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It's hard to say. A SaaS/control panel company is probably concerned if huge companies running massive systems making thousands a month on that single hardware are only being charged $25/m, while smaller people with a small fraction of accounts pay the same. They could be making so much more off of the big fish. If you have the capital and can pack 400% on a single system and pay the same software fees, you know? With VPS it's different for SaaS, it isn't feasible to charge per VPS as a control panel SaaS for obvious reasons.
Imagine the money cPanel started raking in from the massive million dollars hosts after the per account pricing. The smaller guys paying more like me and the other LET hosts are absolutely nothing compared to those.
Man I understand @MikeA but nobody should take profit from you because your hardware is powerful and can accomodate more users. If they want to make more profit, they either bump their BASE pricing which is ok, $50,60,70,80,100/mo, whatever, instead of charging per account. After all (and i'm looking at this from a dev perspective) what is a control panel? A way to manage resources, most of the time (in these cases of cPanel , DA, Plesk) open source software or free software.
To me , and this is an opinion, is just not worth for providers to pay for each account.
What this causes is for providers with the means to develop their own control panel, do it and abandon the product. Look at SiteGround.
...Anyway noticed your response was in reply to SaaS.
Yeah, but it's business, and when a business (especially North American businesses lol) sees a way to squeeze more profit, especially if they have no or little direct, comparable competition, they will.
Am I'm referring to SaaS being the hosting control panels.
Base price increase make more sense. I believe that's the way it was before cPanel switched to base + user.
They want to squiz more out of us...
Maybe they just want to squeeze you in general?
SaaS itself, I don’t have a problem with. Yes, it’s not as good a deal for the consumer, but how software is used and maintenance expectations have changed such that a recurring income is required for most commercial software to be sustainable.
The exploitation of clients depending on their income is more capitalist, but it seems that’s the way the west is heading generally.
I'm using the personal license for a few websites and mailboxes
The personal version will no longer receive updates after August 1 2023?
Ohh yes, cPanel support is prem.
If they handle it like with the current legacy licenses, updates will stop for most features shortly after this date. Maybe you'll get some security fixes but all in all it won't be worth the money anymore as it disconnects from the current version quickly.
Wait, what? Surely not. You are paying for that license? Thought this was only about internal licences...
They’re discontinuing any license without the Pro Pack, including the current Personal license.
That's info I didn't knew.
Go with the next tier. $5 it has two users (this way you don't use the admin) and pro pack. Is 3 more a month with actual benefits.
on a side note, is any of your hosting available?
This is what I am worried about. I understand price increases are a reality. But these increases are harming us as an industry. We are losing competitiveness. Hence, it does feel like backstabbing.
Control panel or software price hikes are different from hosting price hikes. A provider can choose to increase prices for new clients only and keep existing services at old prices. It does not have any impact outside of the provider's client base.
But when a software vendor increases prices for new orders and keeps existing licenses on old pricing, while it is generous to do so, it creates an advantage for the software vendor, as existing license holders, e.g. the strength of the vendors' client base, are less likely to raise their voices against the price hike. So the price hike is more likely to go more smoothly.
On the other hand, it creates an existential disadvantage/barrier for new and smaller providers. New/smaller providers lose their competitiveness altogether.
While providers with old licenses can offer a license with unlimited accounts for free, a new provider will have to charge $29 additional. Who do you think a client looking for a competitive price might choose?
Is this good for the industry as a whole? Are we less likely to see new competitive providers?
This also puts the providers in a perpetual hunt for a permanent control panel solution that will help them be competitive with larger, non DA providers.
We haven't restocked shared in over a year. We intend to once I make progress with Namecrane, but we have other pressing matters to address first
Francisco
Good point also what Kavin said.
In my opinion the only permanent solution to this is to develop your own control panel. From a dev perspective is not too complicated to do so as long as good practices are followed. If you have the volume is more worthy to you in the end. It also gives an advantage, makes you unique. Room to innovate.
It is boring that everyone uses the same control panels and don't make an effort to give the user a different UX.
With managed WP hosting providers, the ones specialized on that, we can see custom control panels. That's part of what makes it interesting. Who is the easiest? One click this, one click that. No complexity.
That must be why so many have their own panels...
With the right team. That's no task for rookies.
It is easy to say that.
But hosting providers are not software developers. Smaller providers do not have the skill nor the budget to do so. It is smaller providers who bring competitiveness and industry growth to the table
Creating and maintaining a stable control panel is a monumental task, and a logistical nightmare. It is not just about writing some integration codes.
A common control panel gives the industry a common ground, and a proven, stable base to grow. The dominance of cPanel as the most used control panel in the hosting industry is a living proof. An user base with a common base, with a familiar environment across the board is essential for an industry to grow.
And diversity is not good for the hosting industry, or for any industry. A common, familiar base drives more growth.
With these price hikes, we are slowly killing the very industry that depends on these software.
@MechanicWeb agree to disagree.
I do software development primarily, been doing that for more than a decade. I'm confident that with the right team a provider with volume (cash) can certainly develop a solid control panel adapted to their user base. In the end once you cut the third party control panels (assuming you have volume) it should provide big savings. There is a reason why Siteground did it. I like to use them as example, since they are one of the most popular providers, veterans, for them to simply say "ok let's ditch cPanel" that was pretty ballsy and it seems it went fine.
I'm not saying small providers can do it.
Alright. Take the last 30 years of the hosting industry into consideration. How many successful control panels do you see?
3,4? How many prominent/skilled software developers do you see over the last 40 years?
That span of years is a good example that it is not just about writing codes. That's one of the smallest parts.
A few other fellow colleagues and I have actually commended them when they took that decision to stand up to them. I personally support their decision.
But the reality is that the control panel is not yet stable. We see regular complaints about that control panel from their users.
Isn't it appalling that a company of SiteGround's size is having trouble developing a control panel? A company of LiquidWeb's size is having trouble doing the same. How much does a smaller provider hold a chance? Almost none.
It would require a software development company whose primary product is the control panel they are developing.
And it would require an industry with a common base to support that software development company.
That makes the prospect of a custom-developed control panel or this discussion irrelevant to almost all providers in this community.
@MechanicWeb do you consider yourself a small provider? You have been running more than a decade.
Also while there are small providers in this community, not all are really small providers. I had like to mention @Francisco since he developed his own control panel for VPS / VMs, while that is other market from what we are primarily discussing, it has it own challenges and he is no VULTR or DO company, yet he has his own control panel.
Just focusing on the "skilled" and "dedicated" keywords. While it seems impossible some people go above the odds and actually make it.
Come on now! How much share of the hosting industry do we hold? 0.000000000000000000000000000000000001%?
You were fast to reply to that. I added a little bit more to my response.
I get your point too.
Let's not make a habit of taking an exception as a standard.
Francisco has been around for a quite a while, and made a business of their own. How many LET providers from ten years ago are still around?
All I'm saying is let's not say is not possible. If you can't do it, I commend you for admitting to that and being realistic. But is not the same case for everyone. Once in a while a small provider can come up with a gem.
If you take exceptions as justifications to your logic, I clearly do not have anything more to say.
I also see wrong when you say things like that, you are kind of limited in that form of thinking. It doesn't make justice to say that because most people can't do it then nobody can. There is always new talent rising.
Frameworks has evolved a lot from what they were 10 years ago. We have many new languages with their advantages and a whole new generation of developers.
Let's not make it about me.
It doesn't make any difference to the hosting industry how much market share we or Francisco has in the hosting industry or what we can or cannot develop.
Every once in a while a talent can rise. Did it make any difference in the last ten years in the control panel industry? No
Individual gains or talents are insignificant when you consider the hosting industry as a whole.