The most basic and important need of any business is proper billing. You cannot imagine any successful online service provider without a billing system. Some of them have custom designed scripts to suit their own needs while many use standard billing applications available via leased or owned licenses. We will review some of these standard scripts in this article which will help users to choose the best billing system suitable for their business. I have outlined some major aspects of these billing applications based on which we will review them. These aspects are:

1. User Interface.
2. System or Control Panel Compatibility.
3. Payment Gateways support.
4. Automation.
5. Maintenance and Upgradeability.
6. Extra features.

There are many billing systems available today. I would end up writing too much if we consider each of the available applications. So we will be reviewing only three randomly selected billing applications in this article. Let us start with the most widely used billing application today.

Modernbill

Modernbill( modernbill.com ) is a product from ModernGigabyte. Modernbill is known for its rigid structure and numerous features it provides for accurate and automated billing. It is good for web hosting providers as well as for auxiliary service providers. Please note that we are considering modernbill version 4.3 and not the new beta version 5. Let us scrutinize it using the above listed points.

1. User Interface
The user interface would be something that modernbill can surely boast upon. It has got a clean interface for all the amount of functions it has got. The ordering system is fully customizable and seamlessly integrates into your website giving it a professional look.

2. System and Control Panel Compatibility

Modernbill support multi-OS and multiple control panels in a single installation which is standout feature as compared to the other billing applications. Both Windows and Linux are fully supported in modernbill and it supports control panel like Plesk, C-Panel, Ensim, Hostopia, DirectAdmin, Interworx, Helm, etc. This covers almost all industry standard control panels along with the ability to write custom modules if you want.

3. Payment Gateways Support

Modernbill supports all major payment gateways. It has built in support for 19 gateways currently. Some of them are Authorize.net, Paypal, 2checkout, Linkpoint , Bluepay etc. If you are a non-US business owner, modernbill still remains usable for you due to its support for international payment gateways. Modernbill supports automated batch processing on select gateways which facilitates hassle free recurring billing.

4. Automation

Modernbill automates almost every aspect of hosting. It has the ability to process valid orders automatically via crons. Tasks like creation of hosting accounts for the new orders on the servers, login information dispatch are all a part of automation modernbill providers. It performs automated invoice creation and batch processing as well as sends automated reminders to defaulters. It also deals with auto suspension of accounts on nonpayment.

5. Maintenance and Upgradeability

Due to the relatively robust PHP-Mysql architecture used by modernbill, there is no particular maintenance required except regular data backups which is normal for any billing system. Modernbill supports wizard based upgrades and database migration with full automation making it very easy to apply latest security patches or keep up with the version changes.

6. Extra Features:

Support for fraud detection, automated registration of domains, custom modules support, graphical reporting, integration for major helpdesks, integration for various affiliate scripts etc. are some of the extra features modernbill provides.