How to bill for Pterodactyl game servers with the official WHMCS module, Blesta, open source Paymenter or FluxBilling, compared on automation and price, plus why Panel 2.0 removing nests matters for every module.
Mario Marin9 min readPterodactyl has no billing of its own, so game server hosts connect it to a billing system through the panel’s API. The common choices are WHMCS with the official Pterodactyl module, Blesta, which ships a Pterodactyl module, and Paymenter, a free open source billing panel with a Pterodactyl extension. All of them create, suspend and delete servers automatically. Before choosing, check one thing: Pterodactyl Panel 2.0, in beta since October 2026, removes nests, and billing modules written for 1.x need updating to work with it.
How this was sourced. FluxBilling publishes this page and sells billing software for hosting providers with a Pterodactyl plugin and its own game hosting module, so it competes with the options below. Versions, features and prices were read from each project’s own documentation, repository or pricing page on 20 October 2026, in the currency it publishes; no exchange rate is applied.
The practical rule: upgrade the billing module before the panel, and test server creation and a package change on a staging panel first.
| Option | Module | Automates | Customer selects at checkout | Price (read 20 Oct 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WHMCS | Official module, github.com/pterodactyl/whmcs, MIT | Create, suspend, unsuspend, terminate, package change; Panel 1.x and 2.x | Set per product in the module settings | Self-hosted from $34.95/month for 250 clients; WHMCS Cloud from $9.99/month for 25 clients |
| Blesta | Built-in Pterodactyl module | Create, cancel, suspend, unsuspend; client panel login and start, stop, restart | Configurable options mapped to egg variables | $17.95/month, or $350 one-time owned licence |
| Paymenter | Pterodactyl extension, open source (MIT) | Provisioning with nest, egg, location, node, ports, databases, backups and resource options | Configurable options including egg, node and egg variables; port arrays | Free to self-host; hosted Paymenter Cloud from $5/month |
| FluxBilling | Pterodactyl plugin | Create, suspend, unsuspend, terminate, resize, reinstall, power, backups, startup variables | Server name; limits from the product and its add-ons | €4.95–€25/month (US $5.95–$29); plugin included |
The WHMCS module lives in the Pterodactyl GitHub organisation, requires Panel 1.0.0 or later, and on 30 September 2026 gained Panel 2.0 support. Setup is the standard WHMCS server-module routine: an API key from the panel, a server and server group in WHMCS, and a product of type Other with the module selected. WHMCS brings the largest ecosystem of add-ons and gateways. Self-hosted WHMCS costs $34.95, $54.95 or $84.95 a month for 250, 500 or 1,000 active clients. WHMCS Cloud starts at $9.99 for 25 clients plus $0.40 per extra client, but only runs pre-approved modules from WHMCS’s curated marketplace, so check that the Pterodactyl module is available there before choosing Cloud.
Blesta includes a Pterodactyl module you install from its module list. Its documentation lists create, cancel, suspend, unsuspend, management and configurable options, plus a control panel login and start, stop and restart buttons in the client area. Configurable options follow the egg’s service variables. It needs both an account API key and an application API key. Blesta costs $17.95 a month branded or $350 for an owned licence, and is a good fit if you want to own the licence outright.
Paymenter is open source billing built for hosting, released under MIT; v1.5.9 shipped on 2 October 2026. Its Pterodactyl extension exposes the most options at checkout of anything here: nest, egg, location, node, extra ports, databases, backups, startup command, CPU, IO, disk, memory, swap and all egg variables, with a port array that maps allocated ports to egg variables. It also has a WHMCS importer for clients, services and invoices. The trade-offs: its documentation lists three payment gateways (Mollie, PayPal and Stripe), with more in its extension marketplace, and it is a community project funded by sponsors. If budget decides, it is the obvious first look.
It can. In Panel 1.x, eggs sit inside nests, and billing modules typically store a nest ID and an egg ID per product. Panel 2.x has no nests. The official WHMCS module handles both since its 30 September 2026 update; older copies cannot create servers or change packages on 2.x. Before upgrading the panel:
FluxBilling is billing software for hosting providers and offers two routes for game servers.
The Pterodactyl plugin, included on every plan with no node charge, connects to your existing panel and Wings nodes:
Its limits, plainly: the location is fixed per product and the customer does not choose a node; there is no single sign-on into the panel, no egg change after ordering and no backup download. The plugin is built on Panel 1.x’s nests and eggs, so it does not support Panel 2.0 or Pelican yet. If you plan to move to 2.0 soon, the WHMCS module is ahead of us there.
Native game hosting replaces the panel instead of connecting to it. FluxBilling’s agent runs game servers in Docker containers on your own game nodes, charged at €6 per node per month ($7 for US accounts). Customers get a console, a browser file manager, backups, schedules and mods from Modrinth, CurseForge and Steam Workshop. It can read a Pterodactyl or Pelican panel read-only and import its eggs, but it does not move existing servers or customer data. It also has gaps the panels do not: no per-server reinstall or resize control, no sub-users, and backups stay on the same machine.
Both routes share the billing side: monthly or hourly cycles, hourly charged from prepaid credit with optional automatic top-up, slot add-ons for native game servers, and automatic suspension of overdue services after a grace period (three days by default). Setup is in the game hosting documentation.
FluxBilling is pre-1.0, and WHMCS and Blesta have many more years of Pterodactyl hosting behind them. Plans start at €4.95 a month ($5.95 for US accounts) with a 14-day refund; see pricing or the live demo.
No. Pterodactyl manages game servers; billing comes from a separate system connected through the panel’s API, such as WHMCS, Blesta, Paymenter or FluxBilling.
Yes. Paymenter is open source under MIT and has a Pterodactyl extension; it is free to self-host, with a hosted version from $5 a month.
Yes, since its update on 30 September 2026, which made it work with both Panel 1.x and 2.x. Earlier versions of the module cannot create servers or change packages on 2.x, so update the module before the panel.
Only where the module explicitly supports it. Pelican has changed parts of Pterodactyl’s API, so a module built for Pterodactyl 1.x may not create servers on Pelican. Check each module’s documentation and test first.
Usually from prepaid credit: the customer tops up a balance, the billing system deducts an hourly charge and suspends the server when the balance runs out. Check whether your billing system supports hourly cycles natively or needs an add-on; FluxBilling has them built in.
Pterodactyl, Pelican, Wings, WHMCS, WHMCS Cloud, Blesta, Paymenter, Docker, Modrinth, CurseForge and Steam are trademarks of their respective owners. FluxBilling is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them. Third-party details are as published on the dates above and may have changed since.
FluxBilling has moved out of open beta and is generally available for production use, with billing, DCIM, IPAM and provisioning in one platform, plus Pterodactyl Panel 2.0 and Proxmox VE 9 support.
The four platforms most VPS hosts choose between, compared on what they virtualise, how they are licensed, which billing systems they plug into and what 5, 20 and 50 nodes cost a year at published prices.
FluxBilling now has Admin AI, a chat assistant in the admin panel that looks things up, prepares changes as cards you approve, and migrates data from any billing platform or spreadsheet.
WHMCS prices by client count and its self-hosted ladder stops at 1,000. Blesta is flat and unlimited, and will sell you the licence outright. A sourced comparison, including the gap neither one fills.
If you want to own your billing platform rather than rent it, these are the two options — and beyond that they are almost nothing alike. One product versus four, and where each wins.