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WHMCS vs Blesta vs Hostbill vs ??
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WHMCS vs Blesta vs Hostbill vs ??

Mr_TomMr_Tom Member, Host Rep

Hi all,

You want something that allows you to list "services" for sale at certain prices (so product/service management) with recurring invoices. This is easy with stuff like InvoiceNinja, but when you throw in client logins and support ticket handling, stuff like WHMCS/Blesta is surely the better option?

But, which do you choose?

WHMCS seems the most popular, but Blesta is perhaps a little better? Hostbill looks like the most feature packed but is also the most expensive option.

Or... would you write your own - it doesn't need any integrations (solusvm, proxmox, cpanel etc) just service management and invoicing/support. Although, the option to have integrations may be useful in the future.

I know it's been discussed here before, but new releases etc have happened and peoples opinions change!

Thanks!

Thanked by 1aglodek

Comments

  • georgedatacentergeorgedatacenter Member, Patron Provider

    Yes, there has already been a lot of talk about this.

    Whmcs has improved a lot and has a lot of people working with their addons.

    I do not like it, I never liked blesta.

    I've never tried hostbill, but they say it's complete.

    Thanked by 1Mr_Tom
  • Hostbill - massive, bug ridden mess. If you dont have developers in-house and solid budget, dont even start with it.

    Blesta - more like a framework to build your own client system. Needs developers.

    Whmcs - summer/winter host friendly. Pretty stable. If you gonna deadpool you can sell your clients pretty easily as most such buyers will run whmcs also.

    In your case - take blesta.

    Thanked by 1Mr_Tom
  • Mr_TomMr_Tom Member, Host Rep

    LTniger said: In your case - take blesta.

    I was leaning towards Blesta - it's slightly cheaper and has an "outright" option to buy (with support after first year additional costing).

    Hostbill I've only used as a client and it seems nice - their site is informative but no "demo" as such, but figured they must be able to justify the price tag.

  • AnthonySmithAnthonySmith Member, Patron Provider

    If you don't want to scratch your eyes out due to limitations and core limitations a few years down the road with the only option being a huge headache to manually migrate to hostbill, just use hostbill from day 1

    Thanked by 1feezioxiii
  • Mr_TomMr_Tom Member, Host Rep

    AnthonySmith said: just use hostbill from day 1

    Is that what you would have done in hindsight I take it?

  • AnthonySmithAnthonySmith Member, Patron Provider
    edited January 2019

    Mr_Tom said: Is that what you would have done in hindsight I take it?

    Yep, the thing to consider in 2018 is that WHMCS cant be considered the cheap option any more, I run 2 x WHMCS installs that now cost about the same as hostbill p/year anyway since WHMCS put prices up 300%

    So now I pay more for less, feels great.

    Thanked by 1Mr_Tom
  • Mr_TomMr_Tom Member, Host Rep

    AnthonySmith said: Yep, the thing to consider in 2018 is that WHMCS cant be considered the cheap option any more, I run 2 x WHMCS installs that now cost about the same as hostbill p/year anyway since WHMCS put prices up 300%

    Good point.

  • YmpkerYmpker Member
    edited January 2019

    If all you'll sell is shared hosting Blesta should be fine for recurring invoices, support and cpanel/vestacp/ispconfig/cwp integration. WHMCS has way more integrations, the question is which ones you'll need. Small hosts, or hosts that focus mainly on shared hosting like @Cam @austenite & others, are totally fine with Blesta. It's definitly the budget option here.

    TL;DR:

    If you will stick to shared hosting, wanna stay rather "small" and probably won't need many integrations go with Blesta.

    If you plan to extend your product lines, offer new services, probably need lots of integrations etc go with WHMCS/Hostbill.

    Thanked by 1Mr_Tom
  • I use Blesta for invoicing and it's been really easy to use.

    Now I'm integrating a local payment gateway to automate the job. People behind Blesta has been helpful on Discord.

    Thanked by 3Mr_Tom Ympker aglodek
  • Mr_TomMr_Tom Member, Host Rep
    edited January 2019

    Ympker said: TL;DR:

    Technically at the minute I wouldn't need any integrations, it's more for the services management and support/invoicing - but the option for integrations may be useful.

  • armandorgarmandorg Member, Host Rep

    Blesta is good, but nowhere near WHMCS. If you want to have less problems, more integrations, more opportunities than use WHMCS. Have no idea about Hostbill, but still.

    Thanked by 1Mr_Tom
  • JamesFJamesF Member, Host Rep

    We use WHMCS as we have an owned license from day one. We have had our ups and downs. Overall it’s pretty good and we have linked it with quite a few add ons now. Especially Office 365 which we supply a lot of and we use it with Acronis backup as well.

    We are mainly IT support so have linked it with our plans and are trying to create a single login for our clients which will cover all their services and billing.

    It links well with Xero which then links to GoCardless to take automatic direct debit payments.

    Thanked by 1Mr_Tom
  • edited January 2019

    Used Blesta from day 1. It worked when I was offering basic services.

    I wanted to expand my business, but modules are a limiting factor. Plus, I have this tiny annoyance with Blesta where if I update a client ticket (as staff), it doesn't automatically change the status to "Staff Reply". Granted, there's a dropdown for that somewhere but I keep forgetting to set it so I have to update the ticket again just for that.

    If you have any plans to expand in the future, go with WHMCS (never tried HostBill recently, but that could work too?). There's bound to be a module for anything you can think of.

    Thanked by 1Mr_Tom
  • yokowasisyokowasis Member
    edited January 2019

    I use boxbilling from day 1. It's full of problem and bug, you need to get your hand dirty if you want to make it remotely usable. But hey, it's open source and free.

    I am now in my 2nd year, still rocking with boxbilling. I have considered moving into whmcs / blesta, but I imagine moving all of my clients and their services will be too much of a work.

  • Mr_TomMr_Tom Member, Host Rep

    Well, thought I'd try Blesta's 30 day trial and it won't let me start the trial as it keeps saying license key invalid. So far, so good... or not lol.

  • AnthonySmithAnthonySmith Member, Patron Provider
    edited January 2019

    yokowasis said: but I imagine moving all of my clients and their services will be too much of a work.

    Yep, the only reason pretty much everyone stayed with WHMCS after the price hike is because migration is a real problem, if hostbill had a dedicated migration support team and some partial automation they would suck the market share right out of WHMCS overnight.

    the same applies to so many bits of software, I am not sure why the business of software development is so often so short sighted but it is very common.

    Thanked by 1jfreak53
  • Mr_TomMr_Tom Member, Host Rep

    AnthonySmith said: if hostbill had a dedicated migration support team

    Looks like they do offer a migration service: http://blog.hostbillapp.com/2018/09/13/migration-to-hostbill/

    Thanked by 1AnthonySmith
  • AnthonySmithAnthonySmith Member, Patron Provider

    Mr_Tom said: Looks like they do offer a migration service: http://blog.hostbillapp.com/2018/09/13/migration-to-hostbill/

    image

    BRB MIGRATING TO HOSTBILL

    Thanked by 2Mr_Tom Ympker
  • Mr_TomMr_Tom Member, Host Rep

    Is it done yet???? :open_mouth:

  • FalzoFalzo Member

    @karenlaural said:
    SEO shit with hidden link

    here is some special SEO for you:

    hostingseekers are a necro posting shithole scam operation.They killed my wife and raped my dog. do not trust hostingseekers.com - they are spammers and will be banned soon enough.

    Thanked by 2webcraft vedran
  • WHMCS goes better if you are in a budget. It is a great choice for any starter or medium sized business.

  • WHMCS it's a leader and the king..it has a big developer community, a lot of modules and integration..

    Before choose WHMCS I have your same doubts and questions!

    But WHMCS it's very stable, great support and big community..in long term become satisfied

  • Hi,
    we are hosting company from Bulgaria and we are using Hostbill from around 5 years, but it has a lot of ussies and bugs. We have tried before WHMCS and Blesta but the problems were the same. Now we are trying to check if we can produce our own billing system with help of some colleagues.

This discussion has been closed.