Commerce vs WHMCS
This page gives an honest, side-by-side comparison to help you decide whether Commerce is the right fit for your hosting operation.
Feature Comparison
| Opterius Commerce | WHMCS | |
|---|---|---|
| License | AGPL-3.0 (open source) | Proprietary (ioncube encoded) |
| Self-hosted price | Free | $15.95–$200+ /mo |
| Source code | Fully open | Closed / encoded core |
| UI framework | Tailwind CSS + Alpine.js | Legacy Bootstrap |
| PHP requirement | 8.3 | 8.1+ |
| Domain registrars | 5 built-in | 100+ via modules |
| Payment gateways | 6 built-in | 100+ via modules |
| Provisioning | Opterius Panel (first-class) | cPanel / Plesk (first-class) |
| Multi-currency | Yes (manual exchange rates) | Yes (auto exchange rates) |
| Client portal | Modern, fully custom | Standard WHMCS template |
| Open API | Yes (Laravel routes, documented) | Partial (some endpoints) |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Hosted SaaS | Opterius Cloud (coming soon) | WHMCS Cloud |
| Email piping | Not yet | Yes |
| Affiliate module | Not yet | Yes |
| Fraud screening | Not yet | MaxMind integration |
| Community | New and growing | Large, established |
What WHMCS Does That Commerce Doesn't Yet
The following features are on the Commerce roadmap but not yet available:
- Email piping — converting inbound emails to support tickets automatically
- Affiliate / referral tracking — commission tracking for partners
- Automated fraud screening — MaxMind or similar pre-order risk checks
- Module marketplace — third-party registrar and gateway modules
- Multi-server provisioning — auto-distribute new accounts across a pool of servers
[!TIP] If your operation depends heavily on a specific WHMCS module (e.g., a niche domain registrar), check whether Commerce supports it before migrating.
What Commerce Does Better
- No licensing fees — no per-account charges, no renewal reminders, no feature tiers
- Readable source code — audit invoicing logic, tax calculations, and provisioning yourself
- Modern stack — Laravel 13, PHP 8.3, Tailwind, Alpine; no legacy template engines
- Panel integration — one-click provisioning to Opterius Panel with no extra module to install
- Simpler setup — sensible defaults out of the box; fewer configuration screens to wade through
Migration Path from WHMCS
[!WARNING] There is no automated one-click migration tool yet. The process below is manual but straightforward for small-to-medium installs.
- Export from WHMCS — use WHMCS's built-in CSV exports for clients, invoices, and services.
- Import clients — Commerce provides an import command:
php artisan commerce:import-clients clients.csv - Recreate products — manually recreate your product catalogue in Commerce (usually faster than scripting).
- Import invoices — use
php artisan commerce:import-invoices invoices.csvfor historical records. - Test payments — run a test order with a real card in Stripe's test mode before going live.
- DNS cutover — point your billing domain to the Commerce server.
[!IMPORTANT] Run both systems in parallel during migration. Keep WHMCS active until you are confident all active subscriptions, open invoices, and domain renewals are accounted for in Commerce.