Writer: Laura Bernheim
Editor: Lillian Castro
Reviewer: Cristian Lopez
The world of master reseller hosting can be just as perplexing as the movie “Inception” to those not in the know. The 2010 sci-fi action film introduced moviegoers to a complex and confusing world of never-ending staircases, unraveling perceptions of reality, and dreams within dreams.
Many experienced site owners already know that traditional reseller web hosting entails a hosting customer selling off portions of his or her server resources to clients. While Leonardo DiCaprio and his “Inception” costars navigate the various levels of subconsciousness with dramatic kicks, master resellers represent that next level of the hosting dream in that they can give their customers the ability to resell their server space to a third level of consumers.
To be an effective master reseller, you’ll need ample high-performance computing power, along with the software tools to efficiently manage your hosting business. We’ve compiled a list of our 10 favorite master reseller hosting companies that can help you dream big.
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1. Liquid Web — Best VPS Master Reseller Hosting
Aspiring resellers can start their businesses off on the right foot with a VPS reseller hosting plan from Liquid Web. The web host has introductory plans that start for as little as $5.00 per month for resellers with a limited number of customers. As your reseller business grows, you can upgrade to one of Liquid Web’s managed VPS plans: Essential, Advanced, or Professional.
As you upgrade, each plan comes with more RAM, CPUs, and SSD-powered storage. SSDs, or solid-state drives, equip your customers with faster read/write speeds — an enticing value proposition to make your offering stand out from the competition.
Liquid Web lets your customers choose from several control panel options, including cPanel, Plesk, or InterWorx. They’ll also enjoy the web host’s staggering 100% uptime guarantee, which is tough to match in the hosting world.
LiquidWeb.com
Monthly Starting Price $3.50
- High-speed hosting that’s faster than AWS, Rackspace, and Digital Ocean
- FREE backups, CDN, and DDoS protection
- Up to 16 processors with all-SSD storage
- Choice between cPanel, Plesk, or InterWorx
- Real-time monitoring and 100% uptime guarantee
- Get started on Liquid Web now.
Christina Lewis
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 30 GB – 800 GB | New or Transfer | 6 minutes |
See our full review of Liquid Web >>
2. InMotion Hosting — Best NVMe Master Reseller Hosting
When comparing the best master reseller hosting options, perks like scalable computing environments, high-performance solid-state drives, helpful software for client and billing management, and the ability to create an unlimited number of cPanel accounts all represent those Inception-style kicks that can take an average reseller business venture to the next level.
Reseller hosting can take on a variety of forms. At the lowest level, entrepreneurs get a larger-than-average shared hosting environment they can portion out and sell to a small group of customers. Other web hosting providers prefer to offer resellers credits or wholesale pricing on individual products they can then advertise at a profitable rate.
Because master resellers serve a much larger customer base, a top-tier VPS or dedicated server is typically the best bet. With the root access and added control site owners have over the larger hosting environments, virtually any of these plans can be turned into a reseller account — just make sure to check your provider’s terms and conditions to make sure it’s ok.
Thanks in large part to the wide range of server options, we especially appreciate the services InMotion Hosting offers to resellers. The company gives entrepreneurs a choice between well-rounded shared server space and supercharged virtual machines — both featuring complete SSD storage, free WHMCS, unlimited cPanel accounts, an eNom domain name reseller account, and one of the best money-back guarantees in the industry.
What’s more, InMotion will help transfer you, your resellers, and customer accounts to the company’s hardware with seamless, hassle-free site transfers. Check out our full review of the company to learn more:
InMotionHosting.com
Monthly Starting Price $0.99
- Best for agencies/freelancers building a hosting business
- Free WHMCS, cPanel/WHM, and eNom domain reseller license
- White-label hosting, custom nameservers, 100 cPanel licenses
- Monarx security and free dedicated IPs on all plans
- 90-day money-back guarantee, longest in the reseller market
- Get started on InMotion Hosting now.
Dave McQuilling
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90 days | 80 GB SSD – 300 GB SSD | Select Plans | 5 minutes |
See our full review of InMotion Hosting >>
3. Hosting.com — Best Master Reseller Hosting With Free WHMCS Account
You have customers, your customers have customers… how are you going to keep it all straight? Beyond the technology setup associated with partitioning server resources and configuring cPanel accounts, resellers need to account for billing management and customer support.
Fortunately, many top providers include the super useful WHMCS as an added perk. The platform, usually available as a one-click installation through Softaculous or other popular script libraries, simplifies and automates common tasks associated with running a web hosting business.
To be clear, WHMCS is entirely different from the WHM software usually paired with cPanel licenses. WHM, which stands for Web Host Manager, provides administrative access to various server management and configuration tools within the cPanel interface.
WHM users can use the software to create and manage multiple cPanel accounts for customers, monitor and protect their server, transfer or back up data, and designate reseller accounts with the proper access.
As for the other program, WHMCS — or, Web Hosting Manager Complete Solution — focuses on automation and efficiency when it comes to provisioning cPanel accounts and server resources, sending invoices and collecting payments, and providing well-integrated tools for customer support.
With WHMCS licenses starting out just shy of $20 per month, finding a reseller hosting provider willing to include the program for free is important for web hosting business owners.
For that perk, we turn to hosting.com. Especially known for supercharged servers that deliver page loads 20 times faster than standard architectures, the company includes free WHMCS or Blesta with three of its four reseller hosting plans, along with an eNom domain reseller account.
What’s more, hosting.com customers can upgrade their WHMCS to include additional features and the capacity to handle more clients. Learn more about the company by reading our review below:
Hosting.com
Monthly Starting Price $24.50
- Best for agencies managing client sites at scale
- AMD EPYC, NVMe SSD, and full LiteSpeed license on all plans
- Fully white-label, private nameservers, 12 global locations
- Free migrations handled by in-house team — not self-serve
- WHMCS, Blesta, and Upmind API integration included
- Get started on hosting.com now.
Christina Lewis
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 100 – 500 GB NVMe | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
See our full review of hosting.com »
4. Hostwinds — Best Cheap Master Reseller Hosting
A lean budget is of the utmost importance for all new or small businesses, whether they’re in the hosting industry or not. Keeping costs low gives companies more room to remain open and try to turn a profit while maximizing income. As such, affordability is critical when it comes to finding the right host for your master reseller business.
Instead of simply turning to the cheapest host that will do the bare minimum for you or the slew of master reseller providers with operations overseas, look for an established and trusted hosting company that will give you the tools to succeed: high-performance infrastructure, helpful support, and the trifecta of cPanel, WHM, and WHMCS.
Particularly at the VPS, cloud, and dedicated server levels — the configurations most helpful to master resellers — Hostwinds ranks near the top in terms delivering the biggest bang for a customer’s buck.
Admittedly, the specific plan we’ve highlighted in our review below likely won’t be the best fit for master resellers (in fact, the company has three different programs for resellers), as it focuses on distributing shared hosting and cPanel subscriptions, but Hostwinds boasts a price structure that’s far below the industry norm.
Master resellers will be far better served by looking at a VPS or dedicated server through Hostwinds. Still, take a look at the basics of the company’s offerings by clicking on our full review below:
Hostwinds.com
Monthly Starting Price $4.54
- Per-account pricing — discounts up to 20% as you grow
- Fully white-label — no Hostwinds branding for your clients
- 24/7 monitoring with automatic support ticket dispatch
- Nightly backups, free SSL, cPanel, and Softaculous included
- Free migrations and 24/7 managed support
- Get started on Hostwinds now.
Jack Wallen
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 days | Unlimited | New or Transfer | 6 minutes |
See our full review of Hostwinds >>
5. InterServer — Best Unlimited Master Reseller Hosting
Master reseller web hosting sounds like a painfully nerdy Xzibit meme from MTV’s “Pimp My Ride”: “Yo dawg, I heard you like reseller hosting, so I added reseller hosting to your reseller hosting account so you can resell your reseller hosting.”
The same type of absurdity follows the concept of unlimited anything in the hosting realm; shared hosting providers, in particular, tout limitless storage, bandwidth, memory, email accounts, and more (Buzz Lightyear’s “To infinity and beyond,” anyone?). But servers have limits, and penalties exist for those that misuse or overstep their allotted resources.
In terms of reseller or master reseller hosting, unlimited typically refers to the number of cPanel account or license installations you can configure on your account, though you could also theoretically expand that definition to cover the number of domain names, websites, or anything else on that list from before.
While master resellers with lofty business aspirations will certainly appreciate the vast number of cPanel licenses (though pushing any boundaries quickly approaches overselling your infrastructure), your customers will similarly appreciate ample server space and other resources.
InterServer combines spacious servers with unlimited cPanel accounts and domains with its reseller hosting accounts, which enable resellers to give their customers all the features included with the company’s traditional shared hosting plans: unlimited SSD storage and emails, a drag-and-drop website builder, and impressive proprietary tools for content caching and website security.
Check out our review below for more information:
InterServer.net
Monthly Starting Price $19.95
- Unlimited client accounts and domains on all plans
- Price-lock guarantee — reseller rates never increase at renewal
- Daily backups, InterShield security, and no setup fee
- Private DNS servers and dedicated IP on all plans
- Monthly billing available — no long-term contract required
- Get started on InterServer now.
Sead Fadilpasic
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 80 GB SSD – 280 GB SSD | New or Transfer | 4 minutes |
See our full review of InterServer >>
Best of the Rest for Master Reseller Web Hosting
Master reseller, or its cousins alpha master and super alpha master reseller hosting (yes, really), are hard to find. The more tiers of sellers you add, the faster you can expect to chew through server resources and need to expand to a larger virtual or dedicated server.
Hosts might be cautious about openly promoting this service, possibly due to low demand or a narrow target audience that already possesses the technical skills to establish a business like this on a major hosting platform.
Even among our favorite web hosts in the world, simple reseller hosting isn’t as popular as you might think. We wanted to make sure to call attention to these options for those who are just getting started with reseller hosting — and, hey, if you succeed with your first venture, you can easily migrate your growing business to that host’s upgraded services.
Whether you’re looking to set up your first reseller company or are looking for a home for your established, multitier organization, be sure to consider the reseller, VPS, and dedicated server options we’ll happily vouch for below:
6. HostGator
In addition to scalable computing power, free WHMCS, and unlimited domains, emails, and databases, HostGator pairs its reseller accounts with the domain-buying power of its sister company ResellerClub (more on them later). Resellers can register, manage, and renew domains for their clients, unlocking more than 70 top-level domains. You can integrate the free account through WHMCS or an API and receive up to 80% off registrations.
Although HostGator’s reseller plan comes with a little less storage space and bandwidth than we’d like to see, the company makes the process of upgrading to larger servers extremely affordable — that’s why we consider HostGator the best host to grow with. The company’s 45-day money-back guarantee is two weeks longer than the industry average, but our favorite feature may be the collection of more than 400 video tutorials you can place your branding on to help your clients learn and succeed.
HostGator.com
Monthly Starting Price $34.99
- Start a company with cPanel reseller hosting
- Unlimited domains, emails, and MySQL databases
- 99.9% uptime guarantee and 400+ tutorials
- All web hosting reseller plans include WHMCS
- FREE ResellerClub account for domains
- Get started on HostGator now.
Lynn Cadet
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 100 GB SSD – 450 GB SSD | New or Transfer | 4 minutes |
7. HostPapa
Yes, HostPapa is a few dollars per month more expensive than many competitors on this list, but the company provides the perks to make the investment plenty worthwhile. In addition to larger capacities of SSD-powered storage, HostPapa removes all restrictions on what you and your clients can create; there are no limits to the domains, websites, cPanel accounts, databases, or email accounts.
Resellers can enjoy a brandable cPanel interface, along with private nameservers. We also appreciate how the company pairs performance and security, with RAID arrays, caching, and a content delivery network matching up with around-the-clock network monitoring, brute-force detection, server firewalls, and free SSL certificates.
HostPapa.com
Monthly Starting Price $29.99
- Keep 100% of profits, set your own pricing, no revenue sharing
- Free WHMCS or ClientExec billing software included
- NVMe storage with per-account RAM and CPU controls
- RAID10 redundancy, Acronis backups, KernelCare live updates
- White-label cPanel/WHM, private nameservers, domain reseller account
- Get started on HostPapa now.
Laura Bernheim
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 50 GB – 250 GB NVMe | FREE (1 year) | 5 minutes |
8. AccuWebHosting
Showcasing cloud-based performance and a wide variety of Windows or Linux server configurations, AccuWebHosting is another great host around which to consider building a master reseller business. We’d perhaps like to see the storage capacities bumped a little higher, but the CloudLinux operating system and LiteSpeed web servers help the environments run effectively.
AccuWebHosting is another unlimited reseller host, covering domains, websites, email, FTP accounts, and databases. Throw in modern versions of PHP and HTTP/2 support, and your business will be well-suited to adapt alongside new technologies. Your customers can use the popular RVSitebuilder and more than 100 auto-installation scripts covering popular tools such as WordPress, phpBB, OSCommerce, and others.
AccuWebHosting.com
Monthly Starting Price $11.99
- Choose between Windows or Linux reseller plans
- VPS or shared reseller options available
- SSD storage with CloudLinux and LiteSpeed
- FREE management with cPanel, WHM, and WHMCS
- Unlimited domains, email, FTP, and databases
- Get started on AccuWebHosting now.
Jack Wallen
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB SSD – 150 GB SSD | New or Transfer | 4 minutes |
9. GoDaddy
What better brand to align your business with than the world’s largest web hosting company? Always the go-to spot for new domain name registrations and first-time web hosting accounts, GoDaddy leverages its reputation into a strong reseller program that’s a little different than many others in the marketplace. Instead of getting a flat commission, resellers can set their own profit margins and select which product to sell to customers.
While you design your own customer-facing online marketplace, GoDaddy powers all the product management, sales, payment processing, and billing systems with in-house systems. The company will help you upsell more products, access and manage customer accounts, offer promotions, and build informative reports. We especially like how GoDaddy integrates with your existing WordPress site; APIs enable you to integrate the company’s domain search functionality and gives customers the ability to add products to shopping carts.
GoDaddy.com
Monthly Starting Price $107.88
- Get products for 20-40% off retail prices
- White-label storefront with credit card processing
- Easy integration with WordPress via GoDaddy’s API
- Sell anything: domains, hosting, email, and more
- Custom software for management and reports
- Get started on GoDaddy now.
Lynn Cadet
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | Unlimited | New or Transfer | 4 minutes |
10. ResellerClub
As the name may imply, ResellerClub knows a thing or two about reseller hosting. Believe it or not, the company has built a ton of business around reselling services and servers from two of its sister companies, Bluehost and HostGator. When it comes to its own Linux or Windows reseller options, though, ResellerClub offers the full slate of unlimited features, domain reselling, and management software. ResellerClub environments are backed by Cloudflare network security and CDN, in addition to CloudLinux, Apache, and ClamAV antivirus.
ResellerClub makes it incredibly easy at signup to upgrade to a free domain and hosting reseller account that gives you industry-best pricing on more than 500 TLDs and a free storefront. The company has also built custom modules and plugins to integrate your cPanel and WHMCS to give you complete control and added functionality.
ResellerClub.com
Monthly Starting Price $22.79
- Choice of Windows or Linux reseller packages
- Hardware via Dell servers & Intel Xeon processors
- 1-click upgrade for FREE domain reseller account
- Unlimited Plesk or cPanel accounts with all plans
- 99.99% uptime guarnatee with distributed DNS
- Get started on ResellerClub now.
Laura Bernheim
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 40 GB SSD – 200 GB SSD | New or Transfer | 4 minutes |
11. SiteGround
SiteGround goes about reseller hosting differently than the other providers on our list. Instead of giving you a ton of storage space and bandwidth, the company enables resellers to purchase hosting credits. One credit equals a year of shared hosting, and the more accounts you purchase, the higher discount you get.
Resellers can activate the accounts in one click, and customers can instantly enjoy SiteGround’s superb services. You’re limited to one website and 10GB of SSD storage per account, but SiteGround throws in a free content delivery network, caching tools, automatic daily backups, and incredibly responsive and helpful support agents.
SiteGround.com
Monthly Starting Price $4.99
- Save up to 83% — limited time offer
- Google Cloud with automatic RAM and CPU scaling
- White-label Site Tools, granular per-client access controls
- Add collaborators, manage all sites from one dashboard
- Daily and on-demand backups, free CDN and private DNS
- Get started on SiteGround now.
Lynn Cadet
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 10 GB SSD – 100 GB Google Cloud SSD | FREE (1 Year) | 6 minutes |
What Is a Master Reseller?
Reseller hosting is a type of web hosting where you can use your allocated hard drive space and bandwidth to host websites for third parties. As a reseller, you purchase the host’s services in bulk and then sell individual cPanel accounts to your customers, often making a profit. The great thing about reseller hosting is that it allows you to buy and resell web hosting services with minimal overhead and risk.
A master reseller plan, on the other hand, allows users to own, manage, and sell reseller accounts through a control panel such as WHM or WHMCS. Using a WHM account or similar management system, a master reseller plan holder can control their resellers’ resources, such as disk space, bandwidth, and the optional inclusion of an SSL certificate, and also set their own pricing for these services.
An alpha reseller hosting customer can create and manage multiple master reseller accounts, as well as reseller accounts and hosting accounts within those plan environments. Finally, a super alpha reseller account holder can create and manage alpha resellers, master resellers, and individual hosting accounts. Over the years, other reseller niches have emerged, opening up opportunities for domain reselling and managing website encryption with an SSL reseller account.
Is Reseller Web Hosting a Good Business?
Reseller hosting is a popular choice for web designers and developers who serve as site administrators for their clients. By reselling web hosting services, they can offer their clients a complete web hosting solution that includes email accounts, domain name registration, website design and development, and eCommerce solutions.
Reseller hosting is an excellent option for those eager to launch their own web hosting business. By becoming a reseller, you can offer web hosting services to your customers without needing to invest in your own infrastructure or staff.
Build Your Business by Empowering Others to Resell cPanel and WHM
Master reseller web hosting plans, with their ability to create both shared hosting and additional reseller accounts, are no doubt attractive — and perhaps a little intimidating. The additional selling power can boost your revenue, but master resellers need to keep close attention on server resources and customer support.
Exponentially growing numbers of customers can quickly make a server become overcrowded, leading to performance issues and downtime you’ll need to answer for. But, by signing up with a strong VPS-driven reseller account, your investment can slowly scale within the right-sized infrastructure. Of course, don’t hesitate to upgrade to a dedicated server (or two) as your computing requirements dictate.
If you have the time and resources to closely monitor and deal with any issues that may arise, you just may be up for the challenge of master reseller hosting. Show off your tech skills and recruit resellers you trust to represent your brand well.
Keeping to the theme of complicated twists and turns, “Inception” ends on a cliffhanger (shocking, right? Also, here comes a spoiler alert for those who dare get outraged at not knowing what happens in a movie that’s roughly a decade old). Leonardo spins a top, and users are left wondering whether he has made it back to the real world or is choosing to live with his children in a dream.
That’s the finale we leave you with — now that you have the best options for master reseller web hosting, will your business thrive or falter? We can show you the best technology platforms and add-on services that set you up for success, but your fate is wholly dependent on your business acumen, salesmanship, and the success of your clients — and, in turn, their clients.
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