STAROps uses credits (AI_Credits) as the unified metering unit and supports pay-as-you-go and resource plan billing methods. This topic describes the credit system and billing rules.
Billing scope
The billing rules in this topic apply only to STAROps AI capabilities accessed through:
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STAROps console
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CloudMonitor (CMS) console
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Simple Log Service (SLS) console, excluding SLS Data Agent
For billing rules of other product entries, see the billing documentation of the corresponding product.
Credits
Credits are the unified metering and settlement unit for STAROps and cannot be converted back to cash. Credits are primarily used to offset model resource consumption in scenarios such as intelligent conversations and long-running tasks. The number of credits consumed depends on task complexity.
Credit consumption reference
The following are estimated credit consumption values. For actual consumption, view the credit consumption details on the Credit Usage page in the STAROps console.
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One Q&A session: approximately 30 credits.
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One RCA (Root Cause Analysis): approximately 200 credits.
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One container inspection: approximately 200 credits.
Billing methods
STAROps uses AI credits (AI_Credit) as the unified metering unit and supports two billing methods—pay-as-you-go and resource plan—which can be used simultaneously. Total cost = actual credits consumed × unit price (USD 0.0016 per credit), or purchase a resource plan in advance for a better unit price.
All customers receive a free quota of 2,500 credits per month. Pay-as-you-go is billed daily. You can view daily billing details in the Alibaba Cloud Expense Center.
|
Dimension |
Pay-as-you-go |
Resource plan |
|
Applicable scenario |
Unpredictable monthly usage |
Steady usage; lower unit price preferred |
|
Activation |
Active by default after STAROps is activated |
Active immediately after purchase |
|
Validity period |
No expiration. Billed daily. |
Based on the purchased duration. Unused credits are cleared after expiration. |
|
Payment method |
Postpaid (billed daily) |
Prepaid (one-time payment) |
|
Stacking |
After resource plan credits are exhausted, billing automatically switches to pay-as-you-go. |
Multiple resource plans can coexist and take effect simultaneously. |
Pricing
|
Type |
How to obtain |
Applicable customers |
Validity period |
|
Pay-as-you-go |
Active by default after STAROps is activated. Billing logic: USD 0.0016 per credit |
All customers |
No expiration. Billed daily. |
|
Commercial resource plan |
Purchase on the STAROps Common Buy page |
All customers. Multiple resource plans can be purchased and used simultaneously. |
Selected at the time of purchase |
Resource plan credits can only be used to offset STAROps credit consumption and cannot be used for other Alibaba Cloud products. Unused credits are cleared after the resource plan expires.
STAROps provides two types of free quota for new and existing customers:
|
Type |
Eligibility |
Free quota |
Validity period |
Upon expiration |
|
New customer credits |
Alibaba Cloud accounts that have not previously claimed STAROps new customer credits |
10,000 credits (one-time) |
31 days from activation |
Unused credits are automatically cleared |
|
Monthly free quota |
All customers who have activated STAROps |
2,500 credits per month |
Resets automatically each month |
Unused credits in the current month are not carried over to the next month |
Feature billing status
Effective August 16, 2026, Quick Investigation, Deep Investigation, and Alert Root Cause Analysis moved from beta to general availability, and using these features consumes credits.
The finding feature is currently free.
Digital employee duty service billing item
Effective October 10, 2026, STAROps will introduce the Agent_Day billing item for custom digital employee duty services. The service is billed at CNY 19 per instance per calendar day. Agent_Day is charged only for custom Digital Employees, and does not include the system Digital Employee Opa Agent (apsara-ops).
When your account simultaneously has new customer credits, a monthly free quota, a resource plan, and pay-as-you-go, STAROps deducts credits in the following priority order:
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New customer credits are consumed first, followed by the monthly free quota.
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After the monthly free quota is exhausted, resource plan credits are consumed. When multiple resource plans exist, the plan closest to expiration is consumed first.
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After all resource plan credits are consumed or have expired, usage is billed under the pay-as-you-go model at USD 0.0016 per credit.
What happens after credits are exhausted
After the new customer credits, monthly free quota, and resource plan credits in your account are all exhausted or expired, STAROps remains available and is not interrupted. Subsequent credit consumption is automatically billed under the pay-as-you-go method.
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Pay-as-you-go is a postpaid method billed daily. You can view daily billing details in the Alibaba Cloud Expense Center.
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To control credit consumption costs, see Quota management.
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For information about resource plan expiration and overdue payment handling, see Resource plan expiration and overdue payments. For information about pay-as-you-go billing rules and billing items, see Pay-as-you-go billing.
Purchase instructions
Use the Alibaba Cloud account or RAM user associated with your STAROps service to perform order-related operations.
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It is recommended to use the Alibaba Cloud root account to purchase resource plans.
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If you need to use a RAM user to place orders, ensure that the following permission policies have been granted:
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AliyunBSSOrderAccess: Permission to pay for orders.
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AliyunCMSFullAccess or a custom STAROps permission policy: Permission to operate STAROps services.
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