WHMCS 8 - coming soon

InceptionHosting

https://twitter.com/whmcs/status/1278239939017224193

I did wonder what made them suddenly start replying to 7-year-old feature requests with tons of community support all of a sudden.

So who wants to take some guesses at what WHMCS 8 will mean.

The top fears are:

1. Broken 3rd party modules
2. A loss of yet more reporting
3. Admin dashboard gets even less worth having
4. They still insist on asking for nameservers for dedicated and virtual server signups confusing customers for the last 10 years.

The top hopes are:

1. The daily automation reports are back in a human-readable format.
2. They finally accept that users being able to change currency is important and implement.
3. They remove the nameserver requirements for VPS/dedicated.
4. better solusvm integration now they are owned by the same parent company much like they did for cpanel.

Any wants/bets?

WSCallum

A full redesign of the admin area especially is long overdue, the client area could do with a good makeover as well.

SolusVM is a dead horse and will get absolutely 0 attention, Solus.io on the other hand, i’ll be surprised if they don’t come up with some good integration between them there at some point. (More likely Solus will release their WHMCS module for WHMCS 8 only).

InceptionHosting

I am not so sure about that, solusvm v1 currently and probably for the foreseeable future in the sole source of income for the solus brand, given what minor tweaks could do for improvement with minimal effort I would hope to see some updates on the WHMCS side but time will tell.

Neoon

@AnthonySmith said:
3. They remove the nameserver requirements for VPS/dedicated.

vyas

@Neoon said:

@AnthonySmith said:
3. They remove the nameserver requirements for VPS/dedicated.

But I like reading the "what do I write for ns1 and ns2" posts

[Deleted User]

delete

[Deleted User]

You can hide the ns1-ns2

For example

using the standard_cart/configureproduct.tpl, you could replace the nameserver code with

<input type="hidden" name="ns1prefix" class="form-control" id="inputNs1prefix" value="ns1">
<input type="hidden" name="ns2prefix" class="form-control" id="inputNs2prefix" value="ns2">

If you only wanted to remove it for some dedicated server or vps products, you could use an {if} statement and specify the ones to ask for nameservers, but the above should remove it for all of your products.

InceptionHosting

@hotlineservers said:
You can hide the ns1-ns2

For example

using the standard_cart/configureproduct.tpl, you could replace the nameserver code with

<input type="hidden" name="ns1prefix" class="form-control" id="inputNs1prefix" value="ns1">
<input type="hidden" name="ns2prefix" class="form-control" id="inputNs2prefix" value="ns2">

If you only wanted to remove it for some dedicated server or vps products, you could use an {if} statement and specify the ones to ask for nameservers, but the above should remove it for all of your products.

I have seen variations of that solution posted a number of times, I tried it a literal age ago and it caused issues with something or other, I genuinely forget what now that ultimately made it impossible for some customers to complete orders, obviously a disaster.

I was not alone in that, coupled with every minor update reverting it, its a pain to manage at best.

[Deleted User]

The problem is most leave the value=""> blank. It needs something there for the order to go forward. That is why we just use ns1 and ns2 and it works without any issues.

InceptionHosting

@hotlineservers said:
The problem is most leave the value=""> blank. It needs something there for the order to go forward. That is why we just use ns1 and ns2 and it works without any issues.

Do you have any custom products setup using the "No module" option?

Francisco

@AnthonySmith said: bets?

End of life time licenses.

Francisco

vpsgeek3333

@Francisco said:

@AnthonySmith said: bets?

End of life time licenses.

Francisco

Price hike as well?

[Deleted User]

@AnthonySmith said:

@hotlineservers said:
The problem is most leave the value=""> blank. It needs something there for the order to go forward. That is why we just use ns1 and ns2 and it works without any issues.

Do you have any custom products setup using the "No module" option?

No I dont.

MikeA

WHMCS will start charging per core of any servers you use to provision clients on. Have a cPanel server with 6 cores? That's $30/m. Have three SolusVM slaves with 32 cores? That's $160/m.

Mr_Tom

@WSCallum said: Solus.io on the other hand, i’ll be surprised if they don’t come up with some good integration between them there at some point.

They have said there will be good integration with WHMCS, as well as the option to bill from inside Solus via WHMCS module - but they didn't tell me which version that was for (it was in the TODO for SolusIO anyway).

seriesn

Here is my take,

• Lifetime will stay but, no more option to purchase upgrades/supports without switching to their new price scheme. And/or, expensive support extension, which will make it not worth while. Not to mention, introduction of hostbill like setup, where if you miss one version, no more upgrade to the next one.

• Price hike? May or may not happen to that extent, but probably something like 10 cents per users or so.

• Revamped UI? Probably more aligned with "cloud" styled panels, since the new push with.
• CPANEL/SVM is quota based billing, might as well get the look.
• Maybe a cleaner more user friendly UI and cart templates?
• Crap ton of old modules and codes will stop functioning.
• Hopefully a nicer admin UI, better reporting and tax integration.
• Better and cleaner cpanel/svm integration, while letting other panels create their own modules.

AlexanderM

Would be nice to turn off "features"... cough* SSL monitoring *cough

mikho

@hotlineservers said:
You can hide the ns1-ns2

For example

using the standard_cart/configureproduct.tpl, you could replace the nameserver code with

<input type="hidden" name="ns1prefix" class="form-control" id="inputNs1prefix" value="ns1">
<input type="hidden" name="ns2prefix" class="form-control" id="inputNs2prefix" value="ns2">

If you only wanted to remove it for some dedicated server or vps products, you could use an {if} statement and specify the ones to ask for nameservers, but the above should remove it for all of your products.

This is what I used until I changed templates and forgot to add the code back in.

??‍♂️

Francisco

@vpsgeek3333 said:

@Francisco said:

@AnthonySmith said: bets?

End of life time licenses.

Francisco

Price hike as well?

I think they'll do like ubersmith did and put 'you cant upgrade past this without enrolling in the new licensing model'.

They would remove the unlimited option and charge a flat fee for all active users. I also see the price going up as the "1000 active" is $0.02/user/month. I see that going to $0.10 - $0.20, maybe even more (maybe a per service fee?).

Francisco

hostEONS

@AnthonySmith said:

@hotlineservers said:
You can hide the ns1-ns2

For example

using the standard_cart/configureproduct.tpl, you could replace the nameserver code with

<input type="hidden" name="ns1prefix" class="form-control" id="inputNs1prefix" value="ns1">
<input type="hidden" name="ns2prefix" class="form-control" id="inputNs2prefix" value="ns2">

If you only wanted to remove it for some dedicated server or vps products, you could use an {if} statement and specify the ones to ask for nameservers, but the above should remove it for all of your products.

I have seen variations of that solution posted a number of times, I tried it a literal age ago and it caused issues with something or other, I genuinely forget what now that ultimately made it impossible for some customers to complete orders, obviously a disaster.

I was not alone in that, coupled with every minor update reverting it, its a pain to manage at best.

The problem is not just name servers but even with hostname, if a customer does not enters a valid hostname it also won't proceed further, also it won't allow you to use same hostname twice in the order form, I mean if another vps exists with same hostname then too it won't allow that order (or at least that's what I remember)

We have hidden the hostname as well as name servers from the order form and just use a random hostname e.g. vps342342342.hosteons.com and ns1 and ns2 for name servers, this random hostname is generated using random number generator function.

vpsgeek3333

WHMCS 8.0 Beta is now available.

Sooner or later a price increase based on the cPanel model is going to happen & judging by the policies of VCs behind them I think they are going to ditch those with owned licenses in not very distant future. If you are an established provider, have been in this industry for 5+ years & your business generates a decent amount of revenue & you are or shall be looking to expand your offerings in near future then switch to something like HostBill. If you are new to the industry or you are an established host interested in offering shared & vps only then probably get an owned Blesta license.

Right now is the best time to switch because others might increase their prices once WHMCS do that.

vyas

Unlike the other green forum, this thread did not trigger any bans

PureVoltage

In for the interest of what will end up happening....

InceptionHosting

@vyas said:

Unlike the other green forum, this thread did not trigger any bans

Why would this thread trigger a ban?

MichaelCee

@AnthonySmith said:

@vyas said:

Unlike the other green forum, this thread did not trigger any bans

Why would this thread trigger a ban?

OP of WHMCS Beta 8 thread on LET got banned. Dunno why, but they allegedly were doing the dodgy with nulled shit.

vyas

@AnthonySmith said:

@vyas said:

Unlike the other green forum, this thread did not trigger any bans

Why would this thread trigger a ban?

OP for the thread On LET (hostfactor) had a second account (Zuby something). Apparently zuby left good reviews for hostfactor.
Hf got banned. Not sure about the other

Francisco

@vpsgeek3333 said:
WHMCS 8.0 Beta is now available.

Sooner or later a price increase based on the cPanel model is going to happen & judging by the policies of VCs behind them I think they are going to ditch those with owned licenses in not very distant future. If you are an established provider, have been in this industry for 5+ years & your business generates a decent amount of revenue & you are or shall be looking to expand your offerings in near future then switch to something like HostBill. If you are new to the industry or you are an established host interested in offering shared & vps only then probably get an owned Blesta license.

Right now is the best time to switch because others might increase their prices once WHMCS do that.

Yep. They already do that for new licenses but it has an 'unlimited' option at $50/month. Meh, but not jaw breaking.

What do you think the price goes to? I see them doing $0.50/month per active customer or similar.

Francisco

MikeA

@Francisco said:
What do you think the price goes to? I see them doing $0.50/month per active customer or similar.

Do they really want to peg themselves like that? I wouldn't think so. I don't want to deal with switching... but I think many of us would switch at that point.

Francisco

@MikeA said:

@Francisco said:
What do you think the price goes to? I see them doing $0.50/month per active customer or similar.

Do they really want to peg themselves like that? I wouldn't think so. I don't want to deal with switching... but I think many of us would switch at that point.

They have the numbers of what the real cpanel cancellation was in relation to revenue.

In a year I've only been able to cancel a single buyshared node. Basically anyone with 10 or 20 a accounts usually stayed. The main people the jumped ship had hundreds.

Blesta is ok but still a far ways away. Hostbill is maybe good but very costly. Thats it.

For us we would most likely start investing time into building some sort of billing into stallion.

Francisco

MikeA

@Francisco said:
Blesta is ok but still a far ways away. Hostbill is maybe good but very costly. Thats it.

For us we would most likely start investing time into building some sort of billing into stallion.

Francisco

Yeah, in your case using Stallion for that would be great. Kinda wish I had done game servers and VPS separately for reasons like this and support.

nullnothere

@Francisco said: For us we would most likely start investing time into building some sort of billing into stallion.

Wouldn't it make sense to try to use Stripe and just integrate via some API calls to sort of get a decent billing setup (without having to rebuild everything)?

InceptionHosting

@Francisco said:

@MikeA said:

@Francisco said:
What do you think the price goes to? I see them doing $0.50/month per active customer or similar.

Do they really want to peg themselves like that? I wouldn't think so. I don't want to deal with switching... but I think many of us would switch at that point.

They have the numbers of what the real cpanel cancellation was in relation to revenue.

In a year I've only been able to cancel a single buyshared node. Basically anyone with 10 or 20 a accounts usually stayed. The main people the jumped ship had hundreds.

Blesta is ok but still a far ways away. Hostbill is maybe good but very costly. Thats it.

For us we would most likely start investing time into building some sort of billing into stallion.

Francisco

I think the big difference this time is that whmcs is not the better product if they did people with that sort of pricing hostbill would become the cheaper and better option.

Hostbill also offer managed migration and is already very close price wise over 18 months.

PureVoltage

@AnthonySmith said:

@Francisco said:

@MikeA said:

@Francisco said:
What do you think the price goes to? I see them doing $0.50/month per active customer or similar.

Do they really want to peg themselves like that? I wouldn't think so. I don't want to deal with switching... but I think many of us would switch at that point.

They have the numbers of what the real cpanel cancellation was in relation to revenue.

In a year I've only been able to cancel a single buyshared node. Basically anyone with 10 or 20 a accounts usually stayed. The main people the jumped ship had hundreds.

Blesta is ok but still a far ways away. Hostbill is maybe good but very costly. Thats it.

For us we would most likely start investing time into building some sort of billing into stallion.

Francisco

I think the big difference this time is that whmcs is not the better product if they did people with that sort of pricing hostbill would become the cheaper and better option.

Hostbill also offer managed migration and is already very close price wise over 18 months.

Hostbill also did a bunch of weird stuff years ago price hiking etc which lost them a lot of people and trust.
I've still got a owned Hostbill and 5+ whmcs and blesta.

Personally we would switch back to hostbill for the short term or stick with whmcs until we had our own in house product finished. Really at the end of the day most people don't need all of the bloat that whmcs has, I bet we use maybe 10-20% of the features. Other things we have all asked for or requested never get updated or added anyways.

vpsgeek3333

@Francisco said:

@vpsgeek3333 said:
WHMCS 8.0 Beta is now available.

Sooner or later a price increase based on the cPanel model is going to happen & judging by the policies of VCs behind them I think they are going to ditch those with owned licenses in not very distant future. If you are an established provider, have been in this industry for 5+ years & your business generates a decent amount of revenue & you are or shall be looking to expand your offerings in near future then switch to something like HostBill. If you are new to the industry or you are an established host interested in offering shared & vps only then probably get an owned Blesta license.

Right now is the best time to switch because others might increase their prices once WHMCS do that.

Yep. They already do that for new licenses but it has an 'unlimited' option at $50/month. Meh, but not jaw breaking.

What do you think the price goes to? I see them doing $0.50/month per active customer or similar.

Francisco

Yes I am expecting $40-$50 for 100 active customers then $0.10- $0.20 per additional active customer. That would make it similar to cPanel model.

vpsgeek3333

@MikeA said:

@Francisco said:
What do you think the price goes to? I see them doing $0.50/month per active customer or similar.

Do they really want to peg themselves like that? I wouldn't think so. I don't want to deal with switching... but I think many of us would switch at that point.

I think you are smart enough & have been in this industry for long enough to expect anything sensible from Oakley/Webpros & whoever their other major shareholders are. Regardless of whatever their new per active customer pricing is upon a price hike, one thing is for sure that they are going to ditch unlimited customers model. If you are on a monthly license then right now is the most ideal time to switch to a viable alternative which offers owned licensing model.

vpsgeek3333

Their greed leading to per account, per core, per customer model on different products has made it very hard to survive for smaller players in the industry particularly those who offer hosting at budget prices.

lentro

@AnthonySmith said: I think the big difference this time is that whmcs is not the better product if they did people with that sort of pricing hostbill would become the cheaper and better option.

Doesn't DA qualify as a near equal competitor?

I run my servers on Virtualmin, and people come from cPanel saying it's so much better - just sadly not enough people know about it.

InceptionHosting

@lentro said: Doesn't DA qualify as a near equal competitor?

Personally I don't think so, don't get me wrong, it is a great product but cPanel is a clear winner in terms of refinement and features.

To me I don't believe WHMCS will put prices on a per-user model because it would be similar to if cPanel never did and then DA decided to go €0.20 /user, everyone would flock to cPanel no question when it became the cheaper product.

hostbill is the better product here, it would also become the cheaper one if WHMCS did that so it would be a no brainer.