Security Center provides a variety of features ranging from basic protection to value-added services to meet security requirements in different scenarios. This topic helps you understand the billing modes, billing rules, and cost structure of Security Center so that you can make the best purchase decision based on your business requirements.
Billing modes and billable items
Security Center supports two billing modes: subscription and pay-as-you-go. The billing mode defines the settlement method of Alibaba Cloud, and different modes support different features.
Regardless of the billing mode you select, you can use the features of the free edition. For more information, see Security Center Basic.
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Comparison item |
Subscription (prepaid) |
Pay-as-you-go (post-paid) |
Hybrid billing |
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Billing characteristics |
One-time payment by month or year, with fixed costs for easy budget management. |
Pay based on actual usage, flexible and convenient, with no upfront costs required. |
Based on subscription, excess usage is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis, balancing cost control and elastic scaling. |
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Billable items |
Fee = Edition fee + Value-added service fee (optional).
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Fee = Base service fee + Feature usage fee.
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Fee = Subscription fee + Burstable protection fee.
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Feature support description
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Subscription
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Edition service:
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Anti-virus: Provides capabilities such as detection and removal of common host viruses.
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Advanced: Provides capabilities such as host virus detection, virus removal, vulnerability detection and fix, and security reports.
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Enterprise: Meets the requirements for classified protection compliance, host security intrusion prevention, identity authentication, and security auditing.
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Ultimate: Provides full-stack security protection capabilities that cover hosts, containers, and intelligent computing Lingjun servers, including K8s threat detection, container asset panorama, security alerts, virus removal, vulnerability detection, asset fingerprint identification, and attack chain analysis.
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Value-added services: You can simultaneously purchase Vulnerability Fixing, Agentic SOC, Anti-ransomware, Agentic CSPM, and other features.
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Pay-as-you-go
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Basic features: DingTalk bot, security report, and task center (requires vulnerability fix to be enabled or purchased first) are supported by default.
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Paid features: You can individually purchase post-paid features such as Host and Container Security, Vulnerability Fixing, Serverless Asset Protection, Log Management, and Agentic SOC.
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Hybrid billing: Users who enable the subscription service have Burstable Protection enabled by default, which activates the hybrid billing mode. Features that support this mode include edition service, Agentic EDR, Attack Management, and Anti-ransomware.
For more feature descriptions, see Subscription, Pay-as-you-go, and Hybrid billing (burstable protection).
FAQ
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Can I enable both pay-as-you-go and subscription at the same time?
Yes, but only for different feature modules. For example, you can select subscription for "Vulnerability Fix" and pay-as-you-go for "Agentic SOC".
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You can only select one of the subscription editions (Anti-virus, Advanced, Enterprise, Ultimate) and the Host and Container Security service under pay-as-you-go. You cannot purchase both at the same time or stack them.
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You cannot simultaneously purchase subscription value-added features (such as Agentic SOC) and the same features under pay-as-you-go.
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How do I disable the pay-as-you-go service?
On the Overview page of the Security Center console, in the Pay-as-you-go section, turn off the relevant service switches. Or click the Deactivate button to disable all post-paid services.
Important-
If your account has overdue payments and services are suspended, we recommend that you use the Deactivate feature to avoid incurring new fees when services are automatically enabled after you top up your account.
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Fees incurred on the day you disable the services will be settled the next day and a final bill will be generated.
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Which fees in the pay-as-you-go bill are continuously incurred? What is the billing logic?
Some features of Security Center use a "pay-as-you-go + resource reservation" mode. As long as the feature switch is enabled, the system reserves the corresponding computing resources, storage space, or executes preset security policies, which generates corresponding base service fees or storage fees. This is not an abnormal charge, but to ensure that your security protection is always available. The following describes the logic of each fee and how to stop billing:
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Base service fee is continuously charged: As long as any pay-as-you-go feature is enabled under your account, regardless of whether any assets are connected or security alerts are generated, the system charges a base service fee hourly (CNY 0.05/hour). To stop billing, turn off all pay-as-you-go feature switches.
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Log storage fee is continuously generated: If the log storage feature is enabled, fees may be incurred due to occupied storage space even if no new logs are written. The minimum billing unit for Log Management is 1,000 GB. If the storage is less than 1,000 GB, you are still billed for 1,000 GB.
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Agentic CSPM periodic scanning fee: If you configure an Agentic CSPM periodic automatic scanning policy, the system will execute scheduled scans and generate fees. If the trial quota is used up, a post-paid bill will be generated the next day.
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What is the relationship between resource plans and pay-as-you-go?
Some features support resource plans (such as vulnerability fix resource plans and ECS security free trial packages) that use prepaid quotas to offset fees. Note the following rules:
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Deduction scope: Resource plans only offset the quotas for specific billable items and do not apply to the base service fee or other uncovered feature fees.
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Billing after a resource plan is exhausted or expires: After the resource plan quota is exhausted or the validity period expires, if the corresponding pay-as-you-go feature switch is not turned off, the system automatically switches to the pay-as-you-go billing mode and continues billing. The service is not automatically stopped.
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No unsubscription required for resource plans: Resource plans automatically become invalid after expiration. Manual unsubscription is not required.
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How to stop subsequent billing: To stop incurring fees after a resource plan is exhausted, you must manually go to the Overview page of the Security Center console, turn off the switch for the corresponding feature in the Pay-as-you-go section, or click the Deactivate button to disable all pay-as-you-go services.
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How do I avoid service suspension due to overdue payments?
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Optimize resource configuration
Select the scope of assets to be protected based on actual requirements to avoid paying for unnecessary resources.
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Available credit alert
Set an alert threshold based on the available balance of your account. When the available credit falls below this threshold, the system automatically triggers a reminder. For specific operations, see Monitor your account balance.
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Enable overdue payment grace period
Alibaba Cloud provides an overdue payment grace period, which allows you to continue using cloud services within a certain amount of credit or time after pay-as-you-go resources incur overdue payments. Normal billing continues during the grace period. For specific usage description and rules, see Service suspension protection for overdue payments.
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After the ECS free security trial resource plan is exhausted, will it automatically switch to pay-as-you-go?
Yes. The trial resource plan only offsets the quotas for specific billable items. After the resource plan is exhausted or expires, the system automatically switches to the pay-as-you-go billing mode and continues billing. This is to avoid sudden service interruptions that could affect your business security.
To prevent unexpected fees, we recommend that you:
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Pay attention to resource plan balance notifications: When the resource plan balance falls below 200, the system sends a low balance reminder through internal messages. You can also go to the Resource Plan Management page to check the remaining balance.
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Disable unnecessary services in time: If you no longer use the corresponding features after the resource plan is exhausted, disable the pay-as-you-go service in time.
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Understand the trial coverage: Read Free security benefits for ECS carefully.
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How do I set up fee alerts to avoid unexpected charges?
You can set up fee alerts in the following ways to receive reminders when your account balance or resource plan balance falls below the threshold:
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Set up available credit alert: Log on to Billing Management and set Available Credit Alert on the Account Overview page. When the available credit of your account falls below the alert threshold, the system sends a reminder through SMS, email, or internal message.
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Pay attention to resource plan balance notifications: When the resource plan balance is insufficient, the system sends a notification through internal messages. We recommend that you regularly check the resource plan usage.
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View bill details: Log on to the Bill Details page, filter the product to "Security Center" to view fee details and understand specific billable items.
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