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What's stopping you from changing from WHMCS to Clientexec or other alternative. Lagom theme coming?
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What's stopping you from changing from WHMCS to Clientexec or other alternative. Lagom theme coming?

ezethezeth Member, Patron Provider
edited April 2021 in General

What's your concern for switching to Clientexec, or other panel? Is it migration, is it the looks of the panel?

https://www.clientexec.com/coming-soon

Today I contacted the Lagom theme creator Paweł Bis asking if they have any plans to support Clientexec. And guess what? They will

I know many here are using lagom https://lagom.rsstudio.net/ for their whmcs installation

What is your concern for switching from WHMCS to Clientexec or other alternative
  1. What is your concern for switching from WHMCS to Clientexec or other alternative52 votes
    1. Migration
      55.77%
    2. The front end
      34.62%
    3. Other please specify in comments!
        9.62%
  2. What do you think has the best future/what would you pick when starting out52 votes
    1. Clientexec
      42.31%
    2. Blesta
      57.69%

Comments

  • armandorgarmandorg Member, Host Rep

    I guess WHMCS has been leading the industry for both enterprise and small hosting businesses.

    Seems like they took a wrong path, i would say other billing softwares have had less popularity = less contribution from the community = less modules, plugins and themes. One thing for sure that hesitates current WHMCS clients.

  • ezethezeth Member, Patron Provider
    edited April 2021

    @armandorg said:
    I guess WHMCS has been leading the industry for both enterprise and small hosting businesses.

    Seems like they took a wrong path, i would say other billing softwares have had less popularity = less contribution from the community = less modules, plugins and themes. One thing for sure that hesitates current WHMCS clients.

    For sure. Most alternatives supports the basic addons https://www.clientexec.com/addons https://www.blesta.com/features/

  • edoarudo5edoarudo5 Member
    edited April 2021

    I was actually turned off when I tried WHMCS... The plethora of features turned me off and it seemed too bloated... Switched to Blesta, thought it was good. ClientExec had the <$200 lifetime deal, got it and I actually liked it better than Blesta! Just like how I used other things, sure it is well-known and has a lot for features but it doesn't necessarily mean it's best for everybody.

  • well the isssue is migrating to people with custom solutions on whmcs

  • ezethezeth Member, Patron Provider
    edited April 2021

    @edoarudo5 said:
    I was actually turned off when I tried WHMCS... The plethora of features turned me off and it seemed too bloated... Switched to Blesta, thought it was good. ClientExec had the <$200 lifetime deal, got it and I actually liked it better than Blesta! Just like how I used other things, sure it is well-known and has a lot for features but it doesn't necessarily mean it's best for everybody.

    Yep. Even now it's cheaper than blesta. Although I would predict most people here prefer blesta because most people here have used blesta and not clientexec.

    700 vs 500

    I would totally get the clientexec if it was less than 200 again, oh well :( I missed it as I missed everything else. So far I really enjoyed the trial

    If you would like to sell your clientexec license for a profit I'd buy it

  • MichaelCeeMichaelCee Barred
    edited April 2021

    Tbh, I think time is one of the main things. Not the time spent but the time to re-adjust your opinion. People buy WHMCS because they were recommended/preferred it or just thought because it was most popular they'd use it.

    Lee said recently something about only a certain market moving to DirectAdmin from cPanel since the price hike, but I don't think it's an over-night thing. Same applies here. I think many months, perhaps a few years are needed for some of those bigger players to re-adjust their opinions and values. Some might not even care until they have a big old audit in five years time and realise half of their costs are going directly to a billing panel when they could have re-invested.

  • What is keeping us at whmcs is the lack of modules for other panels. Billing providers, but also affiliate programs, registrar modules, and even proper legal invoice modules.

  • tomazutomazu Member, Host Rep
    edited April 2021

    Honestly, I think WHMCS has become somewhat buggier and more bloated with a lot of features, that offer only marginal benefits in the last few years. Also, some UX decisions (admin area!) are questionable as well as the recent EOL for owned licenses. If WHMCS would just focus on fixing some year-old bugs related to invoices I would really appreciate it (e. g. calculation/prorating of upgrades/downgrades with VAT, consistent VAT calculation and rounding).

    This being said I have used other control panels and what keeps me from fully embracing those is the availability of third-party plugins and third-party developers. HostBill early on was very promising, but then all third-party developers seem to have left that platform. Ubersmith seems nice and stable but is priced in a different category.

    Blesta and ClientExec should seize the moment now, I like both - but currently I am unable to migrate in the short term due to the lack of third-party plugins and integrations available (including custom mods, tax rules and implementations etc.). A lot will depend on companies like ModulesGarden and custom developers... in the grand scheme of SaaS-offerings I think hosting is still considered niche and so every developer needs to evaluate the cost and benefits for supporting (another) billing platform.

  • JamesFJamesF Member, Host Rep

    @Alex_Clientexec

    I am wanting to move to Cliebtexec, even purchased a license ready, but I need:

    • Hexonet Domain Plugin
    • password manager
    • CloudNS Plugin
    • Xero link for clients/invoices/payaments
    • CometBackup Plugin
    • I would Love some kind of Asset management as well.
  • LeeLee Veteran

    @JamesF said: but I need:

    Sounds like you need WHMCS ;)

  • donkodonko Member

    lack of some payment gateways :neutral:

  • jbilohjbiloh Administrator, Veteran

    Years ago when I used clientexec it was great. Problem is it doesn't have anywhere near the module and integration support whmcs has.

  • I downloaded and installed ClientExec tonight. I actually really like it for my purpose over Blesta.

    I've had a Blesta license for a few years but I really hate the UI. The plus was it was open source but I didn't want to put a lot of work into the billing system. It would be a constant revolving door of patching my code on new updates.

    Clientexec seems like it has way more features baked into by default. It works well with DirectAdmin and eNom. Order forms also seem more modern. The only thing I don't like is when I enable something in the admin area it seems like I have to enable two or three more things elsewhere, like automation for example. If they rework the admin area like they state in their roadmap I do think it would be superior.

  • HassanHassan Member, Patron Provider

    Data migration is always a scary thing. ClientExec looks nice but the API seems limited(? unless I'm missing something). I'm looking into switching over to Blesta from WHMCS for this reason.

    Thanked by 2pphillips yoursunny
  • JamesFJamesF Member, Host Rep

    Clientexec seems better than Blesta for having more features built in and a bit more polished.

    HostBill actually seems to have all the plugins I need, but the reviews are mixed.

  • Real men write their own billing panels.

    Thanked by 2Levi skorupion
  • LeviLevi Member

    @JamesF said:
    Clientexec seems better than Blesta for having more features built in and a bit more polished.

    HostBill actually seems to have all the plugins I need, but the reviews are mixed.

    If you considering Hostbill vs Clientexec, go with HB. It is far far faaar more superior than CE. Both, in terms of plugin support, payment gateways and customization regarding templates (smarty engine). Plus, if you are in Europe, HB is compliant regarding tax vat invoices.

  • JamesFJamesF Member, Host Rep

    @LTniger

    Thanks, it has many mixed reviews!

  • ViridWebViridWeb Member, Host Rep

    @JamesF said:
    Clientexec seems better than Blesta for having more features built in and a bit more polished.

    HostBill actually seems to have all the plugins I need, but the reviews are mixed.

    If you have enough budget then go for Hostbill

    As per our experience their support is much better than WHMCS

    The only negative point is they have restricted number of free support on plan basis however you don't need that much support with Hostbill

  • JamesFJamesF Member, Host Rep

    Thanks @ViridWeb

    Its nice to get some real world experience. HostBill has many mixed reviews.

    Do they have an api? I would love to link it to PAX8 for cloud services reselling.

  • LeviLevi Member
    edited May 2021

    @JamesF said:
    Thanks @ViridWeb

    Its nice to get some real world experience. HostBill has many mixed reviews.

    Do they have an api? I would love to link it to PAX8 for cloud services reselling.

    HB has api, it is very powerfull. But for custom module development you will need "development license", it is investment. Worth it,if you plan to stay in business at least 5 years.

  • coolicecoolice Member
    edited May 2021

    @JamesF said:
    Thanks @ViridWeb

    Its nice to get some real world experience. HostBill has many mixed reviews.

    Do they have an api? I would love to link it to PAX8 for cloud services reselling.

    API
    https://api.hostbillapp.com/

    ====

    It has mixed reviews cause years ago they do the opposite of WHMCS by removing monthly license and switching to owned only which hurts the small hosts that used in that period and was not ready to spend large sum from next month to switch to owned....

    Look and companies mentioned that use it ... It is big ones some of which switch from ubersmith to it

    ===
    P.S. I have a friend which operates 7 figure business in this field - his opinion on hostbill - and switching from WHMCS years ago - with hostbill his company can pass ISO 27001 certification (it it very close and have everything needed , with whmcs they cannot pass

  • JamesFJamesF Member, Host Rep
    edited May 2021

    Wow!!!

    Thanks

    In total it will cost $1000 to get it with our plugins we need.

    Plus we get %15 off for WHMCS refugee…

  • I think that payment gateway is the big reason to keep in WHMCS, i live in south america , and there is not payment plugins compatible with our market

  • SaahibSaahib Host Rep, Veteran

    Hostbill is good but if you need some help and you are out of free support then $75 per issue. There is very little information about HB online, if something is not covered in their docs, then chances are ultra-slim that you will find information elsewhere on internet.

    There are no official documentation of plugin development with HB and probably it is how the HB wants things to be. It is already quite feature-rich though.

    On the other hand, Blesta is pretty good and is catching up and if you have plans to go with custom stuff then its probably the choice as you can extend it easily being opensource.

  • I like hostbill myself

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