Transition Guides for Free Users, Solo, and Teams Subscribers

The Censys Platform uses credits instead of queries. Censys users in the Free tier receive 100 credits per month and unused credits expire at the end of each month. When you search and interact with data in the Platform, each action you perform costs a fixed number of credits.

There are three main differences between Censys Credits and the previous licensing models used for Censys Search.

• Credits-based licensing: The credit-based licensing model allows users to purchase and consume credits for various platform features, ensuring scalability, and pay based on your needs rather than a fixed monthly subscription cost.
• Dynamic scaling and tiered pricing: As your needs grow, you can easily purchase additional credits due to tiered pricing. 
• Quota expiry and management: Free tier users receive 100 credits every month, and unused credits expire at the end of the month. Purchased credits are typically valid for 12 months.

To learn more, see Censys Credits.

Censys offers tiered data access solutions for a wide range of users, from hobbyists to enterprise security teams. The Free tier is designed for preliminary security investigations. Users can search and view basic protocols and services, but ICS protocols are excluded. For example, you can search for host.services.ftp.banner to view specific details about a banner message provided by the service. If you want to search for advanced protocols like MSMQ and view its data, you must upgrade to a paid account.

Basic certificate information is searchable and viewable for free users. To search for advanced certificate fields and view historical data, you must upgrade to a paid tier. Free tiers are limited to 1 page of results.

The Free tier allows users to search and view basic web properties like root endpoints. To access the following assets, you must upgrade:

• Endpoint resources, non-root endpoints (Starter)
• Threat actor endpoints (Enterprise)
• Deep application scanners (Enterprise)
• Cobalt strike, for red teams to test an org's vulnerabilities (Enterprise)

To learn more, see Data Access Tiers & Entitlements.

We introduced a new data model in the Censys Platform that includes three datasets: hosts, certificates, and web properties. Search functionality in the Censys Platform was enhanced, both syntax and semantics have changed since Legacy Search. Due to schema changes, you must define the dataset by prepending your search with host., cert., or web..

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Due to schema and syntax changes, you must modify your queries for them to return the same results.

The Censys Platform now uses a new query language that provides the following benefits:

• Universal search allows users to easily search across multiple datasets with one query.
• Search now includes a query validator that verifies syntax and assists with troubleshooting.
• Simplified regex searches and improved the use of operators.
• Wildcard no longer supported, use regex instead.

To learn more, see Censys Platform Syntax Differences.

Censys introduced a new data model for describing hosts, certificates, and web properties on the internet in the Censys Platform. This new data model is different from the one available in Legacy Search and features many improvements and additions. Queries and workflows that were used in Legacy Search need to be modified to return similar results in the Censys Platform.

Some of the most prominent changes include:

• A new domain-specific language and syntax, Censys Query Language (CenQL), for querying the Censys Platform datasets.
• Virtual hosts are now represented by web properties to describe and organize data for internet assets that respond to name-based scans.
• Additional context about web asset software, hardware, operating system, threats, and more to provide actionable information on what exactly mapped services and devices are, how they are configured, whether they are vulnerable, whether they are malicious, and where they live.
• host, cert, or web have been prepended to all parsed data fields. These values indicate whether the field is present on a host, certificate, or web property asset.
• Many values related to software or hardware that were previously present in the label field in Legacy Search can now be found instead in software and software.components fields for hosts and web properties.

To learn more about schema changes, see Dataset Differences: Censys Platform vs. Legacy Search.

To upgrade to the Starter tier, you must purchase Censys credits. Credits are available for purchase directly through the Censys website, starting at 500 credits. You can purchase additional credits at any time.

Follow the instructions below to purchase credits:

1. Go to the Credit Management on the sidebar.
2. Click Buy Credits.
3. Select the appropriate amount of credits.
4. Enter your payment information and accept the Terms and Conditions.

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If you upgrade to the Starter tier, your Free account remains active and will continue receiving 100 credits per month.

The Censys Platform uses credits instead of queries. Censys users in the Free tier receive 100 credits per month and unused credits expire at the end of each month. Starter and Enterprise tier users will retain their Free account and continue receiving 100 credits per month. Credits are available for purchase directly through the Censys website, starting at 500 credits. You can purchase additional credits at any time.

There are three main differences between Censys Credits and the previous licensing models used for Censys Search.

• Credits-based licensing: The credit-based licensing model allows users to purchase and consume credits for various platform features, ensuring scalability, and pay based on your needs rather than a fixed monthly subscription cost.
• Dynamic scaling and tiered pricing: As your needs grow, you can easily purchase additional credits due to tiered pricing. 
• Quota expiry and management: Purchased credits are typically valid for 12 months.

To learn more, see Censys Credits.

Censys offers tiered data access solutions for a wide range of users, from hobbyists to enterprise security teams. The Starter tier is designed to provide comprehensive internet visibility and actionable insights. You can search and view basic & advanced protocols and services that unlock deeper data and view one week of host history, excluding ICS protocols. Raw data can be viewed and downloaded.

The Starter tier allows users to search and view all certificate data, including certificates expired for more than 30 days. Web property data such as complete endpoints are searchable and viewable, providing insights into devices, services, and systems exposed on the internet.

To access the following assets, you must upgrade:

• Threat actor endpoints (Enterprise)
• Deep application scanners (Enterprise)
• Cobalt strike, for red teams to test an org's vulnerabilities (Enterprise)

To learn more, see Data Access Tiers & Entitlements.

We introduced a new data model in the Censys Platform that includes three datasets: hosts, certificates, and web properties. Search functionality in the Censys Platform was enhanced, both syntax and semantics have changed since Legacy Search. Due to schema changes, you must define the dataset by prepending your search with host., cert., or web..

📘

Due to schema and syntax changes, you must modify your queries for them to return the same results.

The Censys Platform now uses a new query language that provides the following benefits:

• Universal search allows users to easily search across multiple datasets with one query.
• Search now includes a query validator that verifies syntax and assists with troubleshooting.
• Simplified regex searches and improved the use of operators.
• Wildcard no longer supported, use regex instead.

To learn more, see Censys Platform Syntax Differences.

Censys introduced a new data model for describing hosts, certificates, and web properties on the internet in the Censys Platform. This new data model is different from the one available in Legacy Search and features many improvements and additions. Queries and workflows that were used in Legacy Search need to be modified to return similar results in the Censys Platform.

Some of the most prominent changes include:

• A new domain-specific language and syntax, Censys Query Language (CenQL), for querying the Censys Platform datasets.
• Virtual hosts are now represented by web properties to describe and organize data for internet assets that respond to name-based scans.
• Additional context about web asset software, hardware, operating system, threats, and more to provide actionable information on what exactly mapped services and devices are, how they are configured, whether they are vulnerable, whether they are malicious, and where they live.
• host, cert, or web have been prepended to all parsed data fields. These values indicate whether the field is present on a host, certificate, or web property asset.
• Many values related to software or hardware that were previously present in the label field in Legacy Search can now be found instead in software and software.components fields for hosts and web properties.

To learn more about schema changes, see Dataset Differences: Censys Platform vs. Legacy Search.

In addition to the new Platform, we also released the Censys Platform API. To seamlessly transition to the new API, please update the following:

• Base URL: There is a new base URL for the Censys Platform API.
• Access token: There is a new process to generate a Personal Access Token.
• Review any downstream applications that receive data from the API.

For more information about these changes, see Get Started.

To upgrade to the Enterprise tier, you must contact a Censys sales representative using the Contact Form. The minimum credit purchase for the Enterprise tier is 250,000 credits.

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If you upgrade to the Starter tier, your Free account remains active and will continue receiving 100 credits per month.