FAQ

Is WardPane really free?

Yes. The license is AGPL-3.0, and there are no paid tiers. You can use it on any number of servers, change it and share it. If you run a changed version as a service for other people, you must publish your changes.

I have never managed a server. Is WardPane for me?

Yes. It installs with one command, and after that you add a site. The defaults are safe: certificates are issued without your help, sites run in sandboxes, and when something is wrong the dashboard and the site status say why. The first steps page goes through the whole setup. A setup wizard and a Simple mode that shows only the main settings are planned for 2.3 (see Simple and Expert modes).

Which systems are supported?

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS on x86_64 or arm64, on a clean server. Other distributions are not supported.

Can it run next to nginx, Apache or another panel?

No. WardPane is itself the web server and needs ports 80 and 443. Put it on a clean server and move your sites over by copying their folders and creating the sites in WardPane.

Do I need Cloudflare?

No. WardPane issues certificates and filters traffic without it. With Cloudflare in front, WardPane reads the real visitor IP from Cloudflare’s headers, can refuse traffic that bypasses Cloudflare, and can fix your zone settings through the API. See Cloudflare.

Does it protect against DDoS?

Partly. WardPane stops request floods from a small number of addresses, scanners, password brute force and abusive bots. A volumetric attack from a large botnet that fills your server’s network link with hundreds of megabits per second has to be stopped upstream, by your provider or a CDN.

Will protection block search engines?

Not unless you ask it to. Search engines and link previews are allowed by default. A request that claims to be Googlebot or another known crawler but comes from an address outside that crawler’s published ranges is banned, because a real crawler never does that. See verified crawlers.

Can I host WordPress?

Yes, with the PHP handler. The usual WordPress .htaccess works as it is. WordPress also needs MySQL or MariaDB, which WardPane 2.0 does not install. Use an external database server or install one on the server yourself. Databases managed from the panel are planned for 2.1 (see databases).

Can I host a Next.js or Express app?

Yes, with the Node.js handler. You pick the Node.js version and the npm script or entry file; the panel runs the app under PM2 and proxies requests to it. See Node.js.

Why does the download need my email?

We send the download link or code to that address, keep the consent records the law requires, and write to you when there is a security fix. News and offers come only if you tick that box and confirm it, and every email has an unsubscribe link. See the Privacy policy.

Does WardPane send data from my server anywhere?

The panel downloads what it needs to work: Let’s Encrypt certificates, crawler IP ranges published by their operators, Cloudflare’s network list, optional IP feeds and GeoIP updates, and Node.js builds from nodejs.org. It does not send statistics about your server or your visitors to wardpane.com.

Where do I report a vulnerability?

Write to [email protected]. More on the security page.