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  1. #26
    As a consumer of VPS services Ive got very used to dealing with WHMCS, cant say Ive seen any HostBill services yet.

    One very important factor is the trust that occurs when a customer is greeted by an interface they previously had a good experience with. Its something Ive also noted running a custom solution for my site, occasionally I get users who say "I cant do XYZ why dont you run WHMCS?". While these people are generally not well informed about technical aspects it proves a point.
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  2. #27
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Hanoi
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    I would like to try Hostbill but they don't support for Kayako helpdesk, so...
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  3. #28
    I also dont understand why hostbill does not at least have an online demo.

    Even if it just refreshed itself every 1/2 hour or something...

    ie: The concern is probably that having an online demo might get messed up unless there were all kinds of controls put into place to stop people from changing settings, etc. OK... so why not just reload the database every 15 minutes or 30 minutes or whatever? It's just a simple online demo, not a fully functional product evaluation. The idea of an online demo is to see if the product might work for you, and *then* you can decide more accurately if it's worth spending the $$ to get the software and install for evaluation.

    It always amazes me when a company has a nice product, but then acts like they don't want people to find out about it or use it.

    It's a very European mindset, since pretty much every store over here (I live in France) is the same. You walk in the door, and it's like you're bothering them because you want to buy something.

    (And yes, I realize I just made a huge sweeping generalization...)
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  4. #29
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
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    Houston
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    WHMCS is doing a lot of changes in the next versions i think after they launched the request feature, i am not sure but i think thats why they do that.

    Hostbill looks good but why change if you are satisfied with the system you already have?

    Also Hostbill do not offer either 30 days trial to test it or leased lisences so if you dont want to hassle with refund you have lost your money if you dont want to use it.

    The last one refer to people like me who dont bather with asking refund and answering a bunch of questions before getting money back. (Infact i have never asked a refund)

    A few weeks ago i visited hostbill to get a 30 days trial and test them but they didnt offer it, ok for me i then stay with whmcs wick i already know. Maybe hostbill is better but i never tried it so better safe than sorry.
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  5. #30
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Norway
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    Quote Originally Posted by mrzippy View Post
    It always amazes me when a company has a nice product, but then acts like they don't want people to find out about it or use it.
    That's perhaps the best way to put it. They have a really good product, and must put an awful lot of time into developing it, but they don't seem to do anything to aquire new business.
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  6. #31
    This was a really well thought out post/review/comparison

    really though, these products cant be compared. I think Hostbill has done a poor job at differentiating itself and really promoting what they are.

    WHMCS is a billing platform - I would say its more stable and mature today as a billing platform vs Hostbill

    BUT

    Hostbill is an automation and integration platform - and WHMCS cant compete with this - it would need to be rebuilt from the ground up to play in this ballpark

    I've said it before and Ill keep saying it - hostbill should dramatically raise their pricing and change their model - and service a smaller customer set better. I would easily pay their license fee monthly in exchange for their integration engine, combined with less native feature that are better supported.

    Anyway, I cant complain personally, Kris over at hostbill has done a fantastic job at stepping up and supporting us on their platform. But, I still wish they had less natively supported platforms and a greater focus on making sure all supported platforms are seamless. Combine this with a larger focus on their API and their modular design to allow people to build their own integrations (which is clearly their advantage). Rather then focus on adding more integration platforms, maybe focus on things like metered billing and core competencies to make sure they are prime time ready - and let people build their own integrations.

    Its an interesting position - as sometimes, its better for everyone if hostbill takes over certain modules and includes it in their core (ie NOC PS provisioning). But, I think they shoot themselves in the foot by taking on integrations they shouldnt.

    Maybe a strategy would be to only take on new modules and integration once the base module (from a 3rd party) is mature enough to integrate into core supported code, and only include such modules when someone else has met certain minimal objectives and requirements

    eitherway, Hostbill is a revolutionary product in this industry - its only real competition is PBA Enterprise - and even though PBA is a much more mature product, you are a) dealing with Parallels and b) dealing with a pricing model that simply isnt reasonable, even for large providers. Hostbill has a real opportunity to do something no one else has been able to do, and honestly, comparing them with WHMCS isnt even a fair comparison, as they arent the same thing
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  7. #32
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
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    Norway
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    Quote Originally Posted by EksoKen View Post
    WHMCS is doing a lot of changes in the next versions i think after they launched the request feature, i am not sure but i think thats why they do that.
    Well, maybe they do and maybe they don't. One of my issues with WHMCS is that that it just takes too much time for them to launch new versions, and when they finally do, there's usually nothing to get really excited about. When WHMCS 5 was launched, there were a lot of issues with WHMCS 4 that wasn't solved - and they had mostly focused on less important things (that's my opinion anyway). With HostBill, there's new features every month. They are already way ahead of WHMCS in many areas, and even if WHMCS are trying hard to keep up, they have a really long way to go until WHMCS is "as good" as HostBill.

    Also, as long as WHMCS don't want to say anything about what we should expect when there finally is a new version, I for one don't want to sit on the fence waiting for something that may just be too little too late anyways. We did exactly that when we first started out with WHMCS 4. WHMCS 4 wasn't good enough to replace our own system, so we waited.. Then WHMCS 5 came and offered nothing really new, other than a new, very basic Bootstrap theme for the client area and some other minor "improvements". Both WHMCS 5 and later subversions has had a lot of issues, WHMCS 5.1 was so bad that it kept their support team busy for weeks, and had a huge impact on support response times. Meanwhile, I update my HostBill every week, and still haven't experienced any big issues.

    Another problem with WHMCS waiting so long to release updates, is that you have to wait a long time for important problems to be fixed. For instance, I reported a problem with late fees in WHMCS, namely the fact that you can't disable tax for late fees as long as the product is taxable. The problem is that in Norway and a lot of other countries, the law specifically forbids you to add tax to the late fee, no matter if the product is taxable or not. The response I received from WHMCS was that I had to remove the late fee tax manually, and that they would consider a way to adjust this in later versions, basically meaning that they PERHAPS will fix this in a later version, and that we could have to wait months or even years for it to happen since WHMCS isn't updated very frequent. It took some time until we realized that WHMCS actually added taxes to the late fee, and that did eventually cost quite a deal of problems with our accountant. Oh, and by the way, HostBill lets me choose whether or not to add tax to the late fee.

    So for us, there was little to lose and a lot to gain from switching to HostBill. That said, I really understand why people think twice about purchasing HostBill licenses when there's no demo around. I was so happy with my switch though, that I just felt I had to write this review, since a lot of newcomers here on WHT is told time and time again that WHMCS is the best and that there's no real alternative, which there most definitely is. Based on some of the feedback in this thread, I also actually considered purchasing a HostBill license just to set up a demo for others to see what I mean. In the end though, I came to my senses and realized that it's not really my problem and HostBill should figure out how to market their products themselves. For all I know, publishing a HostBill demo may be against the terms as well.

    I know I come off as really anti-WHMCS, so I want to add that WHMCS is a great product. It has some nice features, and it certainly make running a hosting company a lot easier. I wish there was something like WHMCS around when we first started out 15-16 years ago. But for me, HostBill was definitely a better alternative. More importantly, it is the best option for us TODAY. Perhaps WHMCS will be a better option in the future, but I can't base my business decisions on what may or may not happen tomorrow.
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  8. #33
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Norway
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    Quote Originally Posted by cartika-andrew View Post
    Hostbill has a real opportunity to do something no one else has been able to do, and honestly, comparing them with WHMCS isnt even a fair comparison, as they arent the same thing
    I'm sure you're right. For the record, I've used them both for billing and automation, but only using features that they both have. The way I've been using them, they're directly comparable. HostBill certainly has a lot of features that WHMCS doesn't have, and that makes it a different product altogether, but I haven't been focusing on those in my comparison since I don't use them myself. We are an "average" hosting company in the sense that we sell all the usual products (domain registrations, web hosting, reseller hosting, VPS, dedis and colo) but not the more uncommon ones. I've found HostBill superior in all of these. I also find HostBill better at the billing part, with one exception: billing of domain names that requires manual renewal because the registrar lacks a working API or uses an unsupported API that is difficult to integrate with any billing system.

    Quote Originally Posted by cartika-andrew View Post
    even though PBA is a much more mature product, you are a) dealing with Parallels
    Parallels sends me an invoice every month which looks something like this:
    Web Presence Builder: Web Presence Builder for Windows (100 Sites) - Period: 1/30/13 - 3/2/13 - Qty: 1 - Price: $9.99 - Disc.: $0.00 - Tax: $0.00 - Total: $9.99

    Subtotal: $64.97

    I sure as doll won't be looking for neither billing or automation products from a company that for several months has stated that 1 x $9.99 = $64.97.
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  9. #34
    Quote Originally Posted by UENO View Post
    I'm sure you're right. For the record, I've used them both for billing and automation, but only using features that they both have. The way I've been using them, they're directly comparable. HostBill certainly has a lot of features that WHMCS doesn't have, and that makes it a different product altogether, but I haven't been focusing on those in my comparison since I don't use them myself. We are an "average" hosting company in the sense that we sell all the usual products (domain registrations, web hosting, reseller hosting, VPS, dedis and colo) but not the more uncommon ones. I've found HostBill superior in all of these. I also find HostBill better at the billing part, with one exception: billing of domain names that requires manual renewal because the registrar lacks a working API or uses an unsupported API that is difficult to integrate with any billing system.
    I understand what you are saying. Individual base features aside, hostbill is a complete, modular integration system - built from the ground up. Take a look at their API and integration options. WHMCS is more of a billing platform for a set number of products and services. Dont get me wrong, we use both as well - and I like them both. I honestly think hostbill has made a mistake trying to compete with WHMCS, and that draws these sorts of comparisons. They, in my opinion, should really focus on their integration platform - which simply doesnt exist in this form anyplace else



    Parallels sends me an invoice every month which looks something like this:
    Web Presence Builder: Web Presence Builder for Windows (100 Sites) - Period: 1/30/13 - 3/2/13 - Qty: 1 - Price: $9.99 - Disc.: $0.00 - Tax: $0.00 - Total: $9.99

    Subtotal: $64.97

    I sure as doll won't be looking for neither billing or automation products from a company that for several months has stated that 1 x $9.99 = $64.97.
    LOL - well, for their PBA enterprise product, it would cost you several $100,000 to get setup and integrated the way you want, each additional integration would cost you the same, and then they also want 10% of gross sales billed through their system. hostbill offers you the ability to do all the same things PBA enterprise does at a fraction of the cost and in a self service manner (and our devs cost less then parallels devs - and they understand our business and needs better !)
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  10. #35
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Italy
    Posts
    5
    import script from whmcs 5.1 to hostbill 4.2.2/4.2.4/4.2.6 don't work at this moment..for now it's impossible import all
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  11. #36
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Posts
    1,042
    I am not a big fan that you cant send them a sales question without registering and then when you try to register, their site redirects you back to the support page. Lack of demo or trial is pretty off putting as well. Seems the company is more ran by a developer than a smart businessman. Obviously there are plus and minuses to that. There are way to many illogical steps in WHMCS and the lack of real progress over the past 2 years has been very discouraging. I am definitely open to options, but unfortunately there are few.
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  12. #37
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Posts
    128
    Quote Originally Posted by UENO View Post
    Parallels sends me an invoice every month which looks something like this:
    Web Presence Builder: Web Presence Builder for Windows (100 Sites) - Period: 1/30/13 - 3/2/13 - Qty: 1 - Price: $9.99 - Disc.: $0.00 - Tax: $0.00 - Total: $9.99

    Subtotal: $64.97

    I sure as doll won't be looking for neither billing or automation products from a company that for several months has stated that 1 x $9.99 = $64.97.
    Looks like there is a bug in the invoice e-mail template in our online store. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. Note that, of course, your total services do add up to $64.97, there are simply line items missing in the invoice e-mail. You can view your "hard copy" invoices by logging into the online store as well.

    We will fix the bug in the e-mail template shortly.
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  13. #38
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Posts
    128
    Oh, and the PDF invoices that were attached to each of your above mentioned order e-mails included all line items also.

    As for the e-mail template bug, it is now fixed (looks like I fat-fingered a bit of Smarty code when I last modified them). Your future e-mails should be correct. Thanks again for bringing it to our attention.
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  14. #39
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Norway
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    Quote Originally Posted by Parallels || Blake View Post
    Looks like there is a bug in the invoice e-mail template in our online store. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. Note that, of course, your total services do add up to $64.97, there are simply line items missing in the invoice e-mail.
    Well, just goes to show that there is really absolutely no such thing as quality control at Parallels. What else is new? As a professional developer myself, I must say I really don't understand how it's even possible for a company like Parallels to keep publishing software with mind blowingly stupid bugs that should have been discovered in early beta. The biggest problem though, is that the company with the poorest quality control also is the company with the planet's poorest suppport team. And with the most expensive products. I'm not impressed...
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  15. #40
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    USA
    Posts
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    This is a great review! I am becoming more and more disappointing with WHMCS.. If their were host bill mobile products I would certainly switch. Really the high entry point and no demo is what is holding me back as it is.
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  16. #41
    i have been with whmcs and i can say whmcs is awesome..i haven't used hostbill
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  17. #42
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
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    127.0.0.0
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    I like WHMCS but HB has by far the best clients interface! I hope that WHMCS will try to learn and make the next update worth it.
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  18. #43
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    42
    I have been a WHMCS person for a while, but I am becoming more and more disappointed in WHMCS as a whole. We have access to the new 5.2 beta that launched just a few days back and for 8+ months of development time the product very disappointing.

    I really like the looks of Hostbill. They client interface looks awesome! I would most likely be a Hostbill client if their was a way to just demo for a short time without paying $399.

    WHMCS has been the standard for a long time, but the development is at a crawl, whereas other products are soaring past WHMCS and I'm about to jump ship!
    MemoryX2
    Web Hosting | Web Design | Domain Registration
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  19. #44
    I feel the same way. Software needs to change quickly these days.
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  20. #45
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    127
    HostBill all the way, WHMCS is nice and everything but the price for what it is is not justified at all. Especially with PBA Enterprise, when HostBill does all that plus more.
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  21. #46
    Excellent review. However, you left out one very important aspect...SUPPORT. Hostbill support is TERRIBLE. We have waited weeks for tickets to be answered and then the answer is cryptic at best. We currently have an emergency ticket in with hostbill for just about 48 hours that has received no response! While WHMCS support is better, it is still not great. If these companies plan to offer software that is mission critical to business the least they could do is answer the client issues. I understand being short staffed but hostbill does not need a weekly release schedule for features. They could easily go to bi-weekly or even monthly, which would still be light years ahead of every other competitor. That might give them a little more time to answer clients questions.

    We are close to rolling our own billing system and doing integration with onapp. We already built the device and ip management portion for our dedicated server business. The only option is choosing how to generate billing/invoices. Neither of solutions have given us great comfort.
    Matt Kelly
    WCiT.net
    Managed and Unmanaged
    Budget VPS, Cloud and Colocation
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  22. #47
    Hello,

    Hostbill does look great but it worries me in terms of where its heading and the lack of good support, just today I found out that VPS.NET no longer offer HostBill as an addon as HostBill "has decided to no longer allow companies to resell their product "

    It seems strange to me they would drop a possible revenue source.
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  23. #48
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    42
    Quote Originally Posted by Everyday View Post
    Excellent review. However, you left out one very important aspect...SUPPORT. Hostbill support is TERRIBLE. We have waited weeks for tickets to be answered and then the answer is cryptic at best. We currently have an emergency ticket in with hostbill for just about 48 hours that has received no response! While WHMCS support is better, it is still not great. If these companies plan to offer software that is mission critical to business the least they could do is answer the client issues. I understand being short staffed but hostbill does not need a weekly release schedule for features. They could easily go to bi-weekly or even monthly, which would still be light years ahead of every other competitor. That might give them a little more time to answer clients questions.

    We are close to rolling our own billing system and doing integration with onapp. We already built the device and ip management portion for our dedicated server business. The only option is choosing how to generate billing/invoices. Neither of solutions have given us great comfort.

    Have you ever used WHMCS?

    If so, which system do your clients prefer?
    MemoryX2
    Web Hosting | Web Design | Domain Registration
    http://www.MemoryX2.com
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  24. #49
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Toronto
    Posts
    2,308
    Curious on how long you been in the hosting business for.

    Quote Originally Posted by MemoryX2 View Post
    I have been a WHMCS person for a while, but I am becoming more and more disappointed in WHMCS as a whole. We have access to the new 5.2 beta that launched just a few days back and for 8+ months of development time the product very disappointing.

    I really like the looks of Hostbill. They client interface looks awesome! I would most likely be a Hostbill client if their was a way to just demo for a short time without paying $399.

    WHMCS has been the standard for a long time, but the development is at a crawl, whereas other products are soaring past WHMCS and I'm about to jump ship!
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  25. #50
    Have you ever used WHMCS?

    If so, which system do your clients prefer?
    They prefer hostbill due to the client area.
    Matt Kelly
    WCiT.net
    Managed and Unmanaged
    Budget VPS, Cloud and Colocation
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