Date: 06 December 2011
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AusCERT CS Price Schedule
Beginning in 2012, an entirely new pricing model will apply to the AusCERT Certificate Service. This model is based on the size of the subscribing institution (based on FTE numbers advised to the Australian government by DIISRTE and, for New Zealand, on data in the 2010 Tertiary Education Performance Report), instead of the type and number of products available. All subscribers to the service - irrespective of membership level - will now be able to issue an unlimited number of all current certificate types.1
| Tier |
Description |
Fee, per annum, incl GST for 2012
| Fee, per annum, incl GST for 2013 |
| Tier 5 |
4,000 or more FTE |
$11,000.00 |
$12,650.00 |
| Tier 4 |
3,000 - 3,999 FTE |
$9,000.00 |
$10,350.00 |
| Tier 3 |
2,000 - 2,999 FTE |
$7,000.00 |
$8,050.00 |
| Tier 2 |
1,000 - 1,999 FTE |
$5,000.00 |
$5,750.00 |
| Tier 1 |
up to 999 FTE |
$3,000.00 |
$3,450.00 |
| Primary/Secondary Schools |
any size |
NA |
$1200.00 |
| UQSchoolsNet Member |
any size |
NA |
$750.00 |
Why a new model?
A key objective of the AusCERT Certificate Service is to lower the cost of entry to Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) for the higher education and research (HER) sector in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Papua New Guinea. This objective was achieved, with affordable certificates now within reach of all subscribers to the service, but the full benefits of participating in the scheme were only available to those subscribing at the highest level. AusCERT saw, in this, an opportunity to increase the value of the service to all subscribers, not just those with the deepest pockets - but for this to occur, nothing less than a complete redesign of the subscription model was required.
AusCERT's ultimate goal is for PKI to become universal for online security in the HER sector, With a fixed annual subscription rate, for an unlimited number of certificates, the choice for a subscribing institution to issue an AusCERT certificate becomes 'academic'!
Affordable, equitable and flexible
The new pricing model makes subscription to the service affordable to institutions of all sizes, by leveraging an organisation's 'ability to pay'. The previous pricing model dictated that any site, no matter how small, that wanted to take advantage of all certificate types needed to subscribe at the highest (Enterprise Plus) level. This is no longer the case and almost every organisation will now find a membership level that suits its budget. For most existing subscribers, the annual cost will actually be reduced, while at the same time the range of services will increase. Because there is no longer a limit to the number or type of certificates that may be issued, subscribers will be encouraged to issue a 'real' certificate for every application - the more certificates issued, the better the value.
Some examples of how the new model is more equitable (these are all invented):
1. A small university, with less than 500 staff but a large online presence, would like to be able to issue more than 30 SSL certificates per year for its development and production web servers. Under the old pricing model, this would have cost over $5500; under the new model, just $3000. |
2. The same university would like to issue, in addition to its SSL requirements, personal (S/MIME) certificates to each of its staff members. Under the old pricing model, the cost rises to almost $8000; under the new model, the price remains at $3000. |
3. Another small university, of 100 staff, has a need for several code-signing certificates to enable its developers to publish trustworthy apps. Under the old pricing model, the cost is greater than $5500; under the new model, the price is only $3000. |
4. A medium sized university, of 2500 staff, would like to issue personal (S/MIME) certificates to each of its staff members and to its entire student body of 20000. Under the old pricing model, the price is almost $8000; under the new model, this becomes $7000. |
5. A large, sandstone university, with 5000 staff members, has a policy of using PKI across its entire operation. This means a requirement for upwards of 35000 personal certificates, several hundred SSL certificates (including multi-domain, unified communications and 'star' certificates) and numerous code-signing certificates. The peace of mind that comes from not having to make a cost decision on every certificate order will cost this institution only $11000. |
An actual statement made by a subscriber to the previous Enterprise Plus level of the service (under the new model, every subscriber will similarly benefit from unlimited access to certificates):
We decided a couple of things once we had access to "free certs"
1. we would use SSL on anything that mattered -- not just to protect credentials.
2. we would issue 'real' certs for dev, test and prod so that we did not get nasty surprises when things hit production.
I believe that the both of these were sound decisions but they were only feasible once we stopped paying $200 US per year per certificate.
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Note that:
- All prices include GST, where applicable. Users of the certificate service outside of Australia are GST exempt. If this applies to you, please request a price without GST.
- Prices are adjusted each year for CPI.
- There will be a one-off price rise of 15% for 2013 to accommodate the end of DIISR subsidy (not for schools).
The previous price schedule, for comparison:
| EXAMPLE ONLY |
Description |
2011
(including GST) |
2012 *
(incuding GST) |
Enterprise Plus |
Unlimited SSL, code signing and personal/client certificates |
$7,938.70 pa |
$8,224.49 |
Enterprise |
Unlimited SSL and code signing |
$5,670.50 pa |
$5,874.64 |
Economy SSL |
Up to 30 SSL/TLS certificates including:
- up to 3 UC or Multi Domain SSL Certificates
- up to 30 SSL/SGC certificates |
$2,268.20 pa |
$2,349.86 |
Economy Personal |
Up to 200 personal certificates |
$1,701.15 pa |
$1,762.39 |
* Includes 3.6% CPI increase from 2011.
1. EV SSL certificates attract additional charges - see AusCERT CS EV SSL Pricing
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