We are pleased to announce that Blesta 5.8.0 BETA 1 has been released!

Can I participate in the beta?

If you have an owned or monthly license with us directly, you may download blesta-5.8.0-b1.zip in the client area now (Login Required). If you obtained your license from a reseller or distributor, you may be able to participate. Contact your reseller to find out. As with any beta, this release is for non-production use only and is unsupported. DO NOT UPGRADE YOUR PRODUCTION. During installation, choose to start a free trial, open a ticket to request a trial key, or use your dev license if you have one.

Once you are up and running, head to the forums to report any issues and let us know what you think! If you have a license and are verified or become verified on our Discord chat, you’ll have access to a license holder only beta forum.

Visit the Beta Forums! Visit Discord Chat!

So what is new in 5.8?

Blesta version 5.8 has a new Managed Account system where clients can invite other clients to manage their accounts. We added an option to include a free domain with a hosting plan, a new PayPal Checkout payment gateway, the ability to run the importer via CLI, and more!

New and Updated Extensions

• PayPal Checkout payment gateway has been added.
• Order plugin was updated to add an option for offering a free domain with hosting.
• Order plugin was updated to allow hidden packages (domain names) to be excluded from affiliate commissions.
• Order plugin was updated to reduce the number of steps during checkout when only 1 non-merchant gateway is available.
• Order plugin was updated to observe custom order links when using the Domain and Other order type.
• Import Manager was updated to allow importing via CLI, improving reliability of large data sets.
• PHPIDS plugin was updated to make it compatible with PHP 8.
• Updated many other extensions to improve PHP 8.1 compatibility.

Changes to the Core

• Added a Managed Accounts feature. Clients can invite other clients to help manage their accounts.
• Added an option to Packages to allow clients to select module group during checkout (Useful for location).
• Some automation tasks now support as low as 1 minute intervals (Process Service Changes, Process Renewals, Provision Paid Pending Services, Unsuspend Services).
• Custom Client Fields can now have a link anywhere in the name.
• Client themes and templates can now be previewed by appending ?bltemplate=TEMPLATENAME and/or ?bltheme=THEME-ID.
• Added a read-only option to Required Client Fields to prevent clients from changing those fields later.
• When a client is enabling Two-Factor Authentication, in addition to the QR code both the Hex and Base32 keys are shown.
• A button was added to the Payment Accounts page in the client area to quickly remove auto-debit.
• Blesta now ships with the composer.json file.
• Made many PHP 8.1 improvements.

Client Template Changes

• /app/views/client/bootstrap/client_accounts.pdt updated
• /app/views/client/bootstrap/client_contacts.pdt updated
• /app/views/client/bootstrap/client_contacts_contact_info.pdt updated
• /app/views/client/bootstrap/client_main_custom_fields.pdt updated
• /app/views/client/bootstrap/client_main_myinfo.pdt updated
• /app/views/client/bootstrap/client_main_searchmanagedaccounts.pdt new
• /app/views/client/bootstrap/client_managers.pdt new
• /app/views/client/bootstrap/client_managers_accounts.pdt new
• /app/views/client/bootstrap/client_managers_add.pdt new
• /app/views/client/bootstrap/client_managers_edit.pdt new
• /app/views/client/bootstrap/client_managers_invite.pdt new
• /app/views/client/bootstrap/client_managers_navigation.pdt new
• /app/views/client/bootstrap/client_services_review.pdt updated
• /app/views/client/bootstrap/client_services_service_infobox.pdt updated
• /app/views/client/bootstrap/partial_packageoption_js.pdt updated
• /app/views/client/bootstrap/structure.pdt updated

Staff Template Changes

• /app/views/admin/default/admin_clients_custom_fields.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_clients_editservice_basic.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_clients_notes.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_clients_recordpayment.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_company_automation.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_company_billing_customization.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_company_automation.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_company_client_options_addcustomfield.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_company_client_options_editcustomfield.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_company_gateways_available.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_company_gateways_installed.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_company_lookandfeel_template.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_company_messengers_available.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_company_messengers_installed.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_company_modules_available.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_company_modules_installed.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_company_plugins_available.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_company_plugins_installed.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_company_require_fields_form.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_company_themes.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_packages_add.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_packages_edit.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_packages_moduleoptions.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/admin_tools_logcron.pdt updated
• /app/views/admin/default/partial_packageoptions_js.pdt updated

See the release notes for more details on this release.

Note Regarding PHP 8

Many 3rd party or custom extensions may not yet be compatible with PHP 8. If upgrading Blesta, it is best to use a PHP version that is compatible with both the release you are upgrading from and the release you are upgrading to. Test third party integrations and customizations.

Blesta supports PHP 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 8.1 through Ioncube using the default files, and PHP 8.0/8.1 through SourceGuardian via the hotfix-php8 directory. Report any PHP 8 related issues for Blesta or official extensions on our forums or Discord #beta channel.

Is there something you want to see in Blesta? Create a new feature request or upvote an existing one!

When is the final release?

Version 5.8 will be officially released after the beta phase has completed, which we expect to happen soon. Once we deem 5.8 stable for production, a final release will be issued. You can help speed things along by participating in the beta!