The most affordable RADIUS billing system for a local ISP in Pakistan is one that charges per active subscriber, not per router, staff seat or site, and that includes invoicing, RADIUS and payment automation in that single fee. Centipid Billing follows this model for broadband: $0.25 per active PPPoE user per month, with suspended and expired accounts not charged, and a 14-day free trial with no card required. This guide explains how to judge any per-user RADIUS billing offer, so you can compare options on real cost and not on a headline price.
What a RADIUS billing system actually does
RADIUS is the authentication layer between your MikroTik routers and your subscriber database. When a customer connects over PPPoE or Hotspot, the router asks the RADIUS server whether the account is allowed in and what limits apply. A billing system sits on top of that database. It decides who is allowed in based on payment status, package and expiry.
The value of combining the two is that billing and access stay in sync. When an invoice is paid, the account is renewed. When it expires, access changes. Without that link, someone on your staff does it by hand, usually late at night.
For the technical side, see our guides on FreeRADIUS with MikroTik and how a MikroTik RADIUS server handles subscriber access. This article focuses on the cost question.
Why per-user pricing suits small Pakistani ISPs
Local ISPs in Pakistan often start with a few hundred subscribers, a handful of MikroTik routers and one or two staff members at the counter. Pricing models that charge for routers, operator seats, branches or a flat monthly licence punish exactly this shape of business, because growth in infrastructure is not the same as growth in revenue.
Per-user pricing aligns the software bill with the size of your subscriber base. If you have fewer customers in a slow month, you pay less. If you add a new area with three extra routers, your cost does not jump until customers actually sign up.
The model has weak points too, so check these before you commit:
- What counts as a user. Total accounts ever created, or only those active this month? The difference can be large when many accounts are suspended or expired.
- Whether the fee is a floor or a ceiling. Some vendors apply minimum monthly charges.
- What is metered separately. Routers, staff accounts, SMS, vouchers and support tiers are common add-ons.
- Currency. A dollar price carries exchange rate exposure for a business that earns in rupees.
The five cost lines to compare
A low per-user number means little unless you add up everything around it. Compare vendors on these lines.
1. The per-subscriber fee and its definition
Ask for the exact counting rule in writing. Centipid counts subscribers who were active during the month and does not charge for suspended or expired accounts. That matters in a market where some customers lapse and return.
2. Router, staff and branch limits
If you manage several towns or sub-dealers, per-router or per-seat fees quietly multiply. Centipid does not meter MikroTik routers, staff accounts or vouchers, and there are no per-device, per-seat or per-site charges.
3. Payment and SMS gateways
Collecting money is the whole point of billing. Check which gateways connect, whether you can use more than one, and who pays gateway fees. Centipid includes multiple payment and SMS gateways in every plan. Because gateway availability varies by country, confirm which options apply to Pakistan before you build your collection process around them, and look at the payment gateways documentation and the Pakistan page.
4. Setup, migration and support
Free software often moves cost into your own time. Our page on what free ISP billing software costs covers that trade-off. With paid software, ask whether onboarding is included. Centipid includes dedicated onboarding support in every plan. Data migration is part of the Enterprise plan for larger operators.
5. Billing terms
How you pay the vendor matters for cash flow. Centipid sends an invoice for the month just past, with a grace period. It keeps no card on file and takes nothing automatically. You pay by M-PESA and mobile money, your Centipid wallet balance, PayPal or card, or bank transfer.
A worked cost example
Suppose a local ISP has 400 subscribers on monthly PPPoE plans, and 340 of them were active in a given month. The rest were suspended or expired.
At $0.25 per active user, the fee is 340 x $0.25 = $85 for that month. The 60 suspended or expired accounts add nothing. If the same ISP also runs a public WiFi voucher network that confirmed $500 in revenue, the Hotspot fee of 3% adds $15, for a total of $100. If you run both services, the two fees are added together.
Now compare this with a model that charges per router. An ISP with 12 routers feeding those 340 customers would be billed for infrastructure that produces no extra income. Run the same exercise with every vendor you consider, using your own numbers.
You can also use the estimator on the pricing page, and our pricing article is not needed for the arithmetic above. For the full breakdown of rates, see the pricing page.
Hotspot or PPPoE: which fee applies to you?
Most Pakistani ISPs serving homes and small offices run PPPoE on fibre or wireless links, with monthly packages. That falls under the per-active-user fee. Cafes, hostels, campuses and public WiFi operators selling time or data vouchers fall under the Hotspot fee, which follows the revenue Centipid confirms. A month with no sales costs nothing.
To understand the operational difference, read how hotspot billing works and the PPPoE billing feature page.
What should be included before you call it affordable
A cheap per-user rate that leaves out core features is not affordable. For a local ISP, the baseline should cover:
- RADIUS authentication for PPPoE and Hotspot tied to package and payment status
- Recurring invoicing and reminders, so staff are not chasing customers by hand
- Automatic renewal and reconnection after a confirmed payment
- Payment reconciliation, including cash and bank entries in the same ledger as mobile payments
- A subscriber portal where customers see balances, invoices and receipts
- Router management, monitoring and remote access
- Staff roles, so the counter person cannot see everything
Centipid brings these into one platform, and the features page lists each one. Reconciliation deserves particular attention because it is where manual billing fails. Centipid matches payments by account reference, phone number or invoice, merges duplicate receipts and holds unmatched payments for staff to claim. See payment reconciliation.
How to test a billing system before you switch
A trial is the cheapest way to find problems. A practical approach:
- Start with a small group of real subscribers, not test accounts only.
- Provision one router and confirm PPPoE login, package speeds and session limits.
- Create invoices and run a payment through your chosen channel.
- Let one account expire and confirm that access changes, then renew it and confirm reconnection.
- Check the reports against your own records for the same period.
Centipid offers 14 days with the whole product and no card. Our Kenya trial test plan shows a structured way to run this, and the same steps apply anywhere. The quickstart covers router provisioning.
When self-hosted RADIUS makes sense
Open-source tools such as FreeRADIUS or daloRADIUS carry no licence fee. They suit ISPs with a technical person who is comfortable maintaining servers, backups and integrations. The cost then moves to staff time, uptime responsibility and building your own payment links. See the honest comparisons with daloRADIUS and FreeRADIUS if you are weighing this route.
Checklist for choosing
- Is the fee per active user or per account ever created?
- Are routers, staff and vouchers unlimited?
- Does the vendor charge your card automatically, or invoice you?
- Are the payment methods you need available for Pakistan?
- Is onboarding included, and is support responsive in your hours?
- Can you try the full product before paying?
FAQ
Is there a free trial?
Yes. Centipid gives you the whole product for fourteen days, and no card is required.
How is the PPPoE fee counted?
It is $0.25 per subscriber who was active during the month. Suspended and expired accounts are free.
Do routers or staff accounts cost extra?
No. Routers, staff accounts and vouchers are not metered, and there are no per-device, per-seat or per-site charges.
Does Centipid charge me automatically?
No. Centipid sends you an invoice for the month just past, with a grace period, and you pay it. No card is kept on file.
What if I run both PPPoE and Hotspot?
The two fees are added together. Hotspot is 3% of confirmed hotspot revenue and PPPoE is $0.25 per active user.
Which plan suits a very large operator?
The Enterprise plan has custom volume pricing for operators with 10,000+ subscribers, multiple regions or regulatory requirements.
