The online billing software phpCOIN is a free software package that was initially developed for web hosting resellers. It performs functions that allow users to manage orders, invoices, and tracks all of them.

Today, it is no longer restricted to the hosting resellers and is widely available for use by other sectors. The COIN acronym stands for Clients, Orders, Invoices, and Notes. There are some requirements for phpCOIN. One of which is a compatible web server such as Apache or MS ISS. Also needed is a MySQL version 3 database (or higher). Currently, phpCOIN version 1 is free. There is a commercial version being developed for release sometime this year. It will be free for up to 10 clients, with additional clients incurring an incremental fee based on the total number of users. Support can be obtained through the use of the support forums located in their home site “phpcoin.com”. There is also a widely available online manual for perusal. The use of the support forums requires user registration. Also to be found in the forums are user created themes and modules. One of the goals of the software is to provide an easy way to perform a variety of tasks by using just one interface. The interface presents information to clients as well as receiving any order information they provide. There is a link to allow them to pay the bills associated with the transaction purchases. Also included is a system to monitor those items. The package helps out in providing web site content. The information is created and managed, with an accompanying search feature. Another area it can help out with is the order process. It creates configurable forms that can collect customer information and shows the link used to pay the bill. There are many configuration options available. As mentioned above, theme support is available through the support forums. Localization is also made possible through language support and localization settings. A nice feature to have is wrapping around the phpCOIN content to streamline the web site appearance. PHP Coin is best utilized by domain and hosting providers. There are many difficulties associated with it for general businesses to use effectively. For one, support is done mostly through the support forums. There is an option to call a phone number; however, there is a fee of about $50 for each inquiry. There is an additional charge if the question has already been tackled in the forums, to avoid tying up the phone lines. Another disadvantage is that accounts are not set up automatically on the server itself. Some time and effort is required to deploy the accounts, which is to be expected from a free application.