RookHelm

SourceBans++ is free and self-hostable, and it stays that way. Running it yourself means owning a webserver, a database, PHP upgrades, plugin updates, and whatever moderation tooling you stitch together around it. If you'd rather not, RookHelm is a commercial, fully-hosted alternative: it runs the whole stack for you and ships more moderation tooling out of the box.

See what RookHelm offers Current feature set, pricing, and access. Their site is the source of truth.

SourceBans++ or RookHelm?

Both manage bans across Source-engine servers. The difference is who runs the infrastructure and how much comes built in.

Stay on SourceBans++ when you want a free, source-available panel you host and control yourself, and you're happy wiring up extra tooling as you need it.

Look at RookHelm when you'd rather not maintain a server and database, or you want more moderation features as one hosted product instead of assembling them yourself.

Migrating from SourceBans++

RookHelm is built to read a standard SourceBans++ data export, so trying it doesn't mean starting from scratch.

1. Generate a bundle from the panel's Full data export (owner-only, ?p=admin&c=export).
2. Follow RookHelm's import steps to load it.

See rookhelm.com for the current import process.

Note

SourceBans++ stays free for community use and fully self-hostable. RookHelm is a hosted option for communities that would rather not run the stack themselves; picking it is never required.