In the VoIP industry, ASTPP and A2billing are two known names when someone refers to an open source VoIP solution. Both have their own pros and cons. If you want a detailed comparison between both of these solutions, you can read our recent blog: A2Billing vs. ASTPP.
That blog compares all different aspects of ASTPP and A2Billing. In this article, we are going to share facts and a comparison of both of these VoIP solutions based on their characteristic of being an open source VoIP solution and will give you a hint on the worth of using any one of these.
1. History
There is no clear information related to the initial launch year of A2Billing, but Star2Billing was launched in 2009. Just for your information, Star2Billing is a company that provides commercial services and support related to A2Billing. On the other hand, ASTPP initially launched in 2003, which means, it clearly had been in the industry for a longer time than A2Billing.
2. Technological transformation
A2Billing was launched as an Asterisk-based Softswitch with the VoIP billing solution. It means the core platform used to build A2Billing was Asterisk and it is still the same, Asterisk. The Asterisk is good at a certain level, but in the market, there are better and more robust platforms available. As we know the class 4 Softswitch gets used to handling wholesale VoIP traffic. Asterisk has a huge roadblock in handling concurrent calls. It means to handle more calls, more servers are required. For example, A2Billing can handle only 250 parallel calls on a single server.
ASTPP was also launched as an Asterisk Softswitch with a comprehensive VoIP billing solution. Unlike A2Billing, ASTPP adopted FreeSWITCH and OpenSIPs, which are the most robust and scalable platforms available in the VoIP world for call handling. Therefore, class 4 Softswitch or other VoIP solutions of ASTPP can handle 500 concurrent calls on a single server. ASTPP keeps on upgrading to make sure its users stay competitive, unlike A2Billing which is strangled with the same old technology.
3. Support
Both A2Billing and ASTPP are technical products. Of course, ASTPP has GUI-based elements, which makes it easy to use, but still, there are some technicalities attached with ASTPP as well. Therefore, whether you use ASTPP or A2Billing, at a certain level, you will need technical support.
A2Billing has stopped providing support for long. It has a community, but not that active, so when it comes to support, its users are dependent on freelancers or third-party companies. Here, the question of reliability will always be there.
ASTPP has a proactive community, which answers the queries within a few hours during weekdays. ASTPP also releases video tutorials, manuals, guides, webinars, etc. to help its users with great resources.
Conclusion
All in all, A2Billing is now strangled at one stage because its main community has stopped upgrading it or giving support for the same. Therefore, even if you want to use an open source version, ASTPP wins the game. You can try the ASTPP enterprise solution for free using a 14 days risk-free trial. Contact us for more details.
