Alcion licensing
Alcion requires licenses only for protected users, and not all users, in your Microsoft 365 tenant. The per-user licenses also cover backup and the required storage for all Alcion supported services, including SharePoint sites.
Protected users are Microsoft 365 users that have a backup policy which allows Alcion to create and manage backups for the user. Assigning a recurring backup policy, on-demand backup policy or performing manual backups (will automatically create an on-demand policy if there isn't one) for a user will classify them as a protected user. Conversely, assigning an excluded backup policy will remove the licensing requirement. Note that in that case the backups for the user will be deleted after a 2 week delay for security reasons.
Alcion will also classify newly created Microsoft 365 user as protected if new user auto protection is enabled.
Alcion requires a minimum of 5 licenses to subscribe.
Subscription plans
Alcion supports both monthly and annual subscription plans.
Monthly subscriptions
Monthly subscriptions are the most flexible billing option that Alcion offers. Each month you will be billed based on the number of protected users (see above) on the first day of the new billing period. The number can go up and down depending on your needs.
Monthly subscriptions renew automatically, but can be cancelled at any time.
Annual subscriptions
Annual subscriptions allow you to purchase a number of committed protected users for the next 12 months at a discounted rate. You will still be able to protect additional users if necessary. By default, Alcion will bill you for these additional users on a separate monthly subscription at the applicable monthly rate. In this case, you will also have the option to upgrade your annual subscription with the additional protected users. Alcion will charge you a pro-rated amount for the remainder of the annual billing period. For added convenience, Alcion also offers the option to upgrade your annual subscription automatically, when necessary.
Five days before the start of each monthly billing period, you will receive a report that will remind you of your current number of protected users and any estimated monthly charges that may be applicable, giving you the option to go with the flexible monthly billing, upgrade your annual subscription, or reduce the number of protected users before the start of the next monthly period.
Annual subscriptions renew automatically on the anniversary of your subscription, but can be cancelled at any time.