I have a reseller account. What can I use for billing software and automation?

Our reseller hosting plans are built on cPanel and WHM, so they work with any billing and client management platform that integrates with cPanel. We do not lock you into one product or bundle our own. This guide covers what billing software does for a reseller, every major platform that integrates with a cPanel and WHM reseller account (commercial and free open source), an at-a-glance comparison, and how domain registration and transfers fit in.

01. What Billing Software Does for a Reseller

When you resell hosting, you are running a small hosting company. Billing and client management software is the back office that makes that practical without doing everything by hand. A good platform ties three jobs together:

• Billing. It creates invoices, charges cards on a schedule, sends payment reminders, and applies late suspensions automatically. Your customers get a client area where they can view invoices and pay.
• Provisioning. When an order is paid, it talks to WHM and creates the cPanel account for that customer automatically, with the right package and limits. If a customer cancels or does not pay, it suspends or terminates the account.
• Support. Most platforms include a support ticket system, a knowledgebase, and announcements so you have one place to run customer service.

Without it, you would be manually creating cPanel accounts in WHM, tracking who owes what in a spreadsheet, and chasing renewals by email. The software turns that into a mostly hands-off pipeline.

02. What Compatible Actually Means

People often ask whether we offer WHMCS or a similar tool. The honest answer is that we do not provide or bundle any billing platform, and you do not need us to. What matters is that our reseller accounts run on cPanel and WHM, and every serious billing platform ships a cPanel and WHM integration module.

So compatible here means the software knows how to log into your WHM over its API and manage accounts on your behalf. You choose the platform, install it, and point it at your reseller account. We are not the gatekeeper for that choice.

03. Commercial Platforms

These are paid, vendor-supported products. You license them directly from the vendor, and in return you get mature integrations, larger add-on ecosystems, and someone to call when something breaks.

WHMCS

WHMCS is the most widely used billing and automation platform in the hosting industry, and it is what most resellers mean when they ask about billing software. It is closed source and licensed on a subscription basis.

• Deepest cPanel and WHM integration. Account creation, suspension, termination, package changes, and single sign-on to cPanel are all built in and heavily tested.
• Largest module ecosystem. Payment gateways, domain registrars, and hundreds of add-ons exist because nearly every vendor targets WHMCS first.
• Mature and heavily documented. Almost any question you hit has been answered already.

The trade-off is an ongoing license fee and that you cannot modify the core. For a reseller who wants the most proven, best-supported option, WHMCS is the safe default.

Blesta

Blesta is the most common alternative to WHMCS. It is also paid and licensed, usually at a lower cost, with a reputation for a clean, readable codebase and a strong stance on security.

• Native cPanel and WHM provisioning module
• Domain registrar and payment gateway modules for the common providers
• Developer-friendly if you plan to customize or extend it

Its add-on ecosystem is smaller than WHMCS, so a very specific third-party module may not exist. For most standard reseller setups that is not a problem, and many resellers prefer Blesta for the price and code quality.

HostBill

HostBill is a commercial platform with a very large feature set aimed at bigger operations, with a lot of built-in modules and automation options.

• cPanel and WHM provisioning plus a wide catalog of first-party modules
• Strong at complex product configurations and upgrade paths
• Licensing and complexity are more than a small reseller usually needs

Consider HostBill if you are scaling into a larger provider and want a lot of automation out of the box. For a starting reseller it can be overkill.

ClientExec

ClientExec is a long-running commercial billing platform pitched as a simpler, budget-friendly option. It covers billing, support, and cPanel and WHM provisioning without the depth (or the price) of WHMCS.

• cPanel and WHM provisioning module
• Lower cost, gentler learning curve
• Smaller ecosystem than WHMCS or Blesta

WISECP

WISECP is a newer commercial platform with a modern interface, built-in client area, and support desk. It ships cPanel and WHM integration and targets resellers who want a contemporary look without assembling many add-ons.

• cPanel and WHM provisioning module
• Modern UI and integrated support desk
• Growing but smaller module ecosystem

Ubersmith

Ubersmith is enterprise-grade billing, infrastructure, and device management software. It is aimed at large hosts, data centers, and infrastructure providers rather than individual resellers.

• Enterprise billing and automation with cPanel and WHM support
• Heavier and more expensive than a small reseller needs
• Listed for completeness; usually the wrong fit for a starting reseller

04. Free and Open Source Platforms

If you want to start without a software license fee, the open source route is the one to look at. You give up vendor support and some polish, but you pay nothing for the software and you can read and modify the code.

FOSSBilling

FOSSBilling is free, open source, and actively maintained, and it is the modern continuation of the older BoxBilling project. It covers the core reseller workflow: client area, invoicing, support tickets, and automated provisioning.

• Free to download and use. No license cost, which lowers the barrier when you are getting started.
• cPanel and WHM server manager module. It creates and manages accounts on your reseller account over the WHM API like the paid tools do.
• Open source. You can read, audit, and modify the code, and the community drives development.

BoxBilling

BoxBilling is the older open source billing system that FOSSBilling forked from. The original project has seen little recent activity, so if you are choosing between the two open source options today, pick FOSSBilling. It is the one under active development, and running an unmaintained billing panel that holds customer and payment data is a risk not worth taking.

05. At-a-Glance Comparison

Every platform below provisions cPanel and WHM accounts and connects to domain registrars through a module. The differences are cost, maturity, and who they are built for.

06. Registering and Transferring Domains Through Your Panel

Yes, these platforms can register and transfer domains for your customers, and they can do it automatically as part of an order. The important detail is how that works, because it is a common source of confusion.

The billing panel does not register domains by itself. It connects to a domain registrar through a registrar module, and the registrar is who actually registers, renews, and transfers the domain. To offer domains you need a reseller or API account with a registrar such as eNom, ResellerClub, or a similar provider, then you enter that account's API credentials into your billing panel.

1. Open a reseller or API account with a domain registrar of your choice.
2. In your billing panel, enable that registrar's module and enter the API credentials.
3. Set your selling prices per TLD in the panel.
4. From then on, when a customer orders or transfers a domain, the panel calls the registrar API and handles registration, transfer, and renewal automatically alongside the hosting.

07. How the Panel Connects to Your Reseller Account

All of these platforms talk to your reseller account the same way: through the WHM API. Once configured, the panel logs into WHM as your reseller user and manages customer cPanel accounts for you.

1. In WHM, generate an API token for your reseller account (this is safer than storing your password in the panel).
2. In your billing platform, add a server and enter your WHM hostname, your reseller username, and the API token.
3. Create hosting packages in the panel that map to the cPanel packages available under your reseller plan.
4. Test provisioning with a trial order. A paid order should create the cPanel account automatically; a cancellation should suspend or terminate it.

08. Where to Install Your Billing Panel

Your billing platform is a web application, so it needs to live on a hosting account somewhere. For a reseller, the natural home is a dedicated domain or subdomain on your own account, for example billing.yourbrand.com or a client area at my.yourbrand.com.

Some of these platforms can be installed in a few clicks from Softaculous in cPanel, which handles the database and files for you. Others you download from the vendor and upload manually. Either way the placement and security advice below is the same:

• Give it its own cPanel account or domain. Keep the billing panel separate from customer sites so it is easy to secure and back up.
• Put it behind SSL. A billing panel handles logins and payment data, so it must run over HTTPS. Every Ultra plan includes free AutoSSL; see article 68.
• Check the requirements. Confirm the PHP version and extensions the platform needs. You can set the PHP version per domain in cPanel; see article 425.
• Back it up. This is the system that runs your business. Keep regular backups; see article 467.

09. Choosing the Right One

There is no single right answer. It comes down to budget, how much you want to customize, and how much hand-holding you want from documentation and vendors.

A practical path many resellers take is to start on FOSSBilling to keep early costs down, then move to WHMCS or Blesta once the customer base grows enough to justify the license. Whichever you choose, our reseller account works with all of them.

Quick Recap: Reseller Billing Software

If you only take a few things from this guide, take these:

1. Any cPanel-compatible platform works with our reseller accounts. We do not lock you into one or bundle our own.
2. Commercial: WHMCS (the standard), Blesta, HostBill, ClientExec, WISECP, and Ubersmith for enterprise.
3. Free and open source: FOSSBilling, which is the maintained successor to the legacy BoxBilling.
4. Domains run through a registrar module, meaning you connect a registrar account to your panel; domain registration does not come from us.
5. The panel connects to WHM over an API token to create and manage cPanel accounts, and it should live on its own domain behind SSL.

Last updated August 2026 · Browse all General articles