On whmcs.com on 10 October 2026, the entry self-hosted WHMCS license is Plus at $34.95 per month, excluding tax, for up to 250 active clients. The plan named Starter is the fully managed cloud plan at $9.99 per month for up to 25 active clients. Three things decide your plan: self-hosted or fully managed, your active client count, and the support level you want.
Last reviewed 10 October 2026. Disclosure: I am a freelance WHMCS developer. I do not sell WHMCS licenses, and WHMCS did not pay for this guide. I read every price below on whmcs.com on the review date, and I name the WHMCS page each rule comes from. Prices and plan names change, so treat this as a dated snapshot.
How much does a WHMCS license cost per month in 2026?
A self-hosted WHMCS license starts at $34.95 per month, and the price steps up with the number of active clients. These are the self-hosted plans on the official pricing page, in US dollars and excluding tax.
| Plan | Active clients | Price per month | Support listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plus | Up to 250 | $34.95 | |
| Professional | Up to 500 | $54.95 | |
| Business | Up to 1,000 | $84.95 | Email, live chat, access to priority support |
| Business | 2,500, 5,000 or 10,000 | Shown when you pick the limit in the plan selector on the official page | Same as Business |
Prices as listed on whmcs.com on 10 October 2026; check the official page before you buy: whmcs.com/pricing. The Customer Licensing Guide linked from that page's FAQ lists further Business tiers above 10,000 clients, up to an unlimited tier.
What is the WHMCS Starter license monthly price?
Starter is $9.99 per month for up to 25 active clients, but on the pricing page today it is a fully managed plan, not a self-hosted license. WHMCS hosts the installation, and each client above the included number is charged on top.
| Fully managed plan | Active clients included | Price per month | Each additional client |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | Up to 25 | $9.99 | $0.40 |
| Growth | Up to 100 | $25.00 | $0.25 |
| Expansion | Up to 300 | $75.00 | $0.25 |
These figures come from the same page on the same date, excluding tax. Read that page's FAQ before you pick fully managed on price. At the time of review, custom theme uploads are not available, only pre-approved modules from the WHMCS marketplace can be installed, and there is no SSH or FTP access. If you need a custom module or theme, that points to self-hosted. I build custom modules, so weigh that advice accordingly.
The pricing page lists no self-hosted plan called Starter. The name also appears on WHMCS's Reseller Program page, as a tier marked "Reseller Special" that hosting providers offer to their own customers. I cover that route below.
How does WHMCS licensing work?
WHMCS is licensed monthly in tiers, and each tier is a maximum number of active clients. The pricing page defines the term: "An Active Client is defined as any client with at least one active product, service, addon or domain." The licensing guide adds that the software itself does the counting.
- Your current count. In the admin area, open Help > License Information and read the Active Client Count. The same screen shows the key, the license type, and the domains and directories it is valid for.
- Who stops counting. A client with nothing active does not meet the definition. The WHMCS knowledgebase says the status is evaluated by the daily automation tasks and follows your Client Status Update setting. As I read it, old accounts drop out only if that setting lets WHMCS mark them inactive.
- One installation per license. The knowledgebase says a license is valid for one installation only and is bound to a domain, IP address and directory path. WHMCS says licenses can be moved at will; after a move you reissue the key in the members area.
What happens when you pass your client limit?
WHMCS upgrades the license to the next tier automatically, unless you have opted out. The licensing guide says notifications appear inside the product as you approach the limit, and that once it is reached the license upgrades "with the new price taking effect on the next renewal date".
You can opt out of automatic upgrades in the WHMCS members area. You then have to upgrade by hand when you reach the limit, using the link in the in-product notification. A knowledgebase article about host-issued licenses describes an exceeded limit: the client side keeps working and taking orders, but admin management is restricted to the clients under your limit. Opt out only if someone will act on that notification.
What does every WHMCS plan include, and what costs extra?
Every self-hosted plan includes the software, the right to host it on your own server, and email and ticket support. Plans differ in the client limit and, on Business, in the support channels.
| Item | Where WHMCS lists it | Included or extra |
|---|---|---|
| Use of the software and its core features | Documentation and signup form | Included in every plan |
| Email and ticket support, 24 hours a day | Pricing page FAQ | Included for all license holders |
| No WHMCS branding | Signup form for Plus, Professional and Business | Included |
| Technical live chat support | Pricing page FAQ | Business tier only |
| Priority Support, a ticket fast track | Pricing page FAQ | Business tier, for an additional per-ticket fee. The page does not state the amount. |
| Project Management addon and Software Licensing addon | Their product pages | Extra on self-hosted; the current price is on each addon's product page. Growth includes one of them and Expansion includes both. |
| Installation, integration and migration done by WHMCS | Pricing page and services page | Extra, priced on the services page |
The same FAQ says you may take a Business license with fewer than 1,000 clients if you want live chat and priority support.
Is there an annual or one-time WHMCS license?
No, not on the official site today. The WHMCS documentation says: "We currently only offer Monthly licenses." The pricing page shows monthly prices only, with no annual price and no owned license. An earlier version of this post described one-time owned licenses with yearly support renewals. Do not budget on that.
The terms of service add three things. Licenses renew automatically each month until you cancel. You can cancel at any time from the members area, but renewals already paid are not refunded. And the 30-day money-back offer on the pricing page is for new clients only, covers license and addon charges, and must be requested from the members area within 30 days of the original purchase.
Can you get a WHMCS license through a hosting provider?
Yes. WHMCS runs a Reseller Program for web hosting providers, who offer licenses to their reseller hosting, VPS and dedicated server customers. Some hosts bundle a license into a plan and some charge for it separately, so the price and terms are the host's, not WHMCS's.
Two points on WHMCS's own reseller page help you judge an offer. First, reseller licenses "may not be sold directly to the general public or offered as a standalone product", so expect the license to be tied to a hosting service. Second, the wholesale price a host pays WHMCS depends on how many licenses the host holds. That is the host's cost. It is not your price, so compare what the host actually charges you and which client limit the license carries.
Ask the host four things: which tier it is and its client limit, what you pay when you outgrow it, who reissues the key when you move servers, and what happens to the license if you leave. Check the price on the host's own page, not on a comparison site. Disclosure: I am CTO at ElySpace, a hosting company, so I have a tie to this side of the market. I am not recommending any host here.
Is there a development or trial WHMCS license?
There is a development license, and the pricing page lists no free trial. The WHMCS FAQ says users on Plus plans or higher "can request a Development License Key to use for a secondary installation in a private testing environment". It also says people building modules may qualify for a free development license in some cases, and tells them to ask the sales team.
In place of a trial, WHMCS points to the 30-day money-back offer described above. The development key matters more than it sounds. It lets you keep a staging copy, test an upgrade or a new module there, and leave live billing alone. I work in a staging copy and not on production for that reason.
What does running WHMCS cost beyond the license?
The license is one line in the budget, and on a self-hosted installation it is never the only one. I give no amounts for other companies' prices, because they differ by provider and country. This is the list to price for yourself.
| Cost type | Paid to | How it is charged | What moves it |
|---|---|---|---|
| WHMCS license | WHMCS or your host | Monthly | Active client count and support tier |
| Server or hosting for WHMCS | Hosting provider | Monthly or yearly | Self-hosted only: size, backups and who manages it |
| Control panel license | Panel vendor or host | Recurring | Only if you run your own server with a panel |
| Payment gateway fees | Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay or another gateway | Per transaction | Revenue, currencies and refunds |
| Paid modules and themes | Third-party vendors | One time or subscription | How far your products go beyond the built-in modules |
| Setup and configuration | WHMCS services, a developer, or your own time | One time | Number of products, gateways and registrars |
| Custom development | A developer | Hourly or fixed quote. Mine is $55-$65 per hour, or a fixed quote per scope. | Scope, API quality and testing |
| Upgrades and maintenance | A developer or your own time | Recurring | How much custom code and theme work you carry |
One more disclosure, for the modules row: I founded WHMCSPilot.com, which sells WHMCS modules and themes. For what drives the custom development row, see how much custom WHMCS module development costs. For the setup row, how to set up WHMCS gives the order of work if you do it yourself, and WHMCS installation and setup covers what I do if you hand it over.
How do you choose the right WHMCS plan?
Choose by the clients you have now, not the clients you hope for. The licensing guide names two factors: the number of clients you have or expect to add immediately, and whether you want Business support.
- Decide self-hosted or fully managed first. If you need custom modules, a custom theme or server access, choose self-hosted.
- Count active clients, not signups. A new business with no clients fits Plus, the entry self-hosted plan.
- Do not buy a higher tier early. The automatic upgrade moves you up when you reach the limit, and the new price starts at the next renewal.
- Take Business below 1,000 clients only for the support. WHMCS allows it, and live chat is the reason to do it.
- If the license comes from a host, read the host's terms as carefully as the price.
If you are still planning the business, my page on how to start a hosting business puts the license next to the other launch decisions.
When is the license not your biggest cost?
The license stops being the biggest cost as soon as you need anything built. One hour of my time, at $55-$65, costs more than a month of the Plus license at $34.95. A payment gateway for a local provider, a provisioning module or a custom client area each take many hours.
Gateway fees work the same way from the other side. They are charged per transaction, so they grow with revenue, while the license only steps up with client count. Spend your comparison time where the money is: gateway terms, server choice and the scope of any custom work. If that work is what you need priced, the scope, process and limits are on my hire a WHMCS developer page. The scoping call is free and takes about 30 minutes.