SkylarM Posted July 15, 2013 Report Posted July 15, 2013 You use or used HB? It's not fair when speaking ill of one of the best billing systems. It's expensive, yes we all know, but if you want to will have to pay. It's like a car, you can have a Renault, but if want to have a Mercedes, you'll have to pay much more. We really like Blesta, but why we'll use Blesta if we do not have the required modules? Just seems strange, it is because no one speaks of Ubersmith? much more expensive than HB, but however is preferred of the large enterprises. Nobody speaks of Ubersmith because they don't have a wheel they spin every 2 hours to see if they change prices or not. Sorry, but I'm not looking to play "The Price is Right" every time I load up a billing software's website. Sure hostibll is advanced and has these awesome dedicated modules blah blah, but the guy is so bipolar that I'd be scared for my business. Who's to say next year when you have to renew there isn't a $599 fee again that you have no choice but to pay, and if you don't pay it you don't get your data, and then you cannot migrate to other software etc? With the price changes daily, that's definitely something that moron that codes Hostbill is capable of doing. COME ON DOWN, YOU'RE THE NEXT CONTESTANT ON THE PRICE IS RIGHT! Michael 1 Quote
Gualter Posted July 15, 2013 Report Posted July 15, 2013 Nobody speaks of Ubersmith because they don't have a wheel they spin every 2 hours to see if they change prices or not. Sorry, but I'm not looking to play "The Price is Right" every time I load up a billing software's website. Sure hostibll is advanced and has these awesome dedicated modules blah blah, but the guy is so bipolar that I'd be scared for my business. Who's to say next year when you have to renew there isn't a $599 fee again that you have no choice but to pay, and if you don't pay it you don't get your data, and then you cannot migrate to other software etc? With the price changes daily, that's definitely something that moron that codes Hostbill is capable of doing. COME ON DOWN, YOU'RE THE NEXT CONTESTANT ON THE PRICE IS RIGHT! Renew what? HB only have Owned Unbranded Licenses LOL We bought our license for $200, and yet never had to pay nothing more... If they constantly change the price, it's their problem, it is up to the buyer, the best time to buy. Quote
SkylarM Posted July 15, 2013 Report Posted July 15, 2013 Renew what? HB only have Owned Unbranded Licenses LOL We bought our license for $200, and yet never had to pay nothing more... If they constantly change the price, it's their problem, it is up to the buyer, the best time to buy. Except the guy at Hostbill could very easily change the cost and decide to charge a renewal fee. He's done it already before. A few people have said they bought a license like yours and he suddenly wanted more money from them. Michael 1 Quote
Michael Posted July 15, 2013 Report Posted July 15, 2013 Renew what? HB only have Owned Unbranded Licenses LOL We bought our license for $200, and yet never had to pay nothing more... If they constantly change the price, it's their problem, it is up to the buyer, the best time to buy. Oh yeah they stopped the re-newal fees as "Like 99% of population we hate renewal fees. So we no longer charge it from current and future customers - pay only for features you want!" But oh this looks so awesome never seen this on their pricing before... More ways to get blood out of a stone: Tickets included ---- Price ----- Price per ticket ----- Package valid 1 ticket ------------ $75 USD --- $75 USD --------------- N/A 5 tickets ----------- $199 USD -- $39 USD --------------- ticket Valid for 6 months 15 tickets ---------- $399 USD -- $26 USD --------------- ticket Valid for 12 months 50 tickets ---------- $999 USD -- $20 USD --------------- ticket Valid for 12 months Oh and: Pre-Sales that's just $99.95. Then for everything else it's $199.57 USD Once per item including cPanel... https://hostbillapp.com/clientarea/?/software_store/hosting_modules/ So which one is better? Not HB by far. Quote
SkylarM Posted July 15, 2013 Report Posted July 15, 2013 Oh yeah they stopped the re-newal fees as "Like 99% of population we hate renewal fees. So we no longer charge it from current and future customers - pay only for features you want!" But oh this looks so awesome never seen this on their pricing before... More ways to get blood out of a stone: Tickets included ---- Price ----- Price per ticket ----- Package valid 1 ticket ------------ $75 USD --- $75 USD --------------- N/A 5 tickets ----------- $199 USD -- $39 USD --------------- ticket Valid for 6 months 15 tickets ---------- $399 USD -- $26 USD --------------- ticket Valid for 12 months 50 tickets ---------- $999 USD -- $20 USD --------------- ticket Valid for 12 months Oh and: Pre-Sales that's just $99.95. Then for everything else it's $199.57 USD Once per item including cPanel... https://hostbillapp.com/clientarea/?/software_store/hosting_modules/ So which one is better? Not HB by far. If HB kept their prices around $300 and didn't change prices every other day and didn't charge for support, they would be much higher up there for the higher-end dedicated/colo stuff like Ubersmith, but again the issue lies in the owner's bipolar business practices. If you have to wake up every morning asking yourself if your house loan is randomly going to change this pay period, you need to get the hell away as fast as possible. Michael 1 Quote
Michael Posted July 15, 2013 Report Posted July 15, 2013 If HB kept their prices around $300 and didn't change prices every other day and didn't charge for support, they would be much higher up there for the higher-end dedicated/colo stuff like Ubersmith, but again the issue lies in the owner's bipolar business practices. If you have to wake up every morning asking yourself if your house loan is randomly going to change this pay period, you need to get the hell away as fast as possible. I still wouldn't use them if I had to pay for the basic modules like cpanel etc. Quote
SkylarM Posted July 15, 2013 Report Posted July 15, 2013 I still wouldn't use them if I had to pay for the basic modules like cpanel etc. Oh my pricing comment was with everything included. None of this "pay for each module" bullshit. Michael 1 Quote
Paul Posted July 15, 2013 Report Posted July 15, 2013 I think most people would agree that their software is pretty advanced, and becoming more targeted to enterprise. The problem is that they completely destroyed their reputation. They didn't start out on a good foot either, the first version was a complete rip from WHMCS.. the staff area looked the same, and the database schema was pretty much identical. (I talked to Matt and Aaron from WHMCS directly at HostingCon in Austin about this). They also stole our software license agreement. Talented developers? Yes. Ethical businessmen? No. Michael 1 Quote
Michael Posted July 15, 2013 Report Posted July 15, 2013 I think most people would agree that their software is pretty advanced, and becoming more targeted to enterprise. The problem is that they completely destroyed their reputation. They didn't start out on a good foot either, the first version was a complete rip from WHMCS.. the staff area looked the same, and the database schema was pretty much identical. (I talked to Matt and Aaron from WHMCS directly at HostingCon in Austin about this). They also stole our software license agreement. Talented developers? Yes. Ethical businessmen? No. don't forget their frontend I believe that was WHM**'s portal. Quote
ezpnet Posted July 15, 2013 Report Posted July 15, 2013 Having used Hostbill, I have to say the software is pretty amazing. Too bad it's buggy, support is slow and there is no real documentation. If it all worked and docs were there... it'd be worth it's price. If it was backed by a real business it'd be worth 10x what they charge now. Quote
Gualter Posted July 15, 2013 Report Posted July 15, 2013 I think most people would agree that their software is pretty advanced, and becoming more targeted to enterprise. The problem is that they completely destroyed their reputation. They didn't start out on a good foot either, the first version was a complete rip from WHMCS.. the staff area looked the same, and the database schema was pretty much identical. (I talked to Matt and Aaron from WHMCS directly at HostingCon in Austin about this). They also stole our software license agreement. Talented developers? Yes. Ethical businessmen? No. Paul, I do not see the interest of your comment. We would have gladly change to your system, but it does not show the required modules, how do we use it? The only option is HostBill, WHMCS or Ubersmith, HostBill was our chosen because it is the cheapest for the features we want. We have no interest in sending ticket for them, everything is well documented. This subject has no interest, because comparing HostBill which is a mature software with Blesta which is a relatively new software, a comparison is a bit absurd. Quote
HIGGINS Posted July 15, 2013 Author Report Posted July 15, 2013 The problem with Hostbill is not just about it's price but the price for support after 30 days. And one orderpage costs $200, an orderpage can't worth $200. BTW the software is not bad but the staff behind it... Quote
Paul Posted July 15, 2013 Report Posted July 15, 2013 Paul, I do not see the interest of your comment. We would have gladly change to your system, but it does not show the required modules, how do we use it? The only option is HostBill, WHMCS or Ubersmith, HostBill was our chosen because it is the cheapest for the features we want. We have no interest in sending ticket for them, everything is well documented. This subject has no interest, because comparing HostBill which is a mature software with Blesta which is a relatively new software, a comparison is a bit absurd. Blesta will have more features, and more support for dedicated and VPSs as we move forward. So, you're right in drawing a distinction between us and HB. All in due time. I think this thread is more about people's distrust in their business practices, but we certainly feel that people should use what they want to use. If HB is the best thing for your business, by all means, go for it. In my (admittedly biased) opinion, there is additional unnecessary risk with using their software, but I'll leave it at that. Our focus is Blesta, and building the best software we can. The 3.0 release is just the beginning. Quote
Gualter Posted July 15, 2013 Report Posted July 15, 2013 Blesta will have more features, and more support for dedicated and VPSs as we move forward. So, you're right in drawing a distinction between us and HB. All in due time. I think this thread is more about people's distrust in their business practices, but we certainly feel that people should use what they want to use. If HB is the best thing for your business, by all means, go for it. In my (admittedly biased) opinion, there is additional unnecessary risk with using their software, but I'll leave it at that. Our focus is Blesta, and building the best software we can. The 3.0 release is just the beginning. we will be very happy to use your software, but when there is the necessary modules. I do not see the logic of using Blesta when he does not have modules for customers working. As I said in previous posts, we believe that the modules will be made, but also believe that it will take years to happen. The problem with Hostbill is not just about it's price but the price for support after 30 days. And one orderpage costs $200, an orderpage can't worth $200. BTW the software is not bad but the staff behind it... I do not understand the discontent of HB users, we use this software to 2 years and never had need to send a single ticket for them. There are dozens of orderpages to HostBill free, why be paying extra orderpages? Quote
Michael Posted July 15, 2013 Report Posted July 15, 2013 we will be very happy to use your software, but when there is the necessary modules. I do not see the logic of using Blesta when he does not have modules for customers working. As I said in previous posts, we believe that the modules will be made, but also believe that it will take years to happen. I do not understand the discontent of HB users, we use this software to 2 years and never had need to send a single ticket for them. There are dozens of orderpages to HostBill free, why be paying extra orderpages? Shows how much you are following this great software you are talking about... As I stated earlier they don't come free, nothing does now. And I even gave you a link to the store. Link once again: http://hostbillapp.com/features/order-pages.php Quote
Gualter Posted July 15, 2013 Report Posted July 15, 2013 uhmm ?? We have all these Ordepage free lool Quote
Michael Posted July 15, 2013 Report Posted July 15, 2013 uhmm ?? We have all these Ordepage free lool You do yes... New customers don't which part of that don't you understand? Quote
ezpnet Posted July 15, 2013 Report Posted July 15, 2013 Paul, I do not see the interest of your comment. We would have gladly change to your system, but it does not show the required modules, how do we use it? The only option is HostBill, WHMCS or Ubersmith, HostBill was our chosen because it is the cheapest for the features we want. We have no interest in sending ticket for them, everything is well documented. This subject has no interest, because comparing HostBill which is a mature software with Blesta which is a relatively new software, a comparison is a bit absurd. Hey gualter, I used hostbill (never made it to production though, too many bugs) and I even spent $xx,xxx in custom development with the hostbill dev (powerdns, hardware manager & ipam improvements, etc). Saying it's a well documented software is a joke - half the documentation is outright wrong, the other half is out of date. Ever week they'd push out a new release and every week something that was previously working would break. So yes, we did send in a lot of tickets. And none were answered within a reasonable time frame imho & I am a very easy going Canadian guy with a lot of patience. Plus I was a big fan of the software that claimed to do everything I needed/wanted and the dev team were happy to take my money and do more stuff that I wanted! How awesome is that?! Except, while coding was fast, it was sloppy. Every week something broke. I offered to pay a monthly fee for priority support. Then he instituted the pay per ticket policy... and then didn't live up to his end of the policy! I have two hostbill licenses that I am not using right now because of this fiasco. I think that you and I purchased at a time when we got everything for free... including the ability to use the API ourselves. Now they've cut the software up into chunks, so that it is near unusable without spending significant $$. And without an API, there will be no third party modules or custom integrations. The longevity of hostbill at this point must be seriously questioned when you look at all these changes. Plus, from a security standpoint you should be very afraid using that software. No one is going to pay $99 to submit a bug report... and the security folks who have looked into hostbill coding have pretty much gasped in horror. So, use at your own risk and take every precaution you can.... So to sum it up again, if hostbill did what it claimed and had usable docs, it would be worth the cost they want now. If the software did what it claimed, had usable docs and was run by a company who offered superior support, it would be worth at least 10x what it is now. I'd _gladly_ pay $10k upfront and $100/m for that software *IF* if did all that/had all that. But it doesn't, won't and can't (because the owners are nuts I believe). ubersmith wants some retarded money too ($2500/m for our business) and they are a rock solid team with rock solid software. But they are NOT worth that money, because their software has horrible integrations and doesn't really do much of anything. Blesta will, in just a few releases I believe, surpass ubersmith. All blesta needs is Onapp integration, dedicated server module, device manager, ip manager and perhaps monitoring and they will be well on their way to competing with ubersmith. I'd gladly consider sponsoring development of these modules with blesta too... I wonder if we could get a group of us to do so and convince the blesta team to concentrate their efforts a bit more on that end. Michael 1 Quote
Gualter Posted July 15, 2013 Report Posted July 15, 2013 I'll be glad when we use Blesta for our business. was that reason that we bought license Blesta. But we will not be here sitting waiting for a simple module for dedicated servers. It is something obligatory for us. HB so far has worked very well, and we will continue with it. Quote
Paul Posted July 15, 2013 Report Posted July 15, 2013 ubersmith wants some retarded money too ($2500/m for our business) and they are a rock solid team with rock solid software. But they are NOT worth that money, because their software has horrible integrations and doesn't really do much of anything. Blesta will, in just a few releases I believe, surpass ubersmith. All blesta needs is Onapp integration, dedicated server module, device manager, ip manager and perhaps monitoring and they will be well on their way to competing with ubersmith. I'd gladly consider sponsoring development of these modules with blesta too... I wonder if we could get a group of us to do so and convince the blesta team to concentrate their efforts a bit more on that end. We are open to that idea. Quote
JohnZ3701 Posted September 3, 2013 Report Posted September 3, 2013 ubersmith wants some retarded money too ($2500/m for our business) and they are a rock solid team with rock solid software. But they are NOT worth that money, because their software has horrible integrations and doesn't really do much of anything. Blesta will, in just a few releases I believe, surpass ubersmith. All blesta needs is Onapp integration, dedicated server module, device manager, ip manager and perhaps monitoring and they will be well on their way to competing with ubersmith. I'd gladly consider sponsoring development of these modules with blesta too... I wonder if we could get a group of us to do so and convince the blesta team to concentrate their efforts a bit more on that end. +1 to that! I'd be looking for cloudstack integration, count me in for some sponsoring as well! Quote
Gualter Posted September 3, 2013 Report Posted September 3, 2013 HB Change prices again? Now is a request quote ^^ Thankfully we have a lifetime license lol Quote
Michael Posted September 3, 2013 Report Posted September 3, 2013 HB Change prices again? Now is a request quote ^^ Thankfully we have a lifetime license lol Oh my days: Request Price/Quote Interested in HB, HB Enterprise and/or plugins, orderpages, modules, client area themes for it? Order Free quote and provide us with list of items you're interested in, after positive account verification we will get back to you with best offer! The first FREE I've seen and I bet that's what you said more money. Quote
Ken Posted September 3, 2013 Report Posted September 3, 2013 I too have used HostBill for more than 2 years now and just like I told you in the other thread, HostBill writes modules. That's the highlight of their software, it's why people buy it. Unforuntately those modules come out of the box broken from functionality to visuals. He does not fix them. And when he updates them he updates them so that they continue to work with his billing system. He does not update to improve them or add the newest basic features that you'd expect from a module update. His orderforms are equally buggy and some of the features on them are redundant! The billing system core is almost never updated or improved. It's got that same useless interface. Lastly, like it was pointed out in this thread already, he'll disappear one day. He keeps his communications limited and hides behind his new support model which is for you to pay to even reach him. No one is speaking "ill" about anything. We're just talking a competing product. Michael 1 Quote
RebornWebs Posted September 9, 2013 Report Posted September 9, 2013 hostbill looks awful, blesta is the best software. Michael 1 Quote
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