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A2Billing Alternative – ASTPP

ASTPP vs A2Billing: A2Billing, now also known as Star2Billing and Asterisk2Billinng, and ASTPP both have been accredited as the popular class 4 Softswitch with VoIP billing software for many years. If you are not using any VoIP solution and looking for a reliable, secure, robust, and scalable class 4 Softswitch with a billing solution, then you must invest some time in research to identify which one is the best fit for your business. Even if you are using any of these solutions, knowing the similarities and differences between both can help you assure you are using the right one or if you must make a switch immediately. In this blog, we will share an unbiased view on both of these renowned

VoIP solutions

If at any point, you think you do not agree with the facts we have shared in this article, get in touch with us to have an open discussion.

Similarities between ASTPP and A2Billing
  • The only similarity between both of these solutions is both offer open source VoIP solutions: class 4/ 5 Softswitch, calling card management, DID management, and VoIP billing solutions.
ASTPP vs. A2Billing/ Star2Billing/ Asterisk2Billing
Overall ASTPP A2Billing
Journey
  • ASTPP has been in the industry since 2003.
  • ASTPP had started benefited VoIP businesses by offering an open source VoIP billing solution. With time, it went through evolutions, and now it does not just offer class 4 Softswitch with billing, but it is a comprehensive Smart VoIP Telephony Platform. It offers an extensive range of VoIP solutions in multiple languages under open source and enterprise versions.
  • A2Billing has been in the industry since 2009.
  • Star2billing has been offering the same VoIP solutions and have made no innovations or augmentation in the offerings as ASTPP has been doing year by year.
 
Overall ASTPP A2Billing
Enhancements
  • ASTPP has been investing in launching a bug-free solution by putting full-time quality assurance and software testing resources. It first releases beta to make sure all unnoticed bugs get fixed on time. Even after the final release, a team of 50+ experts work relentlessly to enhance the performance and fix any left out bugs.
  • A2Billing has multiple bugs, which often get reported by its users on its and other third party forums. There has been no move in fixing existing bugs; they are as it is for a long time.
 
Overall ASTPP A2Billing
Technology
  • ASTPP is built using OpenSIPs and FreeSWITCH technologies, which is why it delivers excellent performance.
  • A2Billing is developed using Asterisk technology, which is why it is renamed as Asterisk2Billing by its community leaders. Because of the use of Asterisk in the foundation, it faces many performance roadblocks.
 
Overall ASTPP A2Billing
Performance
  • Because of the use of robust technologies and added smart features, ASTPP can support 500 CC (Concurrent Calls) on a single server. It can handle even more if you add multiple servers.
  • Asterisk2Billing can handle only 250 CC on a single server.
 
Overall ASTPP A2Billing
Security
  • ASTPP stands for A Smart TelePhony Platform. It is truly a smart platform, which is why it not only delivers excellent performance and features, but is also a highly secure solution. ASTPP uses Fail2Ban. It works exceptionally well to safeguard software from suspicious activities and brute attacks.
 
  • Along with Fail2Ban, ASTPP also has an add-on, namely, Fraud Detection. This add-on can let VoIP businesses detect and block fraud activities based on country, prefix, and other criteria. Even time condition based fraud activities can be detected and addressed automatically. In a nutshell, ASTPP is the most secure smart VoIP software in the industry and way more advanced and secure than A2Billing.
  • A2Billing has not even updated its common features or security bugs for long. On the website of Star2Billing, they have mentioned themselves that the installed version of the software gets attacked via SIP occurring within some minutes of installation. This clearly says how secure A2Billing is! (It’s sarcasm just in case you didn’t get it.)
 
Overall ASTPP A2Billing
Scalability
  • ASTPP is a highly scalable and flexible platform. By adding OpenSIPS, one can easily scale up the software. The added OpenSIPS will function as SIP Registrars, which will offer excellent failover and load balancing support.
  • Asterisk2Billing has many complexities, which makes OpenSIPS addition difficult and complicated. It is not impossible, but very complicated.
 
Overall ASTPP A2Billing
Add-ons (Extended Functionalities)
  • ASTPP has been designed to provide a smart VoIP solution. It means if any new feature or functionality needs to be added to this software, then it can be done swiftly. Adding new features will not need developers to disturb the core code. For example, ASTPP itself has many community and enterprise add-ons to offer. Moreover, at the time of the launch of ASTPP 4, which converted it into a smart telephony platform, the ASTPP community leader had announced, anyone can build ASTPP add-ons to add additional or extended functionalities.
  • Star2Billing has a very tightly coupled code architecture that is why adding new functionality in it is a tough job. The developers not only need to build the add-on to add extended functionality, but they also need to make major changes in the core code.
 
Overall ASTPP A2Billing
Installation
  • At your fingertips, you can install ASTPP. If you are using ASTPP Managed Services, the installation and setup process will be performed by the ASTPP experts themselves.
  • ASTPP can be installed on the latest OS as it has been upgrading and updating itself every now and then.
  • A2Billing requires you to follow manual steps, which sometimes cause issues for the VoIP engineers having no experience of dealing with A2Billing.
  • A2Billing causes conflicts on the latest OS, which is why it cannot be installed on the latest OS like Centos of Debian.
 
Overall ASTPP A2Billing
Training
  • If you use the ASTPP enterprise solution, Managed version, you get completely free technical product training from ASTPP experts. Even if you are not an ASTPP Managed Service user, you can anytime opt for the ASTPP Training Program, which is available for groups and individuals. More details about, ASTPP Training and Certification Program.
  • A2Billing has no provision for training. You may need to look for some freelancers or companies offering the same if there are any.
 
Overall ASTPP A2Billing
Resources
  • ASTPP has up-to-date documentation of the software, which is available for free for all users of ASTPP, both enterprise and open source.
  • ASTPP also shares video tutorial and conduct webinars to benefit not only ASTPP users, but also other VoIP software users, engineers, entrepreneurs, etc. More details about, ASTPP Webinars.
  • Asterisk2Billing has outdated documentation, which is not updated for a long time.
  • A2Billing has made no resource updates for long.
 
Overall ASTPP A2Billing
Support
  • Whether you have any technical or generic query, you can use the ASTPP Forum to raise it. Within a day or two, you will get the response related to your query resolution. The ASTPP Managed Service users get free support from experts. ASTPP Self Hosting users can take advantage of paid support services from the ASTPP team.
  • A2Billing has no direct technical support from its team. You can raise your queries and concerns in the forum of Asterisk2Billing. Spoilers Alert: Most of the time, the forum is down and sometimes continuously down for days and days.
 
Overall ASTPP A2Billing
Ease of Use
  • ASTPP has a fresh and appealing GUI, which makes this software not only easy to use, but also fun to use.
  • A2Billing has the same old school look and layout, which is not that user friendly according to the changing times and the latest trends.
 
Overall ASTPP A2Billing
Value over Money
  • ASTPP open source version is completely free to use. Your concerns can get resolved for free if you raise them in the ASTPP Forum. It means the open source version users of ASTPP can leverage high value over the money.
  • ASTPP enterprise solution is quite advanced and gives competitive advantages to its users as it is a smart telephony platform. Within a single platform, all VoIP solutions that are required to run a successful VoIP business are available. Moreover, the enterprise users can take advantage of expert support from the ASTPP team, which is quick and accurate. This assures higher value over money with many other competitive advantages.
  • A2Billing is an open source solution, which is available for free. However, its complexities and limitations will demand you to spend much more than you would have ever considered. Whether you spend your own time or hire a freelancer or a company, the spending will be higher, even for smaller things. Therefore, value over money would be in minus compared to ASTPP and of course, not to forget the poor support of the A2Billing forum.
 

Concluding notes

A2Billing has stopped upgrading itself and giving official support to A2Billing users. Because of that, it is left behind in the viciously competitive VoIP market. On the other hand, ASTPP keeps monitoring the market, technology evolutions, customer demands, future technology predictions, etc. The researched information gets used in advancements and enhancements of ASTPP. With continuous efforts in the right direction, ASTPP has become the one and only smart VoIP telephony platform of its time.

Interested in ASTPP or an open discussion on any of the points mentioned here?Get in touch

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