PHP 8.4
+ New site
example.com
blog.example.com
api.example.com
ServerDeck is a native Mac and iPad app that manages websites, TLS, email, WordPress, DNS, databases, containers, backups and security on the Linux servers you already own — over SSH, with nothing privileged left listening on the box.
Free direct download for macOS · App Store release for Mac & iPad landing soon
cPanel, Plesk and Webmin run a privileged web service that listens around the clock — a standing attack surface that reshapes your whole box and never sleeps. ServerDeck flips it. It connects over your own SSH session, does the work through a small audited agent, and leaves. Between sessions, nothing of ours is running. Your server stays a plain Ubuntu server you fully understand.
From a first website to email deliverability to a firewall that won't lock you out — without stitching together a dozen tools.
Create a site with nginx, PHP-FPM and a database in one step. Issue and renew Let's Encrypt certificates, clone a site to staging, and export or import a whole site as a single file.
Install, update core, reset a user's password, tune page & object caching with Redis, harden a site, and block repeated login attempts — all without touching wp-admin.
Size PHP-FPM, OPcache, Redis and nginx from what the server actually reports — per installed PHP version — and undo it in one tap if the server stops answering.
Manage records and point new sites at your server automatically. Optional Cloudflare integration for zones, proxying and cache purges — the panel never holds a DNS-editing token in an exposed context.
Browse and edit inside a document root or across system configuration. Upload, compress and extract archives, and apply permissions, ownership or deletion to a whole selection at once.
A genuine pseudo-terminal, so top, nano, vim and the MySQL prompt work — not an echo box. Gated behind an explicit acknowledgement and recorded in the server's audit log.
MariaDB, MySQL and PostgreSQL. Create databases with generated credentials, inspect size and tables, and rotate passwords — secrets never ride on the command line.
SSH hardening, brute-force protection, and a firewall that always keeps your SSH port open — so a good intention never locks you out of your own server.
Scheduled backups covering files and databases, verified against a checksum, with one-tap restore and off-server export. Docker, cron and WireGuard round out the set.
Postfix and Dovecot with virtual mailboxes, forwarders and catch-alls per domain, DKIM signing and a mail certificate. Then the part no other panel bothers with: a deliverability check that tells you why mail isn't landing — even when every DNS record looks green.
The design assumes a hostile network and an untrusted web application already running on the box. Every choice follows from that.
No daemon, no open port, no web service. Every action is a single short-lived process started over your SSH session, then gone.
Passwords you choose are encrypted to the agent's X25519 key before they leave your device, so they never appear in the process list. Database passwords are generated on the server.
The agent ships inside the app, is uploaded over SSH, and is checked against a pinned SHA-256 before it installs — a tampered transfer is refused, not run.
Every input is re-checked against strict patterns and run as an argv array, never assembled into a shell string from user data.
Host keys are trusted on first use and pinned; a changed key is refused. Your SSH and API secrets live in the macOS and iOS Keychain, never in a backup.
Every state-changing action appends to an audit log on the server. Opening the terminal is recorded too — there is no quiet back door, including for you.
The same jobs, without the standing daemon, the licensing bill, or the takeover of your server.
| ServerDeck | cPanel / Plesk | Webmin | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Runs a privileged service 24/7 | No — nothing listens | Yes | Yes |
| Attack surface between sessions | None | Persistent web app | Persistent web app |
| Native Mac & iPad app | Yes | Browser only | Browser only |
| Keeps the server standard & portable | Plain nginx / Postfix | Restructures the box | Mostly |
| Licensing cost | One app, no per-account fees | Paid, often per-account | Free |
| Resource footprint on the server | A tiny on-demand agent | Heavy resident daemon | Resident daemon |
| Secret handling | Sealed to server key · Keychain | Stored in panel database | Stored on server |
| Email deliverability diagnostics | Built in | Limited | None |
| Firewall that can't lock you out | Guaranteed | Manual care needed | Manual care needed |
Comparison reflects the default posture of each tool. cPanel, Plesk and Webmin are trademarks of their respective owners and are not affiliated with ServerDeck.
No agent to pre-install, no port to open, no account to create on the server.
Add a server with the SSH credentials you already use. Host keys are pinned on first use, so you know it's really your box.
With your permission, ServerDeck uploads a small, dependency-free agent and verifies it against a pinned checksum before it runs.
Sites, mail, DNS, backups and more — each action a short-lived process. Close the app and nothing of ours keeps running.
Download the Mac app now, or wait a little for the App Store release for Mac and iPad. Your servers just need SSH and Ubuntu.