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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<title>WISPAPalooza 2016 Billing Software Comparison</title>
{ include('elements/header.html'); }

<div id="content1"> 

  <h6>WISPA member Billing Software Comparison 2017</h6>

<p align="left">I put together a concise comparison highlighting the differences between different billing systems.  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.

<p align="left">Of course I hope you'll consider <a href="http://freeside.biz/">Freeside</a>, but I know we're not the right fit for everyone.  These nine vendors support WISPA through association membership and trade show sponsorshop.  Please consider supporting vendors who support our industry.

<p align="left">I hope this helps you find the right billing vendor for you!

<p align="left">P.S. Friends don't let friends use Quickbooks for subscriber billing.  :)

<p align="left">
-- <br>
Ivan Kohler<br>
President and Head Geek<br>
Freeside Internet Services, Inc.<br>

<br><br>

<table width="98%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tblprod">
  <tr><td align="center" valign="top">

<table width="100%" class="comparison" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">

  <tr>
    <td></td>
    <td><a href="http://freeside.biz/"><img src="imgs/big-logo.png" alt="Freeside" width=170></a></td>
    <td><img src="http://www.wispsolutions.com/images/stories/AzotelSIMPLer/azotel-logo.gif" width=130 alt="Azotel"></a></td>
    <td><img src="https://www.billmax.com/images/BillMax-shadow.jpg" width=130 alt="Billmax"></a></td>
    <td><img src="http://www.directlinkadmin.com/img/logo.png" width=130 alt="DirectLink Admin"></a></td>
    <td><img src="http://site2.ispbilling.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/platypus_logo_250x77.jpg" width=130 alt="Platypus"></a></td>
    <td><img src="http://www.wispa.org/Portals/37/ContactImages/8978.png" width=130 alt="Powercode"></a></td>
    <td><img src="http://www.wispa.org/Portals/37/ContactImages/8952.png" width=130 alt="Sonar"></a></td>
    <td><img src="https://d1a309rwthnrm3.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/04183021/visp.png" width=130 alt="VISP"></a></td>
    <td><img src="http://www.wispmon.com/img/wispmonsm.png" width=130 alt="WISPMon"></a></td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <th>WISPA&nbsp;member</th>
    <td><span class="yes">&#x2714;</span></td>
    <td><span class="yes">&#x2714;</span></td>
    <td><span class="yes">&#x2714;</span></td>
    <td><span class="yes">&#x2714;</span></td>
    <td><span class="yes">&#x2714;</span></td>
    <td><span class="yes">&#x2714;</span></td>
    <td><span class="yes">&#x2714;</span></td>
    <td><span class="yes">&#x2714;</span></td>
    <td><span class="yes">&#x2714;</span></td>
 </tr>

  <tr>
    <th>WISP&nbsp;features</th>
    <td><span class="yes">&#x2714;</span></td>
    <td><span class="yes">&#x2714;</span></td>
    <td><span class="no">&#x2716;</span></td>
    <td><span class="no">&#x2716;</span></td>
    <td><span class="no">&#x2716;</span></td>
    <td><span class="yes">&#x2714;</span></td>
    <td><span class="yes">&#x2714;</span></td>
    <td><span class="yes">&#x2714;</span></td>
    <td><span class="yes">&#x2714;</span></td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <th>CDR&nbsp;billing / Telco&nbsp;features</th>
    <td><span class="yes">&#x2714;</span></td>
    <td><span class="no">&#x2716;</span></td>
    <td><span class="no">&#x2716;</span></td>
    <td><span class="no">&#x2716;</span></td>
    <td><span class="no">&#x2716;</span></td>
    <td><span class="no">&#x2716;</span></td>
    <td><span class="maybe">new/preliminary</span></td>
    <td><span class="no">&#x2716;</span></td>
    <td><span class="maybe">new/preliminary</span></td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <th>Fiber ISP features</th>
    <td><span class="yes">&#x2714;</span></td>
    <td><span class="no">&#x2716;</span></td>
    <td><span class="no">&#x2716;</span></td>
    <td><span class="no">&#x2716;</span></td>
    <td><span class="no">&#x2716;</span></td>
    <td><span class="no">&#x2716;</span></td>
    <td><span class="no">&#x2716;</span></td>
    <td><span class="no">&#x2716;</span></td>
    <td><span class="maybe">new/preliminary</span></td>
  </tr>


  <tr>
    <th>Deployment</th>
    <td>Mostly&nbsp;Premise (New:&nbsp;Hosted)</td>
    <td>Hosted</td>
    <td>Premise</td>
    <td>Hosted</td>
    <td>Premise</td>
    <td>Premise</td>
    <td>Hosted</td>
    <td>Hosted</td>
    <td>Mostly&nbsp;Hosted (also&nbsp;Premise)</td>
  </tr>

<!--  <tr>
    <th>Client</th>
    <td>Web</td>
    <td>Web</td>
    <td>Web</td>
    <td>Web</td>
    <td>Web</td>
    <td>Windows</td>
    <td>Web</td>
    <td>Web</td>
    <td>Web</td>
    <td>Web</td>
    <td>Web</td>
  </tr>
-->

  <tr>
    <th>License</th>
    <td>Open-source</td>
    <td>Proprietary</td>
    <td>Proprietary</td>
    <td>Proprietary</td>
    <td>Proprietary</td>
    <td>Proprietary</td>
    <td>Proprietary</td>
    <td>Proprietary</td>
    <td>Proprietary</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <th>Price</th>
    <td>No per-customer or license charges.  Can purchase implementation, support, and customization services.</td>
    <td>?/customer/month</td>
    <td>?/customer/month</td>
    <td>$0.50/customer/month</td>
    <td>100 customers free, then $0.05-$0.70/customer/month</td>
    <td>$0.63-$1.40/customer/month</td>
    <td>$0.50-$1.25/customer/month</td>
    <td>$0.90-$1.30/customer/month</td>
    <td>$0.75-$1.25/customer/month</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <th>Monthly price, 1000 customers</th>
    <td><span class="smyes">$195</span></td>
    <td>?</td>
    <td>$199</td>
    <td>$500</td>
    <td>$170 <!-- ($167 Platypus + $3 Windows 10 license amortized over 36 months) --></td>
    <td>$1330</td>
    <td>$1250</td>
    <td>$1300</td>
    <td>$1100</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <th>Monthly price, 3500 customers</th>
    <td><span class="smyes">$195</span></td>
    <td>?</td>
    <td>?</td>
    <td>$1750</td>
    <td>$368 <!-- ($314 Platypus + $54 Windows 2012 server &amp; SQL server 2014 Standard w/10 CALs, amortized over 36 months) --></td>
    <td>$3920</td>
    <td>$4375</td>
    <td>$3150</td>
    <td>$2625</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <th>Monthly price, 10,000 customers</th>
    <td><span class="smyes">$195</span></td>
    <td>?</td>
    <td>?</td>
    <td>$5000</td>
    <td>$641 <!--($472 Platypus + $169 Windows 2012 server &amp; SQL server 2014 Standard w/25 CALS, amortized over 36 months) --></td>
    <td>$11,250</td>
    <td>$9,100</td>
    <td>$9,000</td>
    <td>$7,500</td>
  </tr>

<!--

  <tr>
    <th>Monthly price, 100,000 customers</th>
    <td><span class="smyes">$195</span></td>
    <td>?</td>
    <td>?</td>
    <td>?</td>
    <td>$50,000</td>
    <td>?</td>
    <td>?</td>
    <td>$66.250</td>
    <td>$90,000</td>
    <td>?</td>
  </tr>

-->

  <tr>
    <th>Ongoing development</th>
    <td>Active (new major version last year)</td>
    <td>Active</td>
    <td>Active</td>
    <td>Active (new product)</td>
    <td>Minimal</td>
    <td>Active</td>
    <td>Active (new product)</td>
    <td>Active</td>
    <td>Active (new major version 2015)</td>
  </tr>

<!-- XXXXX .... survey says
  <tr>
    <th>Share of WISP market</th>
    <td>Small</td>
    <td>Large</td>
    <td>Small</td>
    <td>New product</td>
    <td>Large</td>
    <td>Large</td>
    <td>New product</td>
    <td>Medium?</td>
    <td>Small</td>
  </tr>
-->

  <tr>
    <th>Vendor&nbsp;country</th>
    <td>US</td>
    <td>Ireland (sold through US distributors)</td>
    <td>US</td>
    <td>US</td>
    <td>Canada (Platypus in US)</td>
    <td>US</td>
    <td>US</td>
    <td>Philippines / Hong Kong</td>
    <td>US</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <th>Vendor&nbsp;business/ownership</th>
    <td>Billing software</td>
    <td>Billing software</td>
    <td>Billing and geologic software</td>
    <td>MDU ISP (VideoDirect)</td>
    <td>Domain names, mobile phone service (OpenSRS, Ting, Tucows)</td>
    <td>WISP (Bertram wireless)</td>
    <td>Billing software</td>
    <td>Billing software, managed ISP services (call center, email/web hosting)</td>
    <td>Billing software</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <th>Vendor&nbsp;size</th>
    <td>Small</td>
    <td>Small</td>
    <td>Tiny</td>
    <td>Tiny</td>
    <td>Medium</td>
    <td>Large</td>
    <td>Small</td>
    <td>Medium</td>
    <td>Tiny</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <th>Since</th>
    <td>1998</td>
    <td>2010<!--2005 (2010 USA)--></td>
    <td>1997</td>
    <td>2015</td>
    <td>1996</td>
    <td>2003</td>
    <td>2015</td>
    <td>1996</td>
    <td>2010<!--2007 (2010 billing features)--></td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <th>Notable&nbsp;fact(s)</th>
    <td>Mature and full-featured ISP and CDR billing.  New UI, WISP mapping features and hosted option.</td>
    <td>Simple hosted system for small WISPs, almost like a franchise</td>
    <td>Old ISP system, dormant for years, revived in 2012</td>
    <td>New system with MDU features</td>
    <td>Windows client/server application; limited web interface.  Can print and mail your invoices.</td>
    <td>Humongous trade show booths.  Glassdoor horror stories.</td>
    <td>Ex-Powercode team, rapid development</td>
    <td>Can also host your email and answer your support calls</td>
    <td>No longer requires Adobe Flash</td>
  </tr>

</table>
</td></tr>
</table>

</div>

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