What Billing system do you use? HostAdmin vs. ModernBill

[101sales]

What Billing system do you recommend? If you've used both HostAdmin and ModernBill please tell me which one you liked more and why.

Please add your comments after you finish voting. I'm looking for the ultimate in automation....

[Operator]

Where is the HostAdmin site?

[101sales]

www.Dreamcost.com

[Robert]

Originally posted by 101sales:

What Billing system do you recommend? If you've used both HostAdmin and ModernBill please tell me which one you liked more and why.

Please add your comments after you finish voting. I'm looking for the ultimate in automation....

We use modernbill, however, here are just a few cons that we don't like of Modernbill:

First off, it's ****y. It is very graphic intense and a few of our 56K users complain about the loading time when they log into their billing system.

It has alot of features, more than what we even use. We haven't even scratched the surface the features it provides. Sometimes more isn't better. The hardest thing about Modernbill is that if somethign doesn't work, it can be because of 50 different configuration settings that you have to set.

Another big problem is the amount of pages it takes for a user to signup, in total I believe there is 6 signup pages before they are officially signed up. By the 4th page, most leave.

In regards to HostAdmin, it looks like it provides the same type of interface as modernbill except the number of signup pages is 1-2; which is terrific! It's truely a nice piece of software and worth a try.

So the question comes down to, Why did we select Modernbill? Although it's a big program, we feel it can manage 100-1000 users better than any other software (PerlBoll, ClientEXE, etc) and don't want the headaches of having to transfer all our clients over. Personall, the support at Modernbill is top notch and we really appreciate them going out of their ways to provide such excellent support via their support forums.

[dynamicnet]

Greetings:

We use H-Sphere (http://www.psoft.net/) which includes complete hosting automation and billing.

Thank you.

[crawl]

We're using ClientExec. It's lacking features at this time, but has great support and is developing rapidly...

http://www.clientexec.com

[David]

Here is a second vote for ClientExec.

[JeremyV]

I can't compare the two because I have only used modernbill, but I wanted to add a few comments to what Robert said.

I would agree the order form in MB is a big long, drawn out, and may be confusing for people new to hosting. It does however keep things very VERY organized throughout the system, and there are a ton of features that if you need them, could make your life really easy. But if you are a smaller host just looking for something simple, it may be a bit too much.

Also, regarding the bluky feel of MB, you may want to download the new image set Robert (I think it is in the CVS download area), but Michael went through and optimized every single graphic in MB because when the template was made the graphics were saved at full quality with no web optimization. I guess after re-doing the graphics, each image was at least 30% smaller in size! So that would help page loading time tremendously. :)

And as far as the order form is concerned, that is being re-done as well as we speak and it should be very different from it is now, but that is something yet to be seen :)

The best part of MB in my opinion is the very active development of the product and the dedication Michael has to helping users out and taking suggestions to heart and adding features people want to see if they are worthwhile.

[101sales]

Ya, I love the look of ModernBill, however it doesn't fit our business model exactly.

At the moment we strictly use PayPal, and PayPal subscriptions. ModernBill unfortunately doesn't give you automatic recurring billing with PayPal.

And as you know an automation system should be geared towards the way your business runs. It must be a %100 solution not a %95 because the whole point of automation is to reduce the work load not change how it's down.

I've thus decided to go with HostAdmin, after doing several forum searches I found their reputation to be reprehensible in the past but they seem to have got their act together.

I'll post a review of the software after i've been able to implement it into our system. Could take several weeks to have everything in place and working properly.

Thanks for your help everyone who psoted.

[OKIHost]

I have been using modernbill for about 2 months now and love it.. It does take quite a bit of work to get going, but once it is up there is not much you need to do other than validate the users.

My two downfalls for it so far are the long order form, I even dropped a couple domain options to cut it down to about 4 pages which is still too long, but they say there will be a much shorter one released soon and also the fact that it is so graphic intensive which they say is also being worked on.. Customers seem to love the fact that they can logon and edit credit card, print old invoices etc so if they are happy I am happy :)

[Robert]

Originally posted by 101sales:

Ya, I love the look of ModernBill, however it doesn't fit our business model exactly.

At the moment we strictly use PayPal, and PayPal subscriptions. ModernBill unfortunately doesn't give you automatic recurring billing with PayPal.

And as you know an automation system should be geared towards the way your business runs. It must be a %100 solution not a %95 because the whole point of automation is to reduce the work load not change how it's down.

I've thus decided to go with HostAdmin, after doing several forum searches I found their reputation to be reprehensible in the past but they seem to have got their act together.

I'll post a review of the software after i've been able to implement it into our system. Could take several weeks to have everything in place and working properly.

Thanks for your help everyone who psoted.

We are considering offering paypal only as a annual method of payment because we are having a lot of clients not paying because they 'forget'. 50% of them tell us that they thought it would automatically be deducted from their paypal account, unforunatently, it isn't.

[101sales]

Thanks Robert,

Got another question related to what you just said.

Do you find clients who pay by Credit Card also forget to pay their montly fee or do they stay on top of it? This is the big question - am i just making more work for myself having to remind customers that didn't pay.

[Robert]

Originally posted by 101sales:

Thanks Robert,

Got another question related to what you just said.

Do you find clients who pay by Credit Card also forget to pay their montly fee or do they stay on top of it? This is the big question - am i just making more work for myself having to remind customers that didn't pay.

Monthly credit card transactions are done automatically when the batch is ran.

Only clients who have paid monthly with paypal forget.

This month alone I've suspended 4 accounts because they haven't paid yet, and they signuped using paypal. They've recieved 3 invoices so far and yet not paid. A lot of them don't check their mail that often.

[101sales]

Wow, thanks very much - and looking at their site batching support depends on what gateway you go through.

hmm - one more question to ask HostAdmin. :)

Thanks A Whole lot. (I'm gonna owe my busienss to you) :D

[Robert]

Originally posted by 101sales:

Wow, thanks very much - and looking at their site batching support depends on what gateway you go through.

hmm - one more question to ask HostAdmin. :)

Thanks A Whole lot. (I'm gonna owe my busienss to you) :D

Batching is only supported when you have your own merchant account because you are storing the [encrypted] credit card numbers of your clients on your server, rather than on a 3rd party server such as 2Checkout and Paysystems.com

[101sales]

Yup, already put the application in the mail.

Funny part is in Canada all US merchant accounts are handled by Harris Bank in Chicago.

[Robert]

Originally posted by 101sales:

Yup, already put the application in the mail.

Funny part is in Canada all US merchant accounts are handled by Harris Bank in Chicago.

What merchant account provider did you sign up with?

[101sales]

We might be going with the gateway "SkipJack" and we may be going with a Moneris Merchant Account. Because Harris bank handles all Canadian merchant accounts we have a choice on the gateway and merchant without the extra paper work - we're still doing some research.
There's much more to what I just told you and it gets more complicated, but because of confidentiality I can't go into detail. Let's just say the company is at a huge crossroad and the decisions made in the next couple weeks will determine where we're going for years to come. It's exciting and agonizing at the same time. Well, at least i'm enjoying myself.

[Hoobastank68]

http://www.phpcoin.com/ is very very nice, all you need to do is customize the look a bit, and remove the options you dont need :) its great for billing and helpdesk, and its free at this time!!!

also check out http://www.edgepanel.com
its great and its free, though its only helpdesk/live support script, but its really good and havnt found any bugs in it so far!

[ntwaddel]

I have used modernbill for about a year now and absolutely love it. It integrates well with authorize.net, enom, and ensim :)

[instanthosting]

We use whm autopilot its not packed with features but is very good

[James-A]

My vote goes to modernbill it is user friendly and has more features making it more functional and their support is also good.

[5wayshost]

We use mb and whoiscart. Not at the same time lol

[Servers4me]

We use ClientEXec

[ThinkSupport]

MB is the best ... and V5 will sure Rock you :)

[mleonhardt]

Modernbill.

[jacknoc]

ModernGigabyte Launches New Website, New ModernBill 5.0, and new price.
http://www.modernbill.com/

[tinuzzo]

we have tried many softwares: from the free phpcoin.com to ModernBill (v5 sucks bad!), BUT we found LPanel.net and we are so satisfied. I am not a reseller for them or any paid PR, but just a happy user, and i am telling you guys: go to lpanel.net and try their 15 days free trial...and you'll use it for life.

[punjabipredator]

I use clientexec and you should add that in the poll since most people use it

[XSI-Larry]

We use ModernBill, but there are many other options out there than just the two you listed.

The whole product though comes down to your needs. ModernBill does things others don't, but it also comes with the heavy learning curve involved.

[sv1hosting]

ModernBill and SolidState

[etecc]

Custom is the way to go!

[ProSystemHost]

ModernBill ever, Professional and High Performance Software

[streambox]

Also a vote for ClientExec.

[Annette]

We use MB as well, although we're considering having something custom built. Is anyone using MB 5.x? How was the conversion from 4.x?

[brillomax]

MB has to win... V4 rocks... but V5 isnt so cool (yet)

[.amaZe]

neither, but if it came down to these two.. I will choose ModeranBill

[m1lkym1ke]

i made my own... I love php :-)

[LaneHost]

Out of those 2...Modernbill. But you might want to give WHMCS a try...

http://www.whmcs.com

[brianoz]

Modernbill is a disaster area, stay away from it. It's stupidly complex to configure, poorly documented and badly designed which makes it clumsy to use and hard for staff to use. My guess is most of the people recommending it haven't used anything else good (interested to hear either way if I'm right or wrong, I don't mean to offend or attack people). ModernBill is also buggy and from the experience I had, unreliable. Mind you, I'm sure with time and effort it could be made reliable but I don't want to waste my time correcting something that should already be working properly. To qualify this rant, most of my experience is with MB v4, v5 might be better although I hear it's also overly complex.

We switched to WHMCS recently and while it's not without it's flaws (nothing's perfect) we had it up and running in a day, fully configured, and it is **fast** and really easy to use - my staff have done twice the work on it that they did on ModernBill. Complexity in a software package can be reduced with good design - so it's easy to use in the first place - and good documentation, and WHMCS has taken a good middle road with both of those. If you haven't looked at it yet you should, my guess is it's headed fast for serious market leadership. With the inbuilt helpdesk it's an ideal starting platform for new hosting companies and lease charges starting at $10/month is very reasonable.

[Waveweb]

We have tested the major billing system, and we found that the WHM autopilot is the one that fullify our needs.

[TeppaHosting]

WHMCS Is the Best, Easy to Use, Great and Cheap.

http://www.whmcompletesolution.com

[smokyhosts]

We have checked out whoiscart, clientexec, awbs, WHMAP and modernbill and modernbill by far seems to excell over others in many features.

[brianoz]

WHMCS Is the Best, Easy to Use, Great and Cheap.

http://www.whmcompletesolution.comI forgot to say before, the support is fantastic. I always hear back from them within about half a day, and they're more responsive than I've ever seen a software provider be.

The website above is wrong, it's actually http://www.whmcs.com :p:

[hostingpod]

Never heard of Hostadmin... My vote goes to modernbill, if your on a budget i suggest taking a look at WHMCS.

[tnt4ever]

modern bill is 20times better than hostadmin good payment options

[biggest_hosting]

My vote goes to modernbill.

[build-a-host]

I prefer WHMCS. I have used both of those that you mentioned and WHMCS is better then them both. It has a ton of features, and is very user friendly. WHMCS has everything you could ever need from a billing system!

[liammc1]

Yes i prefer WHMCS and they have added a module that allows it to work with WHM Sonic now :) I life it very much

[Euvps]

we use whmcs

[subho]

So far, i have been using pay pal for processing payments online.

[CustomHosting]

We use WHMCS for managing shared & reseller hosting.

[odishahost]

If you are a big company , then Ubersmith is the best billing and ticket system for you. I know at least 3 big companies who are using it, 1 of them is a Data Center (Sagonet).
Great support also:cool:

[DrVPSHosting]

Neither, we use WHMCS

[praveenkv1988]

I would recommend ClientExec or WHMCS.

[lacnywebhosting]

We useing ClientEXEC its ok but thinking to switch to something different because as u grow this one is no good.

_____

Lacny Web Hosting

www.lacnywebhosting.com (http://www.lacnywebhosting.com)

[SolidServ]

Right now WHMCS but we are looking at other options.