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Pre-Sales Queries

blesbill

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blesbill Newbie

blesbill

Posted
Posted

Hi guys,

 

I am new to the blesta forums and exploring the possibility of buying a blesta license. Before I do that, I would like to get existing user's take on Blesta and how it compares to other billing systems like WHMCS & Hostbill.

 

Also, I do need some clarifications:

 

1. What are the benefits of getting a license directly from Blesta as supposed to from its resellers?

 

2. Does it have modules for the following:

 

BuyCpanel, GoGetSSL, Proxmox, cPanel DNS/PowerDNS

 

3. Is it suited for VPS/Dedicated servers selling?

 

4. Is Live Chat integrated into the support system?

 

5. How easy is it to develop custom modules? Is blesta's core code flexible enough for developers?

 

6. How soon are bugs fixed and patches released?

 

7. What are the support response times?

 

8. On the order page of blesta, it is specified as "Includes 1 year of Support & Updates"...do I have to renew after that to receive support & updates?

 

Thanks.

24 answers to this question

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Michael Apprentice

Michael

Posted
Posted

I am new to the blesta forums and exploring the possibility of buying a blesta license. Before I do that, I would like to get existing user's take on Blesta and how it compares to other billing systems like WHMCS & Hostbill.

Welcome to the community, I hope you stick around :blesta:. You can see my take on Blesta vs WHMCS here: http://www.blesta.com/forums/index.php?/topic/2512-blesta-vs-whmcs/?p=17790

 

1. What are the benefits of getting a license directly from Blesta as supposed to from its resellers?

When you buy direct you get support from Blesta, via the support desk, phone, etc. When you buy from a third party (re-seller, distributor, hosting company), they provide you the support, you can also get support from the community here.

 

2. Does it have modules for the following:

 

BuyCpanel, GoGetSSL, Proxmox, cPanel DNS/PowerDNS

BuycPanel yes, GoGetSSL yes, Proxmox yes, cPanel DNS / PowerDNS no / no, you can feel free to open a feature request, hire a developer, make it yourself or ask cPanel / PowerDNS to do it.

 

3. Is it suited for VPS/Dedicated servers selling?

Yes you can sell VPS / Dedicated Servers, SolusVM / Proxmox, Virtualizor for VPS, Noc-PS for Dedicated or Universal Module (Manual).

 

4. Is Live Chat integrated into the support system?

You can use the free live chat plugin from PauloV, or you can just use a paid one like Zopim and put the code into the structure.pdt file.

 

5. How easy is it to develop custom modules? Is blesta's core code flexible enough for developers?

Easy if you know how, you have all the code there for you to look at minus the 3 files for licensing which is encoded.

 

6. How soon are bugs fixed and patches released?

Patched when possible, you can look here: http://www.blesta.com/forums/index.php?/forum/16-news/ for the past updates, and there's hardly any bugs, just ones which people have missed in beta versions, etc.

 

7. What are the support response times?

Depends who you use, most companies work in the opening hours. Blesta is 8am - 4pm PST.

 

8. On the order page of blesta, it is specified as "Includes 1 year of Support & Updates"...do I have to renew after that to receive support & updates?

Yes you do require it for support and updates, you can get support from the forums or your vendor if you wish to, and you don't have to upgrade Blesta you can just patch the version you are on. And when you are happy pay and upgrade. You get the year from when you pay.

  • 0
Paul Rising Star

Paul

Posted
Posted

Well said Mike, thanks for that. Support & updates for Blesta Owned Branded and Unbranded is $39/yr after the 1st year. It's not mandatory, you just won't be able to upgrade or get support if it's expired. There are no penalties if you don't renew, wait some time, and then renew it.

 

Also, for a fun, and biased comparison of Blesta vs whmcs, check out www.billingbrawl.com

  • 0
blesbill Newbie

blesbill

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hi,

 

Sorry for the delayed response.

 

Thanks Mike & Paul for your responses.

 

A few more clarifications:

 

How will you compare Blesta vs Hostbill?

 

For a developer, how easy is your code compared to hostbill's for developing new modules?

 

If I don't pay for the support/updates after one year, would I still get updates, bug fixes/patches for the core and all modules for the existing version?

 

Would the upgrades include all newer modules? And how easy is it to upgrade/downgrade to another version of Blesta?

 

Can you provide a link to all available modules within Blesta as of now? Also, do you plan on implementing DNS modules in the near future, any ETA?

 

Thanks.

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Michael Apprentice

Michael

Posted
Posted

You're welcome.
 

How will you compare Blesta vs Hostbill?

 
I've never used HostBill and thank god I didn't pay for it back in the day. Their latest price is $999 up and then you have to pay $99+ for extra order forms / addons, when you can get it free with Blesta unless you  buy a third party addon / etc. They also had a big exploit worse than WHMCS where anyone could get a dump of your database via their auto-update system.
 

For a developer, how easy is your code compared to hostbill's for developing new modules?

 
Easy as pie, look at the marketplace and see how many cool developers have made plugins from Naja7host's admin tools to PauloV's OpenSRS module or to ModulesMatic's GhostBill order forms. We used ModulesBakery (before it closed) for our cool plugin.

 

If I don't pay for the support/updates after one year, would I still get updates, bug fixes/patches for the core and all modules for the existing version?

 
Yes you can, so if you have 4.1.0 and your updates expire and you don't pay you can do 4.1.2 - 4.1.5 but not 4.2.0+
 

Would the upgrades include all newer modules? And how easy is it to upgrade/downgrade to another version of Blesta?

 
Yes it will, it will attempt to upgrade all modules / etc it can if it fails you have to upgrade it manually. (Which is sadly rare, Paul knows how much I used to love pressing the buttons haha).
 

Can you provide a link to all available modules within Blesta as of now? Also, do you plan on implementing DNS modules in the near future, any ETA?


It might be outdated I'll update it on 4.0: What Modules, Gateways are included with Blesta?

I can't comment on the planned because I'm not the developers :D but Paul can help you. You can open a feature request or ask the developers of the DNS in question to see if they can build one because it would be faster for you and others.

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Paul Rising Star

Paul

Posted
Posted

We are open to implementing DNS modules, but no immediate plans. The most immediate thing will be that with our improvements to domains we will be adding support for managing DNS for domains that use the registrars name servers. For example, with Enom, if the domain is set to use Enom's name servers the customer will be able to manage their DNS zone.

 

What do you want to see in terms of DNS integration?

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evolvewh Newbie

evolvewh

Posted
Posted

I see that last update of blesta is from november. Any updates soon? or what is happening? is blesta under development or on pause ? 

4.0 is in development now. From what I hear, it's a major overhaul so it's taking longer than usual.  You can track the progress here: dev.blesta.com

  • 0
Noss Newbie

Noss

Posted
Posted

Thanks for a quick update. I'm in the middle between blest and other billing and seems I have some time to wait till release of 4.0 :) 

 

dev.blesta.com - apparently it doesn't work under Safari (OS X). Under chrome works like a charm.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ah4bmpirepn7keu/Screenshot%202016-04-07%2018.40.50.png?dl=0

 

Issue confirmed from second OS X device. 

Might be  you have some ssl cipher settings at your Server: Apache-Coyote/1.1

  • 0
Michael Apprentice

Michael

Posted
Posted

Thanks for a quick update. I'm in the middle between blest and other billing and seems I have some time to wait till release of 4.0 :)

 

dev.blesta.com - apparently it doesn't work under Safari (OS X). Under chrome works like a charm.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ah4bmpirepn7keu/Screenshot%202016-04-07%2018.40.50.png?dl=0

 

Issue confirmed from second OS X device. 

Might be  you have some ssl cipher settings at your Server: Apache-Coyote/1.1

 

 

Safari 9.0 doesn't like the SSL correct they are hoping to upgrade the server soon, I have to go to http:// myself :)

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Blesta Addons Contributor

Blesta Addons

Posted
Posted

Oh, it only supports TLS 1.0, that may be the issue.

 

Plugins/Modules from v3.6 will work in 4.0. The new minPHP is backwards compatible.

 

and what about client side templates ? they have also a complete rewrite ?

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Paul Rising Star

Paul

Posted
Posted

and what about client side templates ? they have also a complete rewrite ?

 

There are some changes in the client area, but it's not a complete rewrite. When I say almost all files have changed, I mean mostly for formatting. That may make running a diff a bit of a hassle, but the number of client side templates with code changes is fairly minimal.

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ntucakovic Newbie

ntucakovic

Posted
Posted

Am I allowed to "hijack" this thread? :)

 

There have been some questions in here that I would have asked as well, might as well carry on with a few more instead of opening up a new thread.

  1. Affiliate system? I've noticed that it was planned for quite some time, but there are plugins that cover the functionality. Thing is, are they any good? Do you have a list of companies you approve of building plugins as a third party? Also, will it be compatible with major 4.x release? Also, what will be affected with the release, regarding compatibility?
  2. If there's a change in default views in an update, how do you recommend to keep custom templates up to date? Do you have a git repo for that or?
  3. Price options, is there a way to increase them by percentage? Lets say, decrease the price by 10% by some kind of field or something tied to the user / user group. If not, is it possible to extend that functionality?

A few of these questions come from a potential client, I've listed mine in the PM I've sent to you Paul.

 

Cheers!

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Paul Rising Star

Paul

Posted
Posted

Am I allowed to "hijack" this thread? :)

 

There have been some questions in here that I would have asked as well, might as well carry on with a few more instead of opening up a new thread.

  1. Affiliate system? I've noticed that it was planned for quite some time, but there are plugins that cover the functionality. Thing is, are they any good? Do you have a list of companies you approve of building plugins as a third party? Also, will it be compatible with major 4.x release? Also, what will be affected with the release, regarding compatibility?
  2. If there's a change in default views in an update, how do you recommend to keep custom templates up to date? Do you have a git repo for that or?
  3. Price options, is there a way to increase them by percentage? Lets say, decrease the price by 10% by some kind of field or something tied to the user / user group. If not, is it possible to extend that functionality?

A few of these questions come from a potential client, I've listed mine in the PM I've sent to you Paul.

 

Cheers!

 

  1. iDevAffiliate has a plugin for Blesta, and they have a very extensive affiliate system.. much more powerful than the one we have planned. Extensions that work for Blesta 3.6 should work fine for 4.0. The only issues that might arise would be strictly cosmetic. For example, v4 admin area uses bootstrap buttons.. so a plugin that uses the current buttons may look a bit out of place, but it'll still work.
  2. We recommend cloning the client template and making your changes to that. Select the template under Settings > Company > Look and Feel > Template. Then, do a diff between the normal client "bootstrap" template from your current version and the new version to see what files you may need to change.
  3. If you change prices on the package level, it will affect renewing services that do not have a price-override set. So, if you have a monthly term for Package A of $10, and you want to raise the price by 10%, you can edit the Package and change it to $11 and everyone who is using it will be billed $11 at the next cycle.
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blesbill Newbie

blesbill

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hi Guys,

 

Been sometime since I started this topic and I was fairly busy with a few things that I couldn't get the time to reply back to Paul & Michael. Thanks to you guys for your responses to my queries.

 

Paul, regarding DNS:

 

 

What do you want to see in terms of DNS integration?

 

What I would like is to have clients managing DNS zones on my DNS servers(cPanelDns/PowerDns). It is much more like a Managed DNS service. Hope that helps.

 

 

A few more things:

 

  • Blesta doesn't seem to have an Announcement feature - an announcement section in clientarea so that clients get informed about various things like updates, maintenance schedules, special offers, etc.
  • The Coupon feature doesn't seem to have the option to assign coupons to specific clients/client groups along with coupon usage limit per client.
  • Would like to have a non-package option for creating manual services which are not associated with any servers/provisioning modules.
  • What are the billing durations(hourly, monthly) supported?

 

Looking forward to your response.

 

Thanks.

  • 0
Michael Apprentice

Michael

Posted
Posted

What I would like is to have clients managing DNS zones on my DNS servers(cPanelDns/PowerDns). It is much more like a Managed DNS service. Hope that helps.

 

Nice features personally PowerDNS has more of a market.

 

  • Blesta doesn't seem to have an Announcement feature - an announcement section in clientarea so that clients get informed about various things like updates, maintenance schedules, special offers, etc.

 

There's not one built in but Naja7Host made one for Blesta, I use it and it works fine: [Plugin] Announcement -Released- A nice little search.

 

  • The Coupon feature doesn't seem to have the option to assign coupons to specific clients/client groups along with coupon usage limit per client.

 

Not yet, they are looking to improve the coupon system soon. You can open a feature request or see:

- http://www.blesta.com/forums/index.php?/topic/4407-additional-for-coupon-feature-requests/?hl=coupons#entry32918

- http://www.blesta.com/forums/index.php?/topic/993-coupons-per-tier/?hl=coupons

 

  • Would like to have a non-package option for creating manual services which are not associated with any servers/provisioning modules.

 

Universal Module works for like non package, everything needs it but I believe they are planning to skip that somewhere but I can't find it to confirm it Paul would know:

See: How can I sell a product without a module?

 

  • What are the billing durations(hourly, monthly) supported?

The module themselves use: Day / Month / Year for as many times as you need 1+ month, 1+ day, 1+  year. You can also charge on the invoice in hours. In the QTY use 1 30/60 for 1 hour 30 minutes.

  • 0
Paul Rising Star

Paul

Posted
Posted

Thanks once again Michael, for your timely responses.

 

I would like to hear Paul's take on these queries as well.

 

Thanks.

 

Which questions specifically? Happy to respond, but not sure where to start.

 

Regarding 2 questions you had:

 

non-package option for services

 

We have not had many requests for this, and services are very dependent on packages and modules. Most people will use the recurring invoice option if they do not want or need to create a service.

 

coupons

 

We have plans to improve the coupon system, but it needs to be refactored first. Restricting coupons to specific client groups is a possibility.

 

dns

 

We would like to tie into PowerDNS and other DNS systems. I think many multi-server cPanel hosting providers use cPanel's DNSonly, and Blesta is compatible with that as it's really controlled by cPanel. The issue then of course is creating or editing zones that are part of services which are unrelated to cPanel.

  • 0
blesbill Newbie

blesbill

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hi Paul,

 

These are the queries:

 

 

  • Blesta doesn't seem to have an Announcement feature - an announcement section in clientarea so that clients get informed about various things like updates, maintenance schedules, special offers, etc.
  • The Coupon feature doesn't seem to have the option to assign coupons to specific clients/client groups along with coupon usage limit per client.
  • Would like to have a non-package option for creating manual services which are not associated with any servers/provisioning modules.
  • What are the billing durations(hourly, monthly) supported?

 

1. I would like to know why an Announcement feature is not built-in to the core of Blesta?

 

2. Nice that you are working on improving the Coupon features.

 

3. Non-package options:

 

you said:

 

services are very dependent on packages and modules. Most people will use the recurring invoice option if they do not want or need to create a service.

 

Well I really beg to differ your definition of services. A service can be any entity which is required & beneficial to your clients and which you are capable of providing to your customer base. So, a service doesn't really need to be always tied to a server/package/module. For eg:

  • Web Design
  • Web Development
  • Support services

Recurring invoice is not an option in the above cases.

 

 

For DNS, PowerDNS seems the most optimal option as LC said. It would really be nice to have such DNS modules integrated in Blesta, which would allow for selling of Managed DNS services. I know this is not in your to-do list as of now but, do you have an ETA when such a module could come into your development stream.

 

 

Also, it would be nice to have a few more developers around in Blesta so that the development process goes into turbo mode.

 

Looking for your response.

 

Thanks.

  • 0
Paul Rising Star

Paul

Posted
Posted

1. I would like to know why an Announcement feature is not built-in to the core of Blesta?

 

We have had a few requests, but it hasn't bubbled up to a high enough priority yet. Also, someone already released an announcement plugin that you can get at http://www.blesta.com/forums/index.php?/topic/3180-plugin-announcement-released/

 

2. Nice that you are working on improving the Coupon features.

 

Yes, after/during our planned refactor. I don't have an ETA.

 

3. Non-package options:

you said:

 

Well I really beg to differ your definition of services. A service can be any entity which is required & beneficial to your clients and which you are capable of providing to your customer base. So, a service doesn't really need to be always tied to a server/package/module. For eg:

  • Web Design
  • Web Development
  • Support services
Recurring invoice is not an option in the above cases.

 

 

For DNS, PowerDNS seems the most optimal option as LC said. It would really be nice to have such DNS modules integrated in Blesta, which would allow for selling of Managed DNS services. I know this is not in your to-do list as of now but, do you have an ETA when such a module could come into your development stream.

 

Services are recurring in nature, so we wouldn't consider web design or development a service in the same respect. Unless you are billing on a retainer or something. Most people track hours outside of Blesta, and invoice for development work from Blesta. No service necessary.

 

I think we would need more information on how you provide and bill these kinds of services to get a good understanding of the issue. Yes, development work is a "service", but it does not typically recur for the same amount every x period (monthly for example), and so it doesn't fit well into what Blesta considers a service.

 

Do you plan to integrate PowerDNS into existing services, via other modules, or offer it as a standalone DNS service?

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