There are many types of billing and automation software & Client Management software. They automate common tasks for web hosting companies and other companies that provide services online.
Billing software is software that assists companies in billing their customers, for example, through online orders and invoices. It also helps integrate payment gateways and terminals for processing online payments and credit cards.
Provisioning modules such as cPanel / WHM are very popular for shared hosting however Parallels / Plesk is also widely used. There is an increasing number of modules that integrate these systems with Cloud Vendors & VPS vendors.
There are also a number of ways of purchasing and using this software
- Perpetual Licence
- Leased License
- Subscription
WHMCS (WHMCompleteSolution)
is by far the most popular solution on the market and accepted by most web hosting companies. WHMCS features automated signups for web hosting customers, automatic invoicing and payment processing in multiple currencies, account provisioning, domain registration and management, as well as a fully-featured web ticketing and support system for end-users.
As a commercial piece of billing and automation software, WHMCS is a firm favourite amongst the web hosting talk community due to its ease of use, customizability and frequent updates.
Hostbill
Hostbill is a billing solution for web hosting companies. Administrators are able to manage clients, billing and support from one location. Hostbill has an API for internal application development and has a number of add on modules. The most outstanding advantage with hostbill is everything is being processed automatically from pre-configurations.
Note: If you’ve signed up before 2013-05-26 (TOS/License update) you have a flexible API license. See more at: http://extras.hostbillapp.com/#sthash.tfT3CAyP.dpuf
Clientexec
Clientexec is a Linux based commercial billing solution and is developed by NEWEDGE Services, Inc. Basically, this software has included all common hosting billing tasks modules/plugins such as domain registration, payment gateway integration and fraud protection etc, you can also integrate clientexec to many third-party technologies.
Plugins.
All of the packages have a good selection of plugin’s in the following categories
- Control Panel
- Payment Gateways
- Service Automation
- Registrar
- Fraud Plugins
Support For Public Cloud
There is little support for Cloud Integration in these applications. ClientExec only has support for OnApp. Hostbill has support for OnApp, Cloudstack & Openstack. WHMCS has some support for Cloud via its Community Addons. These include Rackspace, Storm & Google.
Interesting there has been no support of Amazon Web Services until now. Cloud Manager now provides the ability to connect to WHMCS directly or with Cpanel/WHM and with Autotask.