What licenses does a reseller need?

This is worth saying plainly, because it is the main argument for starting on a reseller plan. The control panel, the isolation, the security suite — all licensed by us, all included in what you pay.

The only licence you might buy while still a reseller is billing software, and only once you have enough customers that invoicing by hand has become the worst part of your week.

1. A control panel

cPanel/WHM if your customers expect it, DirectAdmin if the licence cost matters more than familiarity. Not optional once anyone other than you touches the server.

2. Account isolation

CloudLinux puts every account in its own limits, so one bad site cannot take down the other forty. If you are selling hosting this is the difference between one customer’s problem and everyone’s.

3. Security

Imunify360 or CXS: malware scanning and intrusion detection. It finds what an outdated plugin let in before your customer does.

4. Billing

WHMCS takes the order, raises the invoice, creates the account and suspends it when the invoice goes unpaid.

Bought direct from the vendors, those four together are routinely more than the server they run on, and the control panel bill grows every time you sell another account.

As shared licences they start at $2.16 a month for the add-ons and $7.55 for a control panel. Same software, same vendor updates, a fraction of the price — which at this end of the market is most of your margin.

The full range is on the [licenses page](route:licenses), and a [cPanel VPS](route:cpanel-vps) bundles the server and the panel on one invoice.

Not when you want root. When the reseller plan is nearly full and you are willing to be the person who fixes the server at midnight.

Until both are true, the reseller plan is cheaper once you count your own time — and the licences you are not paying for are a large part of why.