Overview

SecMaster supports two billing modes, yearly/monthly and pay-per-use billing, to meet requirements in different scenarios.

Yearly/Monthly billing is a prepaid mode in which you pay for the service before using it. Your bill is settled based on the required period. The longer you use the service, the more discounts you got.
Pay-per-use billing is a postpaid mode in which you pay for what you used. You are billed by second based on the actual usage. Your bill is settled by the hour. With the pay-per-use billing mode, you can easily adapt to resource requirement changes, reducing the risk of over-provisioning of resources or lacking capacity. In this mode, there are no upfront commitments required.

Table 1 lists the differences between the billing modes.

**Table 1** Billing modes
Billing Mode	Yearly/Monthly Billing	Pay-per-Use Billing
Payment method	Prepaid Billed by the subscription term you purchase	Postpaid Billed for what you use.
Billing period	Billed by the subscription term you purchase	Billed by the second and settled by the hour
Billing items	Service edition + ECS quota Value-added packages (large screen, intelligent analysis, and security orchestration).	Service edition (professional edition only) + ECS quota Value-added packages (large screen, intelligent analysis, and security orchestration).
Changing specifications	You can change the service edition you are using and increase the ECS quota.	You can increase the ECS quota.
Application scenario	This billing mode is cost-effective and suitable when the duration of resource usage is predictable. The yearly/monthly mode is recommended for long-term users.	This mode is suitable when you want more flexibility and control on resource usage.
NOTE: Value-added packages cannot be purchased independently. You can purchase a value-added package only when you have purchased the standard or professional edition. Value-added packages are billed separately. There is no impact on the service edition and ECS quota you have purchased.