Web Hosting Billing Softwares Reviewed
Introduction:
To develop and to be fair in dealing with your customer the most important thing for you is to maintain proper billing. You can not envision any online service provider without a billing system. Mostly provider use standard billing application owned by their license but some use leased one. But some provider use customized application according to their need. But I will discuss with you some of standard applications that will facilitate you in choosing the finest billing system for your business. There are some points on which I will discuss with you the billing application. These are:
1. User Interface
2. Compatibility with Control Panel
3. Support For Payment gateways
4. Automation
5. Safeguarding and Upgradeability
6. More Features.
I will explain you some of the available applications which mostly used. There are three main billing systems which are widely used by most of the businessman. So let’s start one by one:
Modern bill:
This billing system is a product from Modern Gigabyte. This application is known for its unbending structure and abundant features it provides for accurate and automated billing. It is the best application for not only web hosting provider but also for secondary service providers. But I will discuss with you 4.3 version of modern bill. Let us view it on the points I made above:
• User Interface:
On user interface modern bill certainly show off upon. This application has so many functions inbuilt so it has a clean interface. You can customize the ordering system and faultlessly it gets fitted with your website and provides your site a professional appearance.
• Compatibility with Control Panel:
The outstanding feature of the modern bill is that it supports multi-OS and various control panels in a single installation. This feature makes modern bill different from other billing applications. Modern bill can work perfectly with both Windows and Linux environment. It also support control panel like Plesk, C- Panel, Ensim, Hostopia, DirectAdmin, Interworx, Helm, etc. This application provides all industry standard control panels with the skill to write custom modules if you need.
• Support for Payment gateways:
This billing application has the feature to support all the foremost payment gateways. By this time it holds up 19 payment gateways. Some of them are Pay pal, 2checkout, link point etc. If you do not deal with US businesses, modern bill is then also useful for you as it support for international payment gateways. Its automated batch processing characteristic supports undisturbed recurring billing on select gateways.
• Automation:
Hosting can be done with full automation through modern bill application. Modern bill can practice valid orders automatically through corns. Modern bill has some special features like it can create hosting accounts for your new customers on the server and it can also dispatch the information automatically. Modern bill can also execute the task like automated invoice creation, batch processing and it can also send automatic reminder to your defaulters. Not only this, it can also suspend the account automatically if any of your customers do not pay for your product.
• Safeguarding and Upgradeability:
You do not need any meticulous maintenance with the exception to backup your data on a regular basis and this is because modern bill has strong PHP-Mysql structural design. And this data backup is necessary to keep your billing system standard. Modern bill application is fully automated and supports excellent structural upgrades and the transfer of database very simply. It also makes trouble-free application of the most modern security shield or any upgrading in version change.
• More Features:
Modern bill carry you to identify any fraud, automatic registration of your new customers account and domains, practice component support, graphical hold, addition for major helpdesks, integration for different link scripts and many more. These were some of the services you will get through modern bill application.
WHM Autopilot:
WHM Autopilot is a product of LLC an Open Management Group. WHM or Cpanel is one of the most important control panel that is used today and WHM Autopilot is specifically permitted to work with this control panel. But Make sure that I am not discussing version 3 of WHM Autopilot. Now I will explain you about WHM Autopilot on the above mentioned grounds:
• User Interface:
WHM Autopilot has a practically uncomplicated user interface. It has very limited number of features so it does not involves in it excessive use of graphics. And you do not need extra steering as it is very easy to use, it is also very good even for a reseller. You can even customize the order form also, to give a better look for your website.
• Compatibility with Control Panel:
The support of WHM Autopilot is very restricted. WHM Autopilot works only with WHM/Cpanel only and Cpanel works on Linux only. So OS and control panel hold up by WHM Autopilot is very less.
• Support for Payment Gateways:
At present WHM Autopilot supports only 9 payment gateways. Supported gateways of payment are Authorize.net, paypal, 2checkout, worldpay, etc.
• Automation:
WHM Autopilot application can create or cease any account automatically. This application can also suspend or unhang any account automatically. Some other automatic features are server rotation, IP assignment, and WHM account import that this application supports.
• Safeguarding and Upgradeability:
As I have told in above discussed point that WHM Autopilot is PHP-Mysql based so it do not need any particular safeguarding. If it needs, it can also create automatic backup for itself. But there is absence of straight and smooth upgradeability in WHM-Autopilot. If you ever need to upgrade your version you require most of the things to be done manually.
• More Features:
There are few more features of WHM-Autopilot application; they are included helpdesk, linked management, news flash module etc.
Agile Bill:
Agile bill is a product from Agileco. I am going to explain you this feature because of its range and features it has in it. I know it is not a very popular application but then also it has the possibility to grow on online market. So let us discuss it:
• User Interface:
The user interface of agile bill is alike to that of Modern bill but not that much sophisticated. The management of interface is well designed for fast navigation and has an escalating menu. You can not know how many options you are controlling in your hand because of its simple design and you will also not let those options to liberate.
• Compatibility with Control Panel:
Due to its requirement it only supports Linux environment. You will be surprised to know that its scripts can chain lot of control panel with it. It can support Cpanel, Ensim, easyAdmin, Helm, webmin and many others. All these features make it of higher value application to be used. Its compatibility is not less than that of Modern Bill.
• Support for Payment Gateways:
You will not believe that this application support more than 25 payment gateways. Some gateways are Authorize.net, Ibill, Linkpoint, Blueway, and many more with batch processing ability.
• Automation:
This application doe’s job like invoice creation and auto charge on supported gateways with full automatic billing. It can also perform account operation automatically like their creation, suspension and termination on non-payment. You can also use its optional functions like it can cleans up databases, temporary files and can also tunes itself fine, if needed.
Safeguarding and Upgradeability:
The script of this application can uphold itself with features like database cleanup, and backup features. This application is based on PHP-MySQL like others and is easy to preserve. If you want you can upgrade its module through web interface. You have to just select it, check it, and update it without escaping your customization feature. You will find easy to make it through web interface. I can not tell much about this application but I think it also has a wizard for it.
• More Features:
Agile bill application support many extra features within itself that I can write another article about it. I will tell you about those features in short. The services it is giving are:
1) Digital goods and content billing
2) Hosting and Domain Billing
3) General Online billing
4) Forum and CMS access billing
5) VolP billing
6) ISP/WISP billing
7) General online account management
Now I hope you get all the extra features of Agile bill application. It also includes themes support, newsletter management, IP block, Ability to add static pages etc.
At Last:
Any billing application handles perfect and ideal billing. For new users this article will provide some good information before selecting any billing application. But old users may have some differences with billing applications regarding my article.