What is Reseller Hosting? Is it Profitable?

With the web hosting market projected to hit $200B by 2028, many entrepreneurs are asking: “How to turn web hosting into a profitable side hustle or a full business?” 

In this guide, we will explain reseller hosting services in simple terms. We will also lift the curtain on how to purchase resources and resell them under your own brand, the core model behind any successful reseller business.

To further prepare you for a company launch, we will introduce you to ScalaHosting’s SPanel-powered services. They support unlimited accounts and master reselling – a major advantage for growth.

The best part? Startup costs can stay under $50/month, while offering real potential for passive income and long-term scalability.

This article covers everything from the basics of reseller hosting to the exact steps for starting your own hosting company.

So, let’s not waste any more time. 

What is Reseller Hosting?

Reseller hosting is a business model where you purchase server resources – such as storage, bandwidth, and accounts – from a hosting provider at wholesale rates and then resell them as your own hosting plans. 

This is a great way to find accommodation for multiple clients while defining your own price rates. Instead of managing physical servers, you focus on branding, pricing, and customer relationships. Meanwhile, your actual hosting provider handles the backend infrastructure and assists with the technical aspects. 

Reseller hosting is one of the simplest ways to enter the hosting market and operate as a separate entity. You have full control over your environment and focus on the business side of things without necessarily embarking on complex technical tasks.

How Does Reseller Hosting Work?

Hosting resellers get access to a control panel (like SPanel or cPanel) and a management solution (like WHM). This allows them to create different accounts, allocate as much resources to each one as they wish, and apply their own price rates. 

While you operate your clients, the underlying hosting provider maintains the hardware, security, and server uptime in the background. Modern solutions, like our SPanel-powered reseller plans, offer features like unlimited accounts, daily offsite backups, and master reselling, allowing you to scale your business quickly.

The best thing about reseller hosting is that you can hide all affiliations with your host and appear as an independent provider. With the help of various white-label features, you can brand your client areas, control panels, nameservers, and many more, with your business name and logo, thus showing your users there is no one else “behind the scenes.” You can determine how much you’ll charge your clients and what profits you want to make out of each one. 

The Importance of White-Label in Reseller Hosting

The underlying idea of reseller hosting is to create your own business, independent from your service provider. Your potential clients need to believe you are their supplier company and build trust in your brand, not someone else’s. 

This is where white-label services come into play. 

White-labeling eliminates the need to manufacture products/services. You can take ready-made goods and rebrand/repackage them to sell under your own brand. This brings some lucrative advantages:

• Custom profit margin – you can set your own price rates, independent from your host. With ScalaHosting, you can accommodate unlimited clients under one reseller account.
• Shortened time-to-market – there is no need to create a business from scratch, being a reseller gives you ready-made tools to start selling right away.
• Professional support – instead of hiring extra technical staff, you already have industry experts to help you with any questions and issues. 
• Creating a strong brand – if you supply your client with generous resources and help them in a timely manner, you will build trust and loyalty to your business name. 

Using your provider’s white-label services you can customize:

• Client dashboards
• Landing pages
• Control panel
• Nameservers
• Email services
• Favicons

Reseller Hosting vs. Other Hosting Types

Looking around the market, you can see providers offering different types of reseller packages. They are not different from Reseller Hosting per se, just various options you can choose to sell to the end client. 

Let’s now examine some of the hosting types with their characteristics. 

Shared Hosting vs Reseller Hosting

• The most basic type of account. With it, you are sharing the server environment with hundreds of different users, tapping into the same resource pool.
• This type of service is very affordable but lacks the performance and security needed for a serious business project. More suited towards smaller, personal projects.
• Not scalable. To add more resources, you must upgrade the service and migrate to a different server.
• The client has little to no control over the environment. As the service is shared with other users, you cannot customize or apply changes at the server level.

Compared to shared hosting, reseller services are much more flexible, allow for custom resource allocation, and most importantly – give independence to each customer.

VPS vs Reseller Hosting

• The most versatile and scalable type of service. Virtual private servers give the client full resource independence, customization freedom, and optimized performance. 
• You can add more resources as your project grows. This also helps to keep costs within a budget and only pay for what you actually use. 
• VPS services often come with unique features like unlimited accounts, a dedicated IP address, full root access with SSH, and more.
• VPS hosting is highly secure as there are no server “neighbors” to compromise your project. As long as you follow the proper security guidelines, risks for account breaches are down to a minimum. 
• The service is well-suited for all types of businesses (startups, SMBs, big enterprises), as well as growing personal projects.

Many reliable hosting companies also offer VPS reseller solutions as part of their offerings. Using those, you can resell entire virtual private servers, giving your clients more customization freedom and optimized performance for their projects. VPS services are the most popular hosting types nowadays, making it a very profitable business niche. 

Reseller Hosting vs Dedicated Server

• The client gets an entire physical server for their needs alone. 
• As a sole server owner, they have no limits as to how its resources are utilized. 
• Should the client reach the resource limits of the server, they cannot easily add more. Such upgrades include physical replacement of the hardware. 
• Dedicated servers are suited for high-traffic online projects and enterprises that want to make heavy customizations to the environment. 
• This hosting type is by far the most expensive, easily exceeding hundreds of dollars per month. 

While they are still offered by some hosts, dedicated servers are slowly but surely becoming a thing of the past. Nowadays, there are far more optimal ways to get an isolated environment and customization control for a fraction of the cost of a dedicated machine. Plus, compared to traditional hosting solutions, resellers offer several distinct features, including white-label services, private DNS, WHM (Web Host Manager), and more. 

Hosting Type	Control Level	Cost	Ideal For
Shared	Low	Low	Beginners
Reseller	Medium-High	Medium	Businesses reselling
VPS	High	Medium	Scaling resellers

How to Manage Your Reseller Hosting

One very important aspect of a successful reseller business (or any hosting type, for that matter) is the presence of a reliable control panel. Some solutions require additional licensing fees, others have a steep learning curve…there are even those that lack essential features to make your project management as easy as it can be. 

Luckily, SPanel is none of the above. 

Developed in-house by the ScalaHosting team, SPanel is a multifunctional platform that allows resellers and their clients to get the best out of their hosting service. It consists of two parts:

• Admin Interface – used for account and server management. VPS resellers and administrators can create accounts, allocate resources, check service status, restart the machine, and much more. 
• User Interface – utilized by the end users to control their account services. Inside, they can manage their emails, domain names, site files, databases, apps, integrations, and more.

But that is just one of the reasons why SPanel is a perfect cPanel alternative. Other benefits include:

• Lightweight – The platform is completely optimized to take as few server resources as possible, allowing you to maximize the performance for your web projects.
• Affordable – Unlike its competitors, ScalaHosting resellers get SPanel completely free of charge, as part of their package. Even if you want to use the platform elsewhere, the licensing is transparent and not subject to constant price hikes. 
• Unique – There are tools that can only be found in SPanel. Such solutions include SShield (security monitoring), WordPress and Joomla Manager (for easy app operation), and Node.js Manager. 
• Feature-packed – SPanel updates are very regular, always adding new functionalities and integrations to the mix. There is no other control panel matching this number of features.

SPanel strongly relies on its users for its development. Clients can propose and vote for new additions in the Features Forum, and the most popular suggestions are added to the platform soon thereafter. 

Speaking of updates, one of the last versions of SPanel now includes an exciting addition for resellers – master reseller accounts. This means your clients now have reselling functionalities as well, further expanding your revenue streams. 

Benefits of Reseller Hosting for Your Business

Reseller hosting has become one of the most accessible and profitable ways for entrepreneurs, freelancers, agencies, and small IT firms to start an online business. 

But is reseller hosting actually profitable? 

In most cases, yes – reseller hosting is one of the lowest-risk, highest-margin digital services you can offer.

Your monthly costs remain predictable and low, while your revenue scales with each client you add. With the right pricing model, even a handful of customers can cover your entire hosting bill, making everything beyond that pure profit. For service providers such as web designers, marketers, or IT consultants, reseller hosting also creates sticky, long-term recurring income without requiring substantial ongoing labor.

One other question often pops up – should you go for a reseller business or simply build your own infrastructure from scratch? 

The breakdown is quite easy, really. To be an independent hosting provider, you need:

• Hardware investments for servers
• Physical or cloud-based data center
• Network redundancy
• Security appliances and firewalls
• 24/7 technical monitoring
• Software licenses (control panel, CloudLinux, LiteSpeed, etc.)
• A team of server administrators

For 99% of new hosting businesses, this is neither feasible nor cost-effective.

Reseller hosting eliminates these barriers. With a provider like ScalaHosting, you inherit an enterprise-grade infrastructure – complete with security, performance optimization, and support – so you can focus solely on building your brand and managing clients.

Here are some of the benefits of choosing Scala as your reseller provider:

• Low barrier to entry – we supply our resellers with almost everything – data centers, servers, control panels, security tools, monitoring, maintenance. The only thing you are responsible for is the support for your end clients. 
• Optimal performance and security – Security and performance directly impact your brand reputation. ScalaHosting delivers enterprise-level protection and speed enhancements out of the box, like OpenLiteSpeed servers, SShield, and integrated Cloudflare CDN.
• Unlimited potential – if you choose to host resell VPS solutions, all limits are off – you can create as many accounts for as many websites as you wish. No per-account fees are required, regardless of the number of clients. 
• License-free control panel – ScalaHosting resellers don’t pay a dime for SPanel licenses. It’s as simple as that.
• Full white-label branding – your clients will never see the ScalaHosting name. You can fully customize your control panel, nameservers, and client dashboards. 
• Easy business growth – your reseller business can grow easily with us. This is especially easy as a VPS reseller, where you can add new accounts and more resources without physically upgrading your package plan.

Let’s now break down just how profitable your reseller hosting business can be.

• You opt-in for a Scala 2 reseller plan at $34.95/mo. That gives you a maximum of 40 accounts.
• You currently have 10 clients only. 
• You charge them only $10/mo for your hosting services.
• Even though you are selling at a lower monthly rate, you are still making a profit of 10×10 – 34.95 = $65.05 every month.

And that’s just a minimum figure we are talking about here, with little to no effort on your side. 

ScalaHosting vs. Common Competitors Comparison

Below is a simplified comparison highlighting how ScalaHosting stacks up against popular reseller providers:

Feature	ScalaHosting	HostGator	Hosting.com
Pricing (approx.)	$10–$50/mo	$35–$85/mo	$25–$50/mo
Hosting accounts	Unlimited (SPanel)	Limited by cPanel licenses	Limited by cPanel licenses
Control panel	SPanel (free)	cPanel (licensed)	cPanel (licensed)
Built-in security	SShield (99.99% protection)	Standard	Standard
Migrations	Free & unlimited	Limited	Limited
Master resellers feature	Yes	No	No
White-label	Yes	Yes	Yes

How to Start a Hosting Company: Step-by-Step Guide

Starting a web-hosting company is far easier today than most entrepreneurs realize. With modern reseller technology, powerful automation tools, and cloud VPS pricing that used to cost ten times more, you can build a profitable hosting brand without needing to manage hardware or run a datacenter.

To illustrate the simplicity of the process, we will use examples from the formation of our own company – ScalaHosting.

Step 1: Define Your Niche and Business Model

Before you think about tools or servers, answer this question:

“Who am I hosting for?”

The hosting world is crowded – but niches make it a profitable space. And you have plenty to choose from.

• Ecommerce
• WordPress professionals/agencies
• Local businesses
• Bloggers and content creators
• Web developers and graphic designers

To determine your niche, you can start by analyzing the competition. Companies like LiquidWeb, Hostinger, and OVHcloud. While they might seem way bigger than your current state, you can pinpoint underserved segments where you can give added value. The same applies to the pricing model – by examining competitors’ prices, you can determine what services you can offer at a more affordable rate. 

Step 2: Choose a Reseller Provider

Your reseller provider is the literal backbone of your hosting company. Pricing, uptime, performance, and support all depend on the host you choose.

Some ScalaHosting reseller hosting advantages immediately stand out:

• Affordable VPS-based reseller plans (more power than shared reseller hosting).
• Unlimited accounts (no per-account fees).
• SPanel included (a cPanel alternative with no license fees).
• 24/7 expert support included (that is reseller support, not end client support).
• Master reseller capabilities (allow your clients to become resellers as well).

But which plan should you start with? Quite simple. 

• Get a shared reseller plan if you only have 5-20 clients currently
• Once you reach that limit, consider upgrading to a VPS reseller plan for increased scalability and resources. 

Step 3: Set Up Your Reseller Account

Once you have chosen your future reseller provider, there are just a few more steps you need to go through to start selling your own services:

1. Choose the most appropriate package (shared or VPS reseller)
2. Sign up for the service
3. White-label your business (apply your brand elements to the control panel, dashboards, nameservers)
4. Create your hosting packages (assign them storage space, CPU/RAM, bandwidth, limits, security features)
5. Integrate WHMCS (get an appropriate license, determine pricing, billing periods, etc.)
6. Optionally use the SPanel API (for building custom hosting packages)

This is more than enough to start accommodating your clients.

Step 4: Handle Technical Setup

The good thing about being a hosting reseller is that you don’t need deep technical knowledge – you have the provider to help you with that. For example, using ScalaHosting and SPanel, you can get plenty of help setting up and automating your daily tasks. 

Here are some things to consider:

• Domain names – will you offer domain registrations or only deal with existing domains? 

ScalaHosting has neat domain reseller options. As a domain reseller, you will be able to provide great branding options to your customers. After all, every business appears more trustworthy by using its own name, mailboxes, etc. You can offer gTLDs and country-specific domain extensions – all at wholesale prices. 

Learn more about domain reselling here.

• Site migrations – how are you going to handle clients with existing websites? (With ScalaHosting, you can migrate them all at no additional cost).
• Security features – are you going to offer SSL certificates? How about daily backups? Will you include malware scanning in the mix? (ScalaHosting offers them all for free).

Step 5: Marketing and Acquiring Clients

Many new hosting companies fail not because of technology, but because of a lack of marketing strategy. Make sure to plan in advance how you will market your reseller business to avoid such risks.

Here are some useful tips to consider:

• SEO – once you pick your niche, make sure to optimize your business with the appropriate keywords, like “best X hosting for Y”, “managed hosting for X”, etc. Proper keywording should be reflected on your landing pages, metadata, and alt tags. Link building is another great idea, especially if you can gain connections from highly popular and reputable sources. 
• Content Marketing – it’s always a good idea to create content (like blog articles) that will complement your keywording efforts. Other useful types of content to establish you as an authority in the field include topical guides, optimization tips, security tutorials, and more. 
• Paid Advertising – you have plenty of options depending on where your main audience is located. Search engines (Google, Bing) are your best bet, but you can also promote your business in social media (Facebook, Instagram) and multimedia channels (YouTube).
• Affiliate Marketing – happy existing users can be your best affiliates. They can be valuable ambassadors of your web hosting brand, especially if you throw in some lucrative commissions. 

Naturally, you should consider making a detailed business plan, which will greatly help you with your marketing strategy as well. A simple budgeting breakdown should include:

Expense	Estimated Cost	ScalaHosting Tip
Reseller Plan	$20-50/month	Unlimited accounts included
Billing Software	$10-20/month	WHMCS module
Marketing	$100-500/month	SEO focused on organic traffic

Step 6: Provide Customer Support and Scale

As a reseller, you will also be responsible for providing support services to your clients. For that, you first have to determine what support channels you can maintain. Some options include:

• Live chat
• Ticketing
• Phone
• Email/Online Form

The good thing is that you are not alone. Your main hosting provider still offers assistance to resellers, so you can act as something of a middleman between the host and your end users. 

Another feature to consider is the legal aspect of your hosting business. Consider consulting a professional lawyer to clearly explain your:

• Terms of Service
• Service-level Agreements (SLA)
• Privacy Policy
• Refund Policy

Once you have completed those details, you should be good to go. Congratulations and best of luck with your new hosting business. 

Conclusion

Starting a hosting company today doesn’t require servers, datacenters, or deep technical expertise. With ScalaHosting’s VPS reseller infrastructure, SPanel, WHMCS integration, and automated tools, the entire process becomes accessible, scalable, and profitable.

All you need is a niche, a strategy, and consistent marketing – and you can build a hosting brand that generates recurring monthly revenue with excellent profit margins.

Sign up for ScalaHosting’s reseller hosting today and leverage SPanel’s unlimited, Master reselling for explosive growth.

FAQ

Q: How does reseller hosting work?

A: Reseller hosting allows customers to create a web hosting business of their own. The provider supplies the infrastructure, tools, white-label options, and support, so the client can create and sell accounts on their own terms. The client can hide all affiliation with their host, appearing as a completely independent business. 

Q: What is reseller hosting used for?

A: There are many reasons to choose to become a hosting reseller, but in its essence, the service is most suitable for accommodating multiple customers/businesses under one account for easier management and support. Frequent clients of reseller services include digital agencies, web developers, designers, and companies that handle multiple online projects. 

Q: Is reseller hosting profitable?

A: Yes, reseller hosting can be a highly profitable venture. The provider does not impose any limitation on their client as to how much they will charge their own customers. For example, you can get a reseller account for $50/mo and split it between 20 users. You can then charge each user $20/mo for your service, making a net profit of $350 each month. 

Q: How to sell reseller hosting?

A: As a reseller, you have all the needed tools to sell services. The host will provide you with WHM access, which enables you to create accounts and configure them with custom resources. You can also use a platform like WHMCS for the billing part of your project. Once set up, you can determine billing rates and periods and start selling web hosting to your users. 

Q: Can I sell reseller accounts via SPanel?

A: Absolutely! The latest SPanel update added an exciting feature called Master Reseller. This means that not only can you act as a hosting provider to your clients, but you can also offer them reseller services as well. 

Q: What is the cost to become a reseller?

A: The cost of becoming a reseller can vary between providers and the type of service you want to utilize. With ScalaHosting, regardless of the chosen reseller plan, you can start a business for under $50/mo. If you decide to go for a VPS reseller package, the most affordable ones start at just $14.95/mo. 

Q: Can I white-label my reseller services with ScalaHosting?

A: One of the main reasons for choosing to become a reseller is to build an independent business under your host. As such, white-labeling your services is an absolute necessity. ScalaHosting will gladly help you put your brand elements on your dashboards, control panels, nameservers, and more. 

Q: Can I resell domain names with ScalaHosting?

A: Yes, domain names are also a part of our reseller offerings. You can register and resell domains at premium rates to your customers. What’s more, you can flip domains at a profit as a side business. 

Q: Do you provide support services to my reseller clients?

A: As a reseller, you are a ScalaHosting client, and we offer you full assistance with any technical questions or issues you may have. However, as an independent business for your users, you are the only one who can provide customer support to them.