I've been wondering this for a while, what software do the big web hosting companies use like Godaddy ect. By software I mean what control panels billing systems ect. I presume they make there own or customize existing progrmas. Or do they actually use stuff like WHM and Cpanel. Btw I'm talking about the software they use to run there own business, not about what they provide their customers.

HostGator - cPanel and Modenbill (billing, but coding their own)
GoDaddy - Plesk and custom billing system

They would probably write their own billing systems or customise the more high-end systems that are designed for multi-million dollar and massive customer based companies.
GoDaddy has written their own system; Hostgator I'm not aware about, but I would hazard a bet they wrote their own systems.
Edit: See poster above.

Godaddy developed in-house. HostGator uses cPanel and Plesk (Windows). Not sure about their billing system though I would imagine they use something like clientexec or maybe WHMCS.

Hosgator uses Modernbill but I have read (I think at their blog) that they are building thier own. That's the best choise if you want to have custom offers, constant discounts for good customers, bonus tracking for your sales team etc.

Thats interesting.

Hosgator uses Modernbill but I have read (I think at their blog) that they are building thier own. That's the best choise if you want to have custom offers, constant discounts for good customers, bonus tracking for your sales team etc.
All for a good reason. ModernBill is no longer in existence and Parallels billing leaves much to be desired.

I've just had a look at Parallels billing and it looks very basic compared to WHMCS
I wonder how much is would cost to build your own billing system.

A lot of money if you aren't a programmer. If you are a programmer, less so as you may not need to take a wage yourself.
In addition to money, you're also going to need a lot of experience, time and patience to pull the project through.
WHMCS isn't that complex, it just has lots of smaller modules attached to set of main functions and processes. ;)

A lot of money if you aren't a programmer. If you are a programmer, less so as you may not need to take a wage yourself.
In addition to money, you're also going to need a lot of experience, time and patience to pull the project through.
WHMCS isn't that complex, it just has lots of smaller modules attached to set of main functions and processes. ;)
That's true. Hostgator has the resources to build it's own. WHMCS is a good start.

Dont worry I was planning on making my own I was just curious lol.

WHMCS might be a good starting application to use if you are a small business; however to start making your own, WHMCS isn't a good start because it's encoded.

I would look at ClientExec's latest version (beta) for inspiration, instead of WHMCS

Ubersmith is another good software option.
-mike

Yeah, better to start off with something out of the box like WHMCS and work your way up to a customized solution to fit your own needs.

I do no that godaddy uses Plesk and there billing system is custom

I used Modernbill v4 in the past. Custom systems definitely take the cake!

Dont worry I was planning on making my own I was just curious lol.
Yeah, this is totally the way to go. It is pretty easy to write your own, actually, and you can do pretty much anything you want to with it. The sky is the limit. It can also be a competitive advantage.

Dont worry I was planning on making my own I was just curious lol.
You have to decide if you really want to be in writing/maintaining billing software business, with only one customer (you), or if want to be in the hosting business. It's very difficult to try to do both at the same time, especially when just starting out. Developing (good) software is hard work :)
Paul