What Is Reseller Hosting? How It Works and Who It Is For

Reseller hosting lets you take disk, traffic and account capacity from a hosting company and sell it to your own clients, under your own brand and at your own prices. A “reseller” is simply someone who sells a service on.

The hardware, security, licences and backups of the server stay with the hosting company. You only create accounts for your clients, set your prices and look after your customers. That makes reseller hosting the lowest-cost way to start your own hosting business.

How does reseller hosting work?

When you buy a reseller plan you get a reseller panel: WHM for cPanel, the reseller level of DirectAdmin, or Plesk on Windows. From that panel you create a separate hosting account for each client.

1. You define your packages. For example, you create three packages of 5 GB, 10 GB and 20 GB and give each one your own price.
2. You create accounts for clients. Each client logs in to their own control panel (cPanel, DirectAdmin or Plesk) with their own username and cannot see other clients.
3. You sell under your own brand. You use private nameservers such as ns1.yourbrand.com, so your clients see the service as coming from you.
4. You handle billing. Most resellers automate ordering, invoicing and account creation with software such as WHMCS.

Who is reseller hosting for?

• Web design agencies and freelancers: host the sites you build on your own hosting and earn recurring income every year.
• Software companies: deliver the software you sell on your own infrastructure, under your own brand.
• Hosting entrepreneurs: start a hosting company without renting servers or hiring a system administrator.
• People with many websites: manage your own sites in separate, isolated accounts.

Reseller hosting vs VPS

Both let you host several websites; the difference is who manages the server.

If your goal is to sell hosting to clients, reseller hosting is the faster and cheaper start. If you need to install custom software or configure the server entirely yourself, a VPS is the better fit.

What to check when choosing a reseller plan

1. Control panel: choose cPanel if your clients are used to it, DirectAdmin if cost is your priority, and Plesk on Windows if they use ASP.NET and MSSQL.
2. White label: the provider’s logo should not appear in the panels, and you should be able to use private nameservers.
3. Per-account resource limits: some companies put a separate CPU and RAM cap on every client account, which means a busy site can suddenly slow down.
4. Backups: ask how often backups are taken and how long they are kept.
5. Location: if your clients are in Türkiye choose Istanbul; if they are in Europe, a European location gives lower latency.
6. Renewal price: plans that are cheap in the first year and expensive in the second eat into your margin.
7. Migration and support: check whether your existing clients are moved for free and how quickly support replies.

Starting your own hosting company with a reseller plan

1. Choose a reseller plan that fits your needs.
2. Register a domain for your brand and set up your private nameservers.
3. Create the hosting packages you will sell in the reseller panel.
4. Automate ordering and billing with software such as WHMCS.
5. Launch your website and move your existing clients across.

Frequently asked questions