Free billing software

outhost · 21st August 2007

Hi, im looking for a good, FREE billing system, something like solid state, but does not force me to offer monthly, quarterly etc etc. All my shared hosting packages are yearly billed due to the low price. As long as it includes Paypal support i will be happy

Mark

RadixHosting · 31st August 2007

I haven't tried it yet, but you should take a look at WHMSubs (www.webstyleopen.com).

Other than that one I don't know any. And to be honest, I've seen a lot of similar questions on other forums. The conclusion always is the same: There is no decent free billing system that would be worth using. If you want to start a hosting business I suggest investing money in something like WHMCS, Modernbill (stay away from v5 though), ClientExec or WHMAutoPilot.

UKHoster · 1st October 2007

Hi,

Just found http://phpcoin.com/ - not tried it, but is free.

Always think ahead though. We all want a successful business so if you plan for success, make sure that whichever tool you choose can handle your predicted volumes of business. Also, if you decide to switch billing software at some point make sure you can migrate the data - not so much of an issue if low volumes but will be a headache if large volumes involved.

Remember, admin will make or break a small business.

I agree with RadixHosting - look at ModernBill. There is a cost but is an industry standard for Small/medium hosts & will handle PayPal.

Good luck!

JamesSykes · 2nd October 2007

Excel, innit.

(Ok it aint free but Openoffice is)

othellotech · 2nd October 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by UKHoster

Just found http://phpcoin.com/ - not tried it, but is free.

One of our VPS customers uses it for handling his cpanel hosting business and for a small operation it seems fine - although now he's seen our WHMCS setup, I have a consultancy task to help him migrate over to that

Dexxa · 2nd October 2007

whmsubs is not a billing software i dont think, Its like whmreseller which enables your resellers to create resellers using thier whm.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RadixHosting

I haven't tried it yet, but you should take a look at WHMSubs (www.webstyleopen.com).

Other than that one I don't know any. And to be honest, I've seen a lot of similar questions on other forums. The conclusion always is the same: There is no decent free billing system that would be worth using. If you want to start a hosting business I suggest investing money in something like WHMCS, Modernbill (stay away from v5 though), ClientExec or WHMAutoPilot.

RadixHosting · 3rd October 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dexxa

whmsubs is not a billing software i dont think, Its like whmreseller which enables your resellers to create resellers using thier whm.

Quote:

Software allows you to automate the creation of cPanel Regular User Accounts, Sub-Resellers User Accounts, easily Bill them, provide a Support Ticket System and register domains on-the-fly!

Looks like billing software to me.

It's crap though. All free billing systems I've seen for web hosting are crap.

UH-Matt · 3rd October 2007

Billing is the backbone of your business... Why not spend a small amount of money and get it right?

RadixHosting · 4th October 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by UH-Matt

Billing is the backbone of your business... Why not spend a small amount of money and get it right?

Because unfortunately some aren't interested in setting up a proper business, only in making some quick cash with no investments.

Karl · 4th October 2007

Always gets me, people want billing software for free, software that they'll use to make thei rmoney with and they won't pay.

LeaUK · 9th October 2007

uhm, strange eh. I researched the market for some time and ended up with what I considered a wise choice, and of course ended up paying. Forget freebies, surely your business is worth more, even if it's for low customer volume!

Lea

lastchancehotel · 9th October 2007

I investigated the options for freebies and was pretty upset at how much time I ended up wasting and how rubbish most of the software available was.

It wasn't so much it was essentially bad, it was just inflexible or overcomplicated or not what I was looking for; I ended up trying Modernbill for a bit before I realised I could've built a simple billing system that relied on Paypal payments coming in every 30 days, sending warning emails etc in a timely fashion (and even cutting them off) in *less* time than it took to get a free billing solution up and working properly, to a standard that I'd let a customer use it.

Good billing software is worth the money you pay for it. Don't be afraid to ask for a 'free trial' - they know that if you like it and are happy with it, chances are you'll be at the point when you're not choosing on price, you're choosing on if it works for you or not!

Just my £0.02.

Jan

MarbleHost.com · 10th October 2007

On the other hand, though, I never understood as a child why the really nice piggy banks cost more than the amount of coins they could hold.

If you're going to only be storing small change, then the free plastic coin bank that you get from some savvy merchant at the market who printed the name of their shop on it should work fine enough.

If you actually want to handle lots of money, maybe it would be wiser to look into investing in a professional safe and hiring an accountant.

Same difference as an analogy.

MarbleHost.com · 10th October 2007

On the other hand, though, I never understood as a child why the really nice piggy banks cost more than the amount of coins they could hold.

If you're going to only be storing small change, then the free plastic coin bank that you get from some savvy merchant at the market who printed the name of their shop on it should work fine enough.

If you actually want to handle lots of money, maybe it would be wiser to look into investing in a professional safe and hiring an accountant.

Same difference as an analogy.

midnightsoftwar · 10th October 2007

Hmmm, i don't agree - when the likes of WHMCS can be lease for about £7-8 per month, why not? I'm certainly going to be moving over to it soon for that exact reason.

Its going to make it a whole lot easier for both myself and my clients.