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Security Center:Pay-as-you-go billing change

Last Updated:Mar 06, 2026

Dear Alibaba Cloud user,

To continuously improve your experience with Security Center, we are introducing structural and pricing updates to our pay-as-you-go offering. These changes will take effect on September 11, 2025, and November 17, 2025, respectively.

Affected scope

These updates apply only to pay-as-you-go users. Subscription plans are unaffected. The changes impact the following users:

  • If you have pay-as-you-go enabled but have not used the Host and Container Security service, you will be affected only by the change in the basic service fee.

  • If you use the pay-as-you-go Host and Container Security service but only have the Anti-virus Edition enabled, you will be affected only by the change in the basic service fee.

  • If you use the pay-as-you-go Host and Container Security service and have the Advanced, Enterprise, or Ultimate Edition enabled, you will be affected by both the change in the basic service fee and the protection level adjustments.

Effective date

  • Update to Host and Container Security protection levels: September 11, 2025 (UTC+8).

  • Introduction of the basic service fee: November 17, 2025 (UTC+8).

Changes

Host and Container Security: from editions to protection levels

On September 11, 2025 (UTC+8), the Host and Container Security feature will transition from an edition-based model to a protection level model. Existing editions will be migrated as follows:

Original edition

New protection level

Core capabilities

Key changes and recommendations

Anti-virus

Virus Protection

Host intrusion detection, virus scanning, and removal

No functional changes. Migration is automatic and seamless.

Enterprise

Comprehensive Host Protection

Host detection and real-time defense

To use system vulnerability fixing or baseline checks, you must enable Vulnerability Fixing and Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) as separate pay-as-you-go services.

Ultimate

Comprehensive Host and Container Protection

Adds container security to comprehensive host protection

To use system vulnerability fixing or baseline checks, you must enable Vulnerability Fixing and CSPM as separate pay-as-you-go services.

Advanced

N/A

Retains current features

  • No new servers can be bound to the Advanced Edition.

  • Existing servers retain their current protection level. You cannot change to the Advanced Edition from other levels.

  • Vulnerability fixing and baseline checks require separate enablement of Vulnerability Fixing and CSPM as separate pay-as-you-go services.

New basic service fee

To ensure the stable operation of core services, a basic service fee will be introduced on November 17, 2025 (UTC+8).

  • Billing standard: USD 0.0076 per hour (billed in full-hour increments).

  • Billing condition: Automatically charged if any pay-as-you-go feature of Security Center is enabled.

  • Benefits: The following features are now independent of host protection editions and can be used without additional host fees:

    • DingTalk chatbot

    • Security report

    • Task hub. To use Task Hub, you must first enable the Vulnerability Fixing feature.

Automatic service deactivation

One-time deactivation: To prevent unnecessary charges, Security Center will be automatically deactivated for pay-as-you-go users who have not used the service for 15 consecutive days. This deactivation will occur during the upcoming price adjustment window.

It is a one-time protective measure, not a recurring policy. You can re-enable the service at any time via the console.

Important

If you are sure that you no longer need Security Center, manually disable the pay-as-you-go features to avoid future charges.

We are committed to delivering clearer, more transparent, and flexible security services. Your feedback helps us improve. If you have questions, please contact customer service.

Thank you for your continued trust and support.

FAQs

I have pay-as-you-go Host and Container Security enabled (Advanced/Enterprise/Ultimate Edition), but I can no longer fix system vulnerabilities. What should I do?

  • Option 1: Enable the pay-as-you-go Vulnerability Fixing service--charged on a per-use basis.

  • Option 2: Switch to a subscription plan—the Advanced, Enterprise, and Ultimate Editions of the subscription service still include unlimited vulnerability fixing.

I have pay-as-you-go Host and Container Security enabled (Advanced/Enterprise/Ultimate Edition), but I can no longer perform baseline checks. How can I restore this functionality?

  • Option 1: Enable the pay-as-you-go CSPM service, charged per use.

  • Option 2: Switch to a subscription plan--the Enterprise and Ultimate Editions include baseline checks.