To evaluate whether Security Center meets your business security requirements, you can apply for a 7-day free trial of the Enterprise edition and experience core security capabilities such as threat detection, vulnerability fixing, and web tamper proofing. This topic describes the trial requirements, trial specifications, and how to enable and handle the trial after it ends.
Before you begin
Your Alibaba Cloud account must meet all of the following conditions to enable the free trial:
You have not previously participated in the 7-day free trial of Security Center.
You are a Security Center Basic edition user and your account has at least one Alibaba Cloud ECS instance.
If you have purchased a Security Center edition and did not renew it within seven days after the service expired, the paid edition automatically downgrades to the Basic edition. This situation does not qualify as a first-time use and is not eligible for the free trial.
Available editions and features
Editions
The trial period is 7 days. During the trial, you have access to all features of Security Center Enterprise Edition.
To trial the Ultimate edition, contact your sales manager. The Ultimate edition adds container security features on top of the Enterprise edition. For edition differences, see the edition services description for subscription editions in Purchase Security Center.
Value-added features
The following table describes the value-added features available during the trial and their quota limits:
Feature | Trial quota limit |
Up to 20 vulnerabilities can be fixed. | |
Up to 10 application processes can be protected. | |
10 GB of log storage. | |
Up to 100 images can be scanned. | |
Authorizations for 20 hosts. |
The anti-ransomware feature is not available for trial. You can purchase it separately if needed. For more information, see Anti-ransomware.
After the trial ends, the enabled value-added features (such as application protection and container image scan) will be disabled. To continue using them, purchase the corresponding edition. For more information, see Purchase Security Center.
Enable the trial
Go to the Security Center console - Overview page.
On the Overview page, locate the Subscription section and click Try Now. You can also follow the instructions in the Welcome to Security Center dialog box to enable the Enterprise edition trial.
WarningIf your account does not meet the trial conditions (for example, it has a purchase record), the Overview page displays a Buy Now button instead of the Try Now button.
After the operation is complete, the trial takes effect immediately. Confirm that the Overview page displays the Enterprise Edition (Trial) label in the upper-right corner, which indicates that the trial is active.
Trial expiration
Edition rollback and billing rules: After the trial period ends, the instance does not automatically convert to a paid edition and no charges are incurred. The system automatically rolls back to the Basic Edition.
Feature limitations after rollback: After the rollback, only the Basic Edition features are retained. The main limitations are as follows:
NoteFor the complete feature list of the Basic edition, see Security Center Basic.
Vulnerability detection: Only vulnerability detection is available. One-click fixing is not supported.
Basic anomalous login detection: Detects logins from uncommon locations and brute-force cracking attempts. Automatic handling is not supported.
Value-added services: Enterprise edition-exclusive features such as application protection and container image scan are disabled.
Data and configuration retention policy
Data security: Security detection data and alert records generated during the trial are retained.
Configuration retention: Enterprise edition-exclusive configurations (such as custom alert policies and tamper proofing rules) no longer take effect after the trial expires, but the configuration information is not deleted.
Upgrade guide:
NoteFor feature differences across editions, see the edition services description for subscription editions in Purchase Security Center. For detailed billing rules, see Billing description.
Restore full functionality: To continue using Enterprise Edition features, see Purchase Security Center to enable a paid edition.
Advanced feature requirements: If you need features such as antivirus, advanced threat detection with automatic handling, web tamper proofing, AccessKey/password leak prevention, or classified protection compliance assessment, you must enable the Anti-virus or a higher edition.
FAQ
What are the differences between Security Center Basic edition and the free trial?
The Basic edition is the free version of Security Center that is available long-term and provides basic security capabilities (such as security scoring and basic vulnerability detection). The free trial is a 7-day experience of the Enterprise edition. During the trial, you can use all Enterprise edition features (such as threat detection, vulnerability fixing, and web tamper proofing). After the trial expires, the edition automatically rolls back to the Basic edition.
Can I apply for another free trial after I have already trialed the Enterprise edition?
No. Each Alibaba Cloud account can apply for the 7-day free trial only once. To continue using Enterprise edition features, you must purchase a corresponding edition.
How do I enable application vulnerability detection after I start the free trial?
After starting the free trial of the Enterprise edition, you can enable application vulnerability detection on the vulnerability management page in the Security Center console. For more information, see the related documentation.
Are my configurations retained after the Security Center trial expires?
Security detection data and alert records generated during the trial are retained. Enterprise edition configurations (such as custom alert policies and tamper proofing rules) no longer take effect after the trial expires, but the configuration information is not deleted. If you purchase the Enterprise edition later, the previous configurations are restored and available for use.
Why is there no "Try Now" button on the Overview page?
Your account does not meet the trial conditions (possibly due to an existing purchase record). In this case, the page displays a "Buy Now" button instead of "Try Now".