Nuvabill vs Blesta
Blesta and Nuvabill are both self-hosted billing systems for hosting companies, and both let you read their code. The big differences are the license, the price and how long each has been around.
The short answer
Blesta is commercial software from Phillips Data, Inc. It has been sold to hosting companies for many years, and you buy a monthly or an owned license. It includes billing, provisioning and support with a knowledge base, and there is a free trial.
Nuvabill is free and open source under the AGPL-3.0, with no license fee and no limit on clients. It is new (first release September 2026) and covers the core of a hosting business: store, invoices, payments, domains, control panel and VPS automation, and support tickets. Some things Blesta has, like a knowledge base and proration, are still on our roadmap.
Side by side
| Nuvabill | Blesta | |
|---|---|---|
| License | Open source (AGPL-3.0) | Commercial license, monthly or owned |
| Price | Free. An optional White-label License that removes the "Powered by Nuvabill" credit is $49 a year per site. | Paid license: check the vendor site |
| Source code | All code is on GitHub; you may change and share it under the AGPL | Source you can read and extend, under Blesta's own license |
| Self-hosted | Yes, on shared cPanel hosting or your own server | Yes |
| Store, invoices, renewals, taxes, coupons | Yes | Yes |
| Prorated upgrades | Yes: clients pay only the difference for the days left | Yes |
| Late fees and automations | Yes: late fees, follow-up emails and ticket rules, with templates and a log | Late fees; check the vendor site for more |
| Quotes, client wallet, affiliates | Yes | Check the vendor site |
| Control panels | cPanel & WHM, DirectAdmin, Plesk, plus free CyberPanel and HestiaCP modules | cPanel, Plesk, DirectAdmin; check the vendor site for others |
| VPS | Virtualizor and Proxmox VE, managed inside the client area, plus free VirtFusion, SolusVM and Hetzner modules, and DigitalOcean on the Marketplace | VirtFusion; check the vendor site for others |
| Domain registrars | ResellerClub, Namecheap, Enom, OpenSRS | Yes, with registrar sync (for example NameSilo) |
| Payment gateways | Stripe, PayPal, bank transfer, and Iraqi payments with FIB, FastPay and Wayl | 30+ gateways |
| Support tickets | Yes | Yes |
| Knowledge base | Yes, with search and articles in every language, plus announcements and a network status page | Yes |
| Import from WHMCS | Yes, built in: clients, products, services, domains, invoices, payments and tickets | Check the vendor site |
| Import from Blesta | Yes, built in, with a dry run first. Clients keep their passwords when you give Blesta's system key. | Not applicable |
| Sign-in security | Two-factor sign-in and passkeys for staff and clients, CAPTCHA, fraud checks | Check the vendor site |
| Languages | 12, including Thai and Mongolian, with right-to-left Arabic and Kurdish. Emails and PDF invoices in each client's language. | Check the vendor site |
| Updates | Signed one-click updates with backup and automatic rollback | Check the vendor site |
| Free trial | No trial needed: it is free. Or try the live demo. | Yes, 30 days |
| Track record | New (first release September 2026) | Many years |
When Nuvabill isn't the right fit yet
- You need a gateway, registrar or server module that only Blesta has, such as VirtFusion.
- You want a product with a long track record and paid vendor support behind it.
When Nuvabill is a good fit
- You want no license fee at all, and the freedom to change and share the code.
- You run cPanel, DirectAdmin, Plesk, Virtualizor or Proxmox servers, or sell your own dedicated servers.
- You are moving from WHMCS or Blesta and want a built-in importer that shows a dry run first and keeps client passwords.
- You need local payment methods: Iraqi payments with FIB, FastPay and Wayl are included.
- Your clients read Arabic or Kurdish and need right-to-left pages.
Try it yourself: the live demo has sample clients, invoices and tickets. It resets every hour.
Also comparing others? See Nuvabill vs WHMCS and Nuvabill vs FOSSBilling.
Blesta is a trademark of Phillips Data, Inc. Nuvabill is an independent project by RapidNet Ltd and is not affiliated with Blesta. Details about Blesta come from its public website and may change; "check the vendor site" means we could not confirm it there. Check blesta.com for current features and prices. Last checked 28 September 2026.
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