Reselling hosting looks simple: rent big, slice it up, sell it on. The mechanics work, but the business is decided less by margin than by what you're willing to carry. Here's the honest picture.
The three possible models
Web reseller (Plesk). You get a Plesk space with a quota of client accounts. Each has its own panel, domains and databases. It's the simplest model to operate: the host manages the system, you manage the accounts.
VPS reseller (Proxmox). You rent a slice of a cluster and create your own virtual machines. Far more freedom, and far more responsibility: you administer the VMs you sell.
Game server reseller (Pterodactyl). A VPS with the panel preinstalled, on which you carve out game instances. It's the most dynamic market, and the most demanding in weekend support.
| Web Reseller | VPS Reseller | Pterodactyl Reseller | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry | €5.99 | €18.99 | €5.00 |
| Skill required | Low | High | Medium |
| Support load | Medium | High | High |
What actually determines your margin
Gross margin is easy to compute: resale price minus infrastructure cost. That's not where profitability is decided.
The real cost is support time. A €5 customer opening three tickets a month consumes more than their annual margin. That's why many resellers give up after six months: they underestimated the volume of questions.
Obligations people discover too late
Reselling hosting makes you a host in the legal sense. In France that means, among other things:
- A published identity. Full legal notice identifying the publisher.
- Contractual terms. Written terms of sale and use — not copied from a competitor.
- A reachable abuse contact. You must be able to handle a report of illegal content.
- GDPR compliance. Record of processing, privacy policy, handling of access requests.
- A registered structure. Sole trader, company or non-profit: invoicing without one isn't an option.
How to start without burning out
- Start small. The entry plan covers ten to twenty customers. Move up when quotas fill, not before.
- Price with support included. A price that's too low attracts the most demanding customers.
- Document before you sell. Every question written down once is a question you never explain again.
- Automate billing. Something like WHMCS or ClientXCMS will save you hours every month.
- Buy your own offer. Order from yourself, install a site, open a ticket. You'll see what your customers experience.
What to expect from your supplier
Four things, all negotiable before you sign:
- Genuine white labelling: your customers should never see the supplier's name.
- Support that answers you, on infrastructure, not your customers.
- Room to scale up without migration or downtime.
- A clear abuse policy when one of your customers misbehaves: that customer suspended, not your whole service.
Our reseller plans cover all three models, with a white-label panel and instant delivery.