panelica/pnlcs-runtime repository overview

⁠PNLCS — Open-Source WHMCS Alternative

Self-hosted hosting billing & client management platform — a free, open-source alternative to WHMCS, Blesta, and HostBill.

🌐 Live Production: https://hosting.panelica.com⁠ 📦 Source Code: https://github.com/Panelica/pnlcs⁠

⁠Screenshots

Client Portal — Hosting Management (files, mail, databases, FTP, subdomains, DNS, cron, backups)

DNS Zone Editor — one zone at a time, with the records that keep a site online locked

Admin Dashboard

Homepage (Default Theme)

Homepage (Coral Theme)

Language Manager (30 Languages)

Appearance & Themes (15 Built-in)

Servers Configuration

Support Tickets

⁠What is PNLCS?

PNLCS (Panelica License & Customer System) is a complete hosting business management platform built with modern technologies. If you're running a web hosting, domain reseller, VPS, or SSL business and looking for a free open-source WHMCS alternative, PNLCS gives you everything you need — without monthly license fees.

Keywords: WHMCS alternative, open source billing software, hosting billing platform, client management system, hosting CRM, Laravel billing, self-hosted billing, free WHMCS replacement, hosting automation, domain reseller software, VPS billing, web hosting management.

⁠First-Run Setup (Install Wizard)

After deploy completes (3-5 minutes), open the access URL and you will be guided through the in-app install wizard at /install:

1. Requirements — PHP version, extensions, writable directories
2. Database — auto-skipped when running via Docker (credentials are passed via env vars)
3. Admin Account — you choose the username, email, and password
4. App Settings — public URL, application name, default locale
5. Done — wizard locks itself permanently and redirects to login

No default admin credentials — you create them during the wizard.

⁠Features

⁠💼 Client Management

• Full client lifecycle: signup, KYC, suspension, termination
• Client portal with dashboard, services, invoices, tickets
• Admin roles & permissions (RBAC)
• Client groups, custom fields, contact persons

⁠🌐 Domain Management

• Domain registration & transfer (Enom, Manual)
• WHOIS lookup, DNS management
• Auto-renewal with grace periods
• TLD pricing tables, premium domains

⁠🖥️ Server Provisioning

• Panelica (native integration)
• cPanel/WHM
• Plesk
• DirectAdmin
• Proxmox (VPS/KVM)
• Custom plugin architecture for any panel

⁠🧰 Hosting Management (Panelica servers)

Customers manage their hosting inside the billing portal — no second login:

• File Manager — browse, upload, download, edit, rename, delete
• Email Accounts — create/delete mailboxes, change passwords, webmail
• Databases — MySQL databases and users, password resets, phpMyAdmin access
• FTP Accounts — create, change password, delete
• Subdomains — real vhost, document root, PHP-FPM pool, SSL and DNS provisioned by the panel
• DNS Zone — A / AAAA / CNAME / MX / TXT / SRV / CAA records
• Cron Jobs — schedule, run now with output, pause/resume
• Backups — take restore points, see size and contents, delete

Every list and every write is fenced to the customer's own domains (the server API key is operator-wide — that is the mistake this integration does not make), plan limits gate the forms, and the SOA/NS/apex records that keep a site online are read-only. Restore is deliberately left to the hosting panel.

⁠💳 Payment Gateways

• Stripe (cards, subscriptions, 3D Secure)
• PayPal (Express Checkout, recurring)
• Authorize.Net
• Bank Transfer (manual approval)
• Pluggable architecture — add your own

⁠🔒 SSL Certificates

• Automated SSL ordering & provisioning
• Status polling, renewal reminders
• Multi-vendor support

⁠🎫 Support Ticketing

• Multi-department, priority levels
• Auto-escalation, SLA tracking
• Knowledge base with article ratings
• Email-to-ticket pipeline

⁠🌍 Multi-Language (30 Languages)

Arabic · Azerbaijani · Catalan · Czech · Danish · German · Greek · English · Spanish · Estonian · Persian · Finnish · French · Hebrew · Croatian · Hungarian · Italian · Japanese · Korean · Macedonian · Dutch · Norwegian · Polish · Portuguese · Romanian · Russian · Swedish · Turkish · Ukrainian · Chinese

⁠🎨 15 Built-in Themes

Switch the entire UI with one click. Built on Tailwind CSS 4 + Alpine.js.

⁠📊 Other

• Product bundles, overage billing, auto-renew
• Tax rules (per region, per product)
• Dynamic translations (admin-editable from UI)
• REST API + Webhooks
• Theme system with overrides

⁠Tech Stack

• Backend: PHP 8.4, Laravel 13
• Database: MySQL 8 / MariaDB 10.6+
• Frontend: Blade + Tailwind CSS 4 + Alpine.js
• Optional: Redis (cache/queue), Supervisor (queue workers), Vite (asset compilation)
• Architecture: ~90 tables, 65+ models, 119 Blade views, 200+ routes, 42 API endpoints

⁠Quick Start (Docker)

docker network create pnlcs-net

docker run -d --name pnlcs-db --network pnlcs-net \
  -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=changeme \
  -e MYSQL_DATABASE=pnlcs -e MYSQL_USER=pnlcs -e MYSQL_PASSWORD=changeme \
  mariadb:11

docker run -d --name pnlcs --network pnlcs-net -p 8090:80 \
  -e DB_HOST=pnlcs-db -e DB_DATABASE=pnlcs \
  -e DB_USERNAME=pnlcs -e DB_PASSWORD=changeme \
  -e APP_URL=http://localhost:8090 \
  panelica/pnlcs-runtime:1.2

# Wait 3-5 min, then visit http://localhost:8090/install to run the install wizard

⁠Update to Latest Code

docker exec pnlcs /usr/local/bin/update.sh

Or set AUTO_UPDATE=1 in env to auto-pull on every container restart.

⁠Environment Variables

⁠Volumes

⁠Why This Image?

Runtime-clone architecture — the image contains only the runtime (PHP-FPM 8.4, nginx, Node.js 20, Composer, Supervisor, Git). Application code is cloned from GitHub on first start, so:

• ✅ Always latest — no waiting for image rebuilds when PNLCS releases new code
• ✅ Tiny image — ~340 MB (vs 800 MB+ for full-bake images)
• ✅ Easy rollback — set PNLCS_BRANCH=v1.0.0 to pin a specific tag
• ✅ Hackable — docker exec -it pnlcs sh and edit files directly for development

⁠Production Deployment

For production, deploy this image via the Panelica Server Panel Docker Template Catalog (one-click deploy with auto-generated DB password, persistent volumes, and reverse-proxy integration). See https://panelica.com⁠.

⁠Links

• 📦 GitHub Repository: https://github.com/Panelica/pnlcs⁠
• 🐳 Docker Hub: https://hub.docker.com/r/panelica/pnlcs-runtime⁠
• 📖 Documentation: https://github.com/Panelica/pnlcs/blob/main/README.md⁠
• 🌐 Production Demo: https://hosting.panelica.com⁠
• 💬 Issues & Support: https://github.com/Panelica/pnlcs/issues⁠
• 🏠 Panelica Project: https://panelica.com⁠
• 🎯 Forum: https://forum.panelica.com⁠

⁠License

PNLCS is released under the MIT License⁠.

Free for personal and commercial use. Modify, redistribute, host as a service — no restrictions.

Tags: whmcs-alternative billing hosting crm laravel self-hosted open-source php mysql docker