WISPAPalooza 2016 Billing Software Comparison
There will be an unprecedented ten billing vendors at WISPAPalooza this year. Wow! That's a lot of choices for a WISP to sort through.
I put together a concise comparison highlighting the differences between different billing systems. Looking for something hosted in the cloud or on-premise? Looking for an established company, or a new entriant? Prefer dealing with small vendors, or large ones? This should help you narrow things down. I tried hard not to make a useless advertisement with a long list of features, but rather a digestable, fair comparison of relevant information about the competition.
Of course I hope you'll consider Freeside, but I know we're not the right fit for everyone. Please support vendors who support our industry through WIPSA membership. I hope this helps you find the right billing vendor for you!
P.S. Friends don't let friends use Quickbooks for subscriber billing. :)
--
Ivan Kohler
President and Head Geek
Freeside Internet Services, Inc.
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| WISPA member |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✖ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
| WISP features |
✔ |
✔ |
✖ |
✖ |
✖ |
✖ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
✔ |
| CDR billing / Telco features |
✔ |
✖ |
✖ |
✔ |
✖ |
✖ |
✖ |
new/preliminary |
✖ |
new/preliminary |
| Fiber ISP features |
✔ |
✖ |
✖ |
✔ |
✖ |
✖ |
✖ |
✖ |
✖ |
new/preliminary |
| Deployment |
Mostly Premise (New: Hosted) |
Hosted |
Premise |
Hosted or Premise |
Hosted |
Premise |
Premise |
Hosted |
Hosted |
Mostly Hosted (also Premise) |
| License |
Open-source |
Proprietary |
Proprietary |
Proprietary |
Proprietary |
Proprietary |
Proprietary |
Proprietary |
Proprietary |
Proprietary |
| Price |
No per-customer or license charges. Can purchase implementation, support, and customization services. |
?/customer/month |
?/customer/month |
"If you have to ask, you can't afford it" |
$0.50/customer/month |
100 customers free, then $0.05-$0.70/customer/month |
$0.63-$1.40/customer/month |
$0.50-$1.25/customer/month |
$0.90-$1.30/customer/month |
$0.95-$1.35/customer/month |
| Monthly price, 1000 customers |
$195 |
? |
? |
? |
$500 |
$170 |
$1330 |
$1250 |
$1300 |
$1200 |
| Monthly price, 3500 customers |
$395 |
? |
? |
? |
$1750 |
$368 |
$3920 |
$4375 |
$3150 |
$3325 |
| Monthly price, 10,000 customers |
$800 |
? |
? |
? |
$5000 |
$641 |
$11,250 |
$9,100 |
$9,000 |
? |
| Ongoing development |
Active (new major version this year) |
Active |
Active |
Telco consulting-ware |
Active (new product) |
Minimal |
Active |
Active (new product) |
Active |
Active (new major version last year) |
| Vendor country |
US |
Ireland (sold through US distributors) |
US |
US |
US |
Canada (Platypus in US) |
US |
US |
Philippines |
US |
| Vendor business/ownership |
Billing software |
Billing software |
Billing and geologic software |
Billing software |
MDU ISP (VideoDirect) |
Domain names, mobile phone service (OpenSRS, Ting, Tucows) |
WISP (Bertram wireless) |
Billing software |
Billing software, managed ISP services (call center, email/web hosting) |
Billing software |
| Vendor size |
Small |
Small |
Tiny |
Huge |
Tiny |
Medium |
Large |
Small |
Medium |
Tiny |
| Since |
1998 |
2005 (2010 USA) |
1997 |
1970 |
2015 |
1996 |
2003 |
2015 |
1996 |
2007 (2010 billing features) |
| Notable fact(s) |
Mature and full-featured ISP and CDR billing. New UI, WISP mapping features and hosted option. |
Simple hosted system for small WISPs, almost like a franchise |
Old ISP system, dormant for years, revived in 2012 |
Large telco/cableco system |
New system with MDU features |
Windows client (and server). Can print and mail your invoices. |
Humongous trade show booths. Glassdoor horror stories. |
Ex-Powercode team, early access discount, rapid development |
Can also host your email and answer your support calls |
No longer requires Adobe Flash |
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