 |
Need to start a web hosting business right now?
WHMCS Reviews, Tools & Tutorials.
Don't Buy WHMCS Before You've Read Our Review & Offers..
If you're trying to start your own small web hosting company, you will need an efficient billing and provisioning system to collect payments and manage your client's web hosting account.
One of the best ways to do this is to get WHMCS (Web Hosting Manager Complete Solution). WHMCS is an all-in-one system that allows you to run your own web hosting service with little effort.
Here's what you can do with WHMCS:
- Integrate with WHM / cPanel - cPanel is one of the most popular web hosting management admin panels around today. With WHMCS you can automatically connect to a cPanel Reseller or WHM account and start selling cPanel web hosting.
- Manage Multiple Servers - You can have multiple dedicated servers, and balance your load between your servers. Servers can be dedicated servers or VPS servers, it really doesn't matter.
- Automate Hosting Account Creation - Once a customer has placed an order, you can automatically setup his hosting account and email him the login details.
- Automate Suspension & Termination - Keeping track of your hosting clients can get tricky, especially when they don't pay. WHMCS allows you to automatically suspend / unsuspend and terminate hosting accounts.
- Accept Online Recurring Payments - You can easily accept one-time or recurring payments using different payment gateways, including PayPal, 2CheckOut, Authorize.net and many more.
You can see how powerful WHMCS is, but should you buy it?
In this WHMCS review, we hope to give you an unbiased overview of the pros and cons of WHMCS, so that you can make a smarter buying decision.
WHMCS Review - Advantages
 |
Complete "all-in-one" solution. Besides the main billing system, they also include support systems like a built-in helpdesk, knowledge base, Twitter integration and affiliate management. |
|
Truly flexible billing & invoicing. You can create new invoices and edit existing ones. You can also manage quotations easily and add manually payment transactions if needed. |
|
Advanced coupon and promotions. Although many other WHMCS alternatives also support coupons, the coupon system in WHMCS is far more advanced. You can create one-time or recurring coupons, as well as "timed" coupons that will only apply to the first few invoices. |
|
Tons of server integration options. Besides cPanel, WHMCS can also be used with DirectMin, CouldMin, Helm, HyperVM, Plesk, VirtualMin and XPanel. |
|
Automatic domain search and registration. You can allow your customers to search for domain names and register them with you as long as you are a reseller for registrars like Enom. |
|
Supports multiple currencies. You can have as many currencies as you want, and all currencies are automatically converted to your "base currency" on a daily basis. |
|
Supports multiple payment gateways. Besides the popular PayPal and 2CheckOut, you can also use AlertPay, Authorize.net, e-Gold, Google Checkout, LinkPoint, MoneyBookers, StormPay, WorldPay etc. |
|
Supports multiple admin and user levels. You can add as many admin accounts as you want and assign specific role permissions to each user. This help you manage who can access what, and makes managing your web hosting business all the easier. |
|
Supports taxation rules. You can manage sales / service taxes for orders depending on your country's law. Set a fixed or percentage tax rate, it's up to you. |
|
Manage your business from mobile devices. WHMCS is the only web host management system that includes mobile applications for iPhone, Android, and a "mobile edition" for other mobile phones. |
|
Sell non-hosting products easily. WHMCS also allows you to sell non-hosting products, so you can add in your ebook, template, theme or professional service. |
|
In-depth reporting for a great business overview. You can get in-depth financial reports, income projections, cost management and invoice collection reports. |
|
Supports third-party modules, addons and customizations. There are many WHMCS users that are actively developing addons, plugins and customizations for WHMCS. This allows you to extend the capabilities of WHMCS even more. |
WHMCS Review - Disadvantages
Of course, our WHMCS review will not be complete if we don;t tell you what we don't like about it. Here's the top disadvantages of using WHMCS:
 |
Extremely complex & complicated software. If you have never used a web host administration software before, it will be very difficult for you to get started with WHMCS. They do not provide a "getting started" guide so you will need to figure out what to do by yourself. |
|
User interface and design can be improved. Being that it is a complex software, you will tend to get lost in here. They really need to re-think the experience of new users and somehow make this easier to navigate. However, the alternatives to WHMCS don't fare better in this area either. |
|
The affiliate management module sucks. We highly recommend that you do not use the built-in affiliate management module for WHMCS because it was designed by people who have no real clue how affiliate marketing works. Instead, use a real affiliate tracking software like IdevAffiliate Pro or HasOffers to integrate with WHMCS. |
|
The ad / sales tracking modules are way too basic. WHMCS comes with a built-in link / sales tracking module, but this only tells you how many sales were made. You cannot track which products were sold, which traffic sources converted, etc. We recommend that you use a dedicated link tracking software like LinkTrackr if you're serious about tracking your ads. |
|
Too few client area / admin templates. WHMCS comes with about three different templates for the client area, with three templates for the admin area. Even if you wanted to buy WHMCS templates, there are just too few options in the market so you'll probably need to develop one yourself. |
WHMCS Review - FREE WHMCS and Paid Plans
Now that you've read our WHMCS review and thinking of buying WHMCS, stop!
You can actually get WHMCS for free from HostGator's Dedicated Server plans. All you need to do is buy a dedicated server from HostGator, then put in your claim to a free copy of WHCMS.
Get The HostGator Dedicated Server + Free WHMCS Deal Here
The version you receive is similar (if not the same) to the Monthly Lease (Branded) plan and it's free for life.
If you don't want to get the dedicated server from HostGator, then lets compare the available pricing and plans to see what makes sense for you:
(Branded) |
(No Branding) |
(Branded) |
(No Branding) |
|
| One-Time: | ||||
| Monthly: | ||||
| Upgrades: | ||||
| RECOMMENDED! |
We recommend the Monthly Lease No Branding plan as it's the cheapest and most cost-efficient plan. Here's how we base our recommendation:
- It's the cheapest, unless of course you don't mind showing the "Powered by WHMCS" link to your clients.
- When you start your web hosting business there are other costs to deal with - buying dedicated servers, advertising etc.
- Even if you subscribe to this plan for one whole year, you'll still only spend $227.40. One year is long enough for you to decide if web hosting is the business for you.
- The owed licenses still have a yearly recurring fee is you want to get product updates - and who doesn't?
Click Here to Signup for WHMCS - 15 Day Free Trial
Other Related Posts:
- How to Get WHMCS Free - In this article I reveal how to get WHMCS completely free, perfect for those just getting started with a web hosting business.
- WHMC Hosting Options - We reveal some of the best WHMCS hosting options.
- WHMCS Addons Revealed - Which WHMCS modules do you need to get, and what features do these modules offer?
- WHMCS Alternatives - What are the alternatives to WHMCS and how do they stack up?