Jan 2027 Price Increases

[We Connect Nordic AB]

Well Another year another price increase.

we just got this email
 

Quote

We're writing to let you know about a pricing adjustment affecting the monthly cost of your WHMCS license, effective January 1, 2027. Full pricing is available in our updated WHMCS Customer Licensing Guide 2027.

 

Over the past year, we've continued investing in the product to help you grow.

 

Available now

 

Higher payment success
Stripe Dynamic Payments displays the payment methods most likely to succeed for each buyer, including local payment methods in the buyer's market. This reduces failed payments and related support requests.

 

Audit-ready billing
Credit and debit notes are created automatically whenever an invoice amount changes, and published invoices can't be altered by default. EU VAT rules update daily across 29 countries. Peppol e-invoicing is now available, starting with Belgium, to support compliance as e-invoicing mandates expand across Europe.

 

A rebuilt cart
The Nexus cart updates in real time, so promo codes, taxes and product options change without a page reload. AI-assisted domain suggestions offer alternatives when a customer's domain is unavailable, which reduces cart abandonment.

 

Easier customer onboarding
ImportAssist loads customer accounts from a CSV file. This allows providers to migrate the customer base of another host, or retire a legacy billing system, without custom development.

 

Ongoing security updates
Security fixes have been released for all supported versions of WHMCS.

 

Looking ahead

 

WHMCS 9.1 is in beta now, and general availability is targeted for the end of October. It includes:

• A complete checkout API, allowing providers to operate their own storefront while using WHMCS to process orders.
• Expanded e-invoicing coverage to support new invoicing requirements as they are introduced across Europe.
• PHP 8.4 support.
• Unattended updates, allowing security releases to be installed without a separate upgrade project.

Version 9.1 also adds options for invoice handling. Invoices remain locked by default. Providers operating outside regions that require locked invoices will be able to edit or delete invoices and disable credit notes.

 

Together, we're building a platform that supports you in running a secure, competitive, and profitable business.

 

If you have any questions, please visit our Help Center or email customerservice@whmcs.com.

 

Thank you for your continued trust in WHMCS.

 

 

Sincerely,

The WHMCS Team

17.70% price increase thats 180,48 USD Extra per year.

Source: WHMCS Customer Licensing Guide 2027 - WHMCS

we only use WHMCS as a client management system we dont do payments via WHMCS.

There has to be a cheaper alternative to this?

[Rami]

Unfortunately, this is exactly why I decided to move away from WHMCS.

I contacted WHMCS multiple times over the years, sharing my concerns and feedback, but unfortunately, I never felt that those concerns were taken seriously.

Now, in the age of AI, I have built my own client management and billing system, tailored to all my business needs, fully integrated with my existing infrastructure, without unnecessary limitations, and without recurring licensing fees.

What I genuinely struggle to understand is how the people responsible for these pricing decisions are thinking, especially in an era where AI has dramatically reduced the time and cost required to develop custom software.

And when your customers are developers, programmers, and technically experienced business owners, the situation becomes even more questionable.

WHMCS could have focused on retaining loyal customers, listening to their feedback, and building long-term relationships. Instead, continuous price increases are pushing those customers to build their own alternatives.

Once someone invests the time to build a system that perfectly fits their business, why would they ever want to go back to paying increasing licensing fees?

My next step is already planned: building my own alternative to cPanel for my clients, fully integrated with my existing platform.

I believe the software industry is entering a new era, and companies that continue relying on restrictive licensing models and repeated price increases without adapting to this reality may eventually lose the very customers who helped them grow.

Sometimes, losing a customer doesn't just mean losing a subscription. It means creating a future competitor.

[SwiftModders]

2 hours ago, We Connect Nordic AB said:

There has to be a cheaper alternative to this?

Of course, it's simply not to use the platform. However, as long as people continue to pay after each price increase, they won't change their practices.

Personally, I stopped using WHMCS altogether once they dropped owned licenses. That was the end of the line for me, and the only reason I still give WHMCS any money is that they require an active license to download the latest version of WHMCS. I have many clients using my themes, so I can't simply abandon them because I don't like their business practices. But, hey, screw your community, right?

I won't go advertising alternatives, but you don't have to search hard to find them.

[-M-]

Yeah or just develop your own solution, like we did. 🙂

Not only cheaper (in the end), but also faster, more control, less bugs and (which is the best part) only include what you really use! We don't use 60% or 70% of WHMCS functions. The majoriity is for us considered as bloatware (no offence meant). 
But I fully understand that for the majority WHMCS is a complete solution and they lack the skills to developer their own solution. Then you have to search for alternatives and like SwiftModders stated; there are quite a few alternatives available nowadays (2026).

Sidenote; everything owned by WebPros; SolusVM, WHMCS, Plesk, cPanel, etc. etc. etc. all suffer from yearly price increases. It's absurd. Back in the day (7 or 8 years ago) we had over 800 Plesk licenses. But after many years of price increases (7th price increase in a row) we are down to less than 50 Plesk licenses. Our server customers do not want to pay absurd prices (or price increases) for an interface where 80% is never used. For interface panels there is even a wider choice nowadays. And instead of paying over 500 Euro's for a Web Host Edition; we are now paying just a bit more than 1/3 a year. For almost 95% same functions.

The difference in the past was Plesk support, but with AI, who needs support anymore. We don't. Our customers don't. Nobody does. 

My 2 cents; look around for alternative solutions, dig in and test it. In the end you can save a lot of money!

[bear]

4 hours ago, -M- said:

but with AI, who needs support anymore. We don't. Our customers don't. Nobody does.

Can't say I agree there. This will likely bite you at some point, badly. 

[carlpeeter32]

Another price increase stings, but in my experience the honest conversation with clients matters more than the number itself. I send a short email explaining what the increase covers and give plenty of notice, and I have not lost a single customer over it yet. The trick is telling them early rather than letting them discover it on the invoice.

[GenShift]

Same here. Another increase, and it hits small providers and startups the hardest.

I get the "just build your own" and "just switch" advice, and for some teams it makes sense. But for most of us, years of client data, invoices, products, tickets and automations live inside WHMCS. Building a replacement that actually works means at least 3 to 6 months of development and testing in our experience, plus a careful data migration where one mistake can mean billing errors or lost client history. That is a real cost and a real risk, not just a license fee.

That is exactly why it feels unfair. A lot of us are locked in by our own data, so a yearly increase is easy for them and painful for us.

What I would like to see from WHMCS:
- A startup or small-provider tier, or pricing based on the number of active clients
- A notice period longer than a few months, with a clear price roadmap
- A cheaper plan for people who only use WHMCS for client management and not for payments, like the original poster

I think the best thing we can do is send this feedback to WHMCS directly, and in numbers. If enough of us write to customerservice@whmcs.com, it is harder to ignore than community complaints.

[bear]

On 10/12/2026 at 12:35 PM, GenShift said:

If enough of us write to customerservice@whmcs.com, it is harder to ignore than community complaints.

They will likely refer you to the requests thing, where it's hard to find and frequently ignored. Often we get some new thing they said folks asked for, yet there are few indications they had, at least publicly. Not sure they will handle this any differently, especially when it comes to price increases or license level changes.