Hi guys,

Just want to do a bit of survey before we get down to finalising the price for our CP. Nope, it's still in the works, but beta will be ready asap for my team of beta testers.

I just want to check - what is the most reasonable price that you will pay for a CP, given that it is "leased" to you at a monthly fee? Take into consideration the fact that you get free upgrades, patches, support and of course, a powerful software.

A very brief, simple way of decribing the CP at the moment will be that it has the GUI of CPanel, but the powerful admin functions of Plesk/Ensim.

Well, let's hear some votes ;)

I hate recurring costs for software. Make it a one time fee. :)

See, this is the problem... I have 17 servers with CPanel - 17! That's a lot of money - For NO support. I mean seriously, CPanel customers get no support at all, sometimes someone might get lucky, etc... But if something HAPPENS - Nothing anyone can do...

The AIM Support for them? Never on... The "emergency" phone number - Seems like a 1 line phone with a cheap answering machine that no one ever checks and/or picks up - The email? They always get "lost" - The forum? Man, the forum is dead.

If you are going to charge $100/mo for software - With support, especially an emergency request (and an emergency is defined by how important it is to the host, not the creator) and can actually fix a problem that either the host or your software created to prevent problems for the hosts end users, etc - so they don't lose clients or get more complains - And will fix that, for free, since it's YOUR software and most likely caused it - Or an admin listened to some instructions and it didn't work etc, and ... You get the point :)

Software, you buy... Support, you pay for.

You can have a buy option, and a lease option - But a "rental" fee - Is ridiculous and as soon as a control panel software comes out that is more reliable and/or includes support - You can guarantee I'm getting it :)

Wow, this post contains some of my anger today :) Sorry :)

Well, I pay $100 per month for Cpanel, but I really wish I could pay a one time fee, or if it has to be monthly, no more than $50 per month, so I voted for $30-$50.

The recurring cost for software is what keeps the software alive and development going forward. I'm willing to pay a recurring cost to the software developer to insure the program continues development and new features, fixes, etc. are added. Yes, I wish all software had a one time fee and so do most developers but a cash flow is what keeps the software alive.

Specialized software like Control Panel Software, is a fulltime job keeping up with OS changes and new software updates and they deserve every penny their getting.

If the panel is more then just a pretty face and does quite a bit behind the scenes like Cpanel does, it's worth paying a monthly fee in my opinion.

IMHO not a lot people would opt to pay recurring cost to use a software unless its built on a Application Service Provider model. If its a package software, its less likely that I will want to buy it. Or perhaps the recurring costs comes with some level of good support, I might consider it.

Regards.
Joe

Assuming anyone would want to pay for a panel monthly (I know I never would), I think it's important to realize that the votes in this poll would still be highly skewed.

This poll is being run by someone planning to release a cp, and logically will be read by other people looking to make one as well. If 50% of people say they would only pay 30 bucks and 90% of people say they'd pay under 50, some developer might actually listen. While everyone may truly know they would pay more, stating that you'd pay 100 or more would only serve to hurt you more in the end.

That's not to say the data is totally useless or that everyone lied, but as a whole it's simply got a sharpe bias and shouldn't be taken as true without consideration.

Since you can only cost a control panel by the value it will bring to a host no one will be able to give you a useable figure without having any experience with the software itself.

I'd say "free" if it was an option, unless I could, at hand, see that it was going to increase sales or provide a unique quality of service that I could justify a expense against.

I really hate recurring fees as well. If you made it a one time option this would be more attractive question.

Seems like one of the main concerns is the support that you will get when you pay a recurring fee for the CP...

Well, what if we can guarantee a reply to a ticket opened within 24 hours, 7 days a week? ;)

We definitely hope to fill up the lack of technical support that some commerical CPs come with, and will look into a compensation scheme if we cannot reply promptly and effectively within 24 hours. Perhaps a discount, or something along those lines.

Taking that into consideration, where will the polls go from here? :D

You might find that some prefer a "pay as you go" support scheme.

Taking a different stance here. Its a little odd how paying regular fees for a web server is ok, but not for a software based system. ;)

The argument for paying regular payments for a server would be that it can be upgraded when need be and the continued support and services it provides. But is that really different from a software control system. You'll get more upgrades for the software and probably won't need as much long-term support.

Hello Adam_S

The monthly cost also covers all minor AND major upgrades, patches, fixes and the likes.

Basic modules will come free as well, although more extensive modules will be charged a one-off fee. These more complex modules are not pending in the near future and will rely heavily on public response and demand for them.

Hope that clarifies a few issues, as it seems that we now give people that idea that you'll only get support + software and nothing else with the price you pay ;)

You'll still need something to show in order to price it ;)