What billing system do you prefer

[lkonig]

Seeing the top threee billing systems Modernbill WHMCS and Client Exec.

 

Has anyone tried them all or which do you prefer?

[JasonF]

Doug has played with all 3. I believe he went with ClientExec.

[HypedGaming]

ClientExec for game servers and WHMCS for web hosting.

[lkonig]

Ouch 2 billing systems one for games and one for web. Is there a reason why you are using 2? Is there somethings one can or cannot do than the other with tcadmin? to p[ay for 2 billing systems seems silly but I am sure Brian has his reasons I would like to know.

[DougK94]

I presently use MB v4, but will be switching to CE when their v 3.1 comes out. I have converted some customers to CE already .

 

WHMCS I looked at, but it was a real PIA to set up for TCA and I did not care for the way some things were handled in it.

 

All 3 are good products, each are good in some areas, and weaker in others. Since none are not that much $$$ to lease monthly, I suggest you do like I did, lease them all and try them out. Then depending on which one suits your needs best, cancel the other 2

[ECF]

The problem with all of these products are they are designed for the webhosting industry, not the GSP industry. Therefore every one of them has some sort of short coming.

[DougK94]

This is precisely why I say to try all of them that you can, so that you can find which one suits your needs the best.

 

 

There is no single package that is #1, due to varying needs by each of us. Some will swear by one, and others will swear at this same one. There are other billing packages around too, but these are the ones I know of that have plugins for use with TCA

 

 

MB v4

Clientexec

WHMCS

AWBS

 

I would like to use just one for all of my sites, but cannot due to the limitations of the software. The best solution would be a custom written package, but like most of us, I do not have the time, knowledge or money to do so. I am presently using MBv4 and AWBS on production sites and I am in the process of migrating customers from MBv4 to Clientexec. (I am still using MBv4 for the orders as I found a bug in CE for my needs, and this has supposedly been taken care of in their soon to be released v 3.1) I am testing MBv5 and have tested WHMCS.

There are other billing packages around too, but these are the ones I know of that have plugins for use with TCA

MB v4

Clientexec

WHMCS

AWBS

 

I am running 3 main sites using billing programs. I have 1 site for game server/voice servers/dedicated servers using MBv4 but moving to CE. Then 1 site for web hosting using cPanel and Plesk for linux and Helm for windows using MBv4 but migrating to CE. Lastly I have a site for domain name registration/management and SSL certificates using AWBS.

 

 

For my game server and voice site MB v4 probably works the best, as the plugin for it was developed by TCAdmin. MBv5 looks promising, but it is still too buggy for production use and does not support TCAdmin. MB v4 is showing its age and is missing some of the newer payment gateways and the customer interface is difficult to customize. MB is a pain and is time consuming to get set up initially. Order form is very nice for game servers, voice servers and dedicated servers. But the client portal is not very customizable and I cannot easily display some of the information there that I want. Clientexec also works very well with TCAdmin, but it is missing some of the features that MBv4 has. If it had the ability to pass text fields to the add-on variables, it might be better than MBv4. Clientexec is probably the easiest of all to set up on the admin side and the Order form is not difficult to set up, just time consuming. Also it is the easiest to add additional information to the customer portal. For use with game servers and TCAdmin, WHMCS and AWBS are a distant 3rd and 4th respectively. In both, TCAdmin plugins are atrocious. (they were written by the developers of the billing programs, not TCA) If you are setting up your game servers manually, they may be OK, but for automation, they are terrible. Neither of these is very customizable on the display of information on the customer portal, and the order forms are not difficult to set up.

 

 

For web hosting, WHMCS may be the best overall, with CE coming in a very close second. Next would be MBv4 in 3rd and then MBv5 and AWBS tied for a distant last. WHMCS has the greatest number of control panels and payment gateway support. WHMCS supports a decent number of domain registrars, however I do not care for the domain management in it. Setup in the admin side is not difficult and is easily configured. Support is probably the best with WHMCS and has a very active user forum. But I do not care for the template system in WHMCS. Clientexec does not support as many control panels or payment gateways as WHMCS. Again CE is not difficult to setup and configure. Support is very good and it has a user forum that is fairly active. MBv4 is not bad, but is missing support for some of the newer control panel and payment gateways. MB support has to be the worst of any of these. The handling of domain registration and management particularly are terrible in MBv4. Again MBv5 is not quite ready for production use and is still missing some domain registrars and payment gateways. For webhosting, AWBS is OK, but not the best. The templating system used by AWBS is very difficult to use, as a lot of the scripting is also done in the templates. AWBS support is good and has an active user forum.

 

 

For domain registrations and SSL certificates, AWBS runs away from all the others. Nothing else is anywhere in the ballpark. AWBS was originally developed solely for domain registrations and has evolved into a full-fledged web hosting billing package. But they have a ways to go to catch the others listed for web hosting.

 

 

These are just my personal opinions on each of these for the way I want to use them in my business. I am sure some can argue my findings, and that is fine and expected. Depending on their needs, they are probably correct. Again there is no one billing software package that is best overall, each has its own strengths and weaknesses. You need to research each and then use what fits your needs the best.

 

I did not mean to get so wordy and to write a book, but I got carried away LOL

[JasonF]