MicroStrategy cloud licensing covers the services through which MicroStrategy Incorporated, which now brands itself Strategy, delivers its platform as a managed service or as software the customer runs in its own cloud. The pricing page presents three plans for Strategy Mosaic and BI: Standard (“Get started now with quick and easy setup”), Enterprise (“Fully managed enterprise offering”) and Government (“FedRAMP authorized”).[1] Behind them are four service guides on the Terms page: Managed Cloud Enterprise (MCE), Managed Cloud Standard (MCS), Managed Cloud for Government (MCG) and Customer Managed Cloud (CMC), with a further guide for MCE on Stack IT.[9] The guides are revised often: the Terms archive lists earlier MCE guide versions retired in January, February, April, June and July 2026.[10] The MSA defines a Cloud Service as “one of our offerings that we manage on your behalf in a cloud environment, as more specifically described in the applicable Cloud Service Guide”.[7]
Editions
| Offering | Delivery | Licensing signal |
|---|---|---|
| Strategy Standard | Hosted on Strategy’s managed environment | For teams from 50 to 300 users; pricing as low as USD 13 per user per month; up to 150 GB in-memory capacity[1] |
| Strategy Enterprise | Fully managed, can be deployed in the customer’s own cloud account | Expandable users and in-memory capacity; quote only[1] |
| Strategy Government | FedRAMP authorized, hosted on AWS Gov Cloud | Expandable users; quote only[1] |
| Managed Cloud Enterprise | SaaS managed by Strategy in AWS, Azure or Google Cloud | Single-tenant Core and Tier 1 to Tier 4 architectures[2] |
| Managed Cloud Standard | Single container-based environment on AWS | Per user: Standard User and Standard Architect licences[3] |
| Managed Cloud for Government | Fully managed on AWS with a FedRAMP-authorized environment | Infrastructure package with optional HA and extra environments[4] |
| Customer Managed Cloud | Containerized images of the Strategy Cloud Platform that the customer deploys and manages | Customer’s own public cloud or private data centre[5] |
The pricing page names the platform simply “Strategy” and describes it as “an AI-powered business intelligence platform” combining dashboards, enterprise reports, AI agents and embedded analytics.[1] The Product Licensing List ties the cloud to role-based bundles. AI Consumer User, AI Power User and AI Architect User include the Strategy AI User licence and Mosaic Universal Access, and the Mosaic Consumer User bundle covers Mosaic access only.[6]
Metrics
Standard User and Standard Architect. MCS is “sold on a per user pricing model, starting at 50 Standard User licenses and 2 Standard Architect licenses” and can scale up to 300 Standard Users and 2 Standard Architects. Every user licence carries 0.5 GB of allocated memory with a minimum of 25 GB, and environments can scale to a maximum of 150 GB of total memory.[3] The pricing page matches this shape for Standard, with a user ceiling of 300 and in-memory capacity of up to 150 GB.[1]
Cloud Architecture tier. MCE infrastructure is ordered in tiers, each defined by RAM per production instance.[2]
| Tier | Production instances | Non-production |
|---|---|---|
| Core | One, up to 128 GB RAM | One, up to 128 GB |
| Tier 1 | One, up to 256 GB RAM | One up to 128 GB, one Windows utility instance up to 32 GB |
| Tier 2 | Two (HA), up to 512 GB RAM each | One up to 256 GB, one Windows utility instance up to 32 GB |
| Tier 3 | Two (HA), up to 1 TB RAM each | Instances up to 512 GB and 256 GB, two utility instances up to 64 GB |
| Tier 4 | Two (HA), up to 2 TB RAM each | Instances up to 1 TB and 512 GB, two utility instances up to 64 GB |
All rows are from the MCE Service Guide.[2] The guide also says the offerings are procured on the customer’s behalf from AWS, Azure or Google Cloud, with 24/7/365 monitoring, daily backups, updates and quarterly system reviews, and that all MCE customers receive up to 1 TB per month of data egress at no additional charge.[2] Catalog proof: MCE includes up to 1 TB of data egress per month.
Strategy AI Question. The MCE and MCG guides define “One ‘Question’” as “any input action taken while using the Strategy AI SKU”. One action submitted to the Auto chatbot that returns a response is one Question, and one click on an auto-populated suggestion is one Question.[2]
Counting / floors
Strategy AI consumption. “For each Strategy AI SKU quantity you license, you may consume up to twenty thousand (20,000) Questions … for a period of up to twelve (12) months” beginning on the order effective date or the replenishment effective date. Unconsumed Questions are forfeited at the earlier of the end of the Use Period or termination or expiry of the service term and do not carry over. Strategy then automatically replenishes the right to another 20,000 Questions for each licensed Strategy AI SKU quantity “each at the then current list price”, unless the customer gives written notice at least 90 days before the Use Period ends or before 18,000 Questions have been consumed, whichever occurs first. Strategy AI is otherwise non-cancelable and non-refundable.[2] The MCG guide has the same 20,000-Question rule.[4] Catalog proof: Strategy AI auto-replenishes at list price unless notice is given 90 days ahead or before 18,000 Questions.
Named-user AI SKUs. The Question limit “does not apply to the licensing of the other AI Capability SKUs, which are licensed on a named user basis, with no limit on the number of questions”.[2] Customers who buy the Strategy AI SKU get access to Platform Analytics, which includes their usage in its reporting.[2] The documentation also states that Server - Reporter “is required to use Strategy AI”.[8]
AI hosting terms. Strategy may provide the AI Capabilities from an environment different from the one on the order, and the customer may not perform penetration testing on the AI service.[2]
Data volume. The pricing page FAQ says “We do not charge based on data size or refresh frequency”, and that the platform is built by “removing usage-based fees”.[1] The Strategy AI SKU is a counter-example inside the managed cloud guides, since it is consumption-based with auto-replenishment.
Support. MCE customers receive Standard Support for the Cloud Platform licences, with four Support Liaisons. Cloud Elite Support is an add-on that gives enhanced initial response times for P1 and P2 issues, four additional Support Liaisons (eight in total), weekly case management meetings and customizable system alerts.[2] The MCE service level is 99.9% for HA production environments and 99% for single-instance non-HA production environments; MCG offers 99.9% for HA and 99.5% for non-HA.[2][4] Updates and upgrades are delivered each quarter for instance-based deployments and each month for container-based deployments as part of the Technical Support Services subscription.[2]
Virtualization & partitioning
The managed services are sized by RAM tier, user count or environment instances rather than by processor, so the MSA CPU definition does not drive their licensing. A Cloud Platform is described as a single-tenant environment with a dedicated architecture, deployed in a separate Virtual Private Cloud as necessary.[6] For customer-run deployments the CPU rules in MicroStrategy Named User and CPU licences apply.
Cloud / BYOL
Own-cloud deployment. Customer Managed Cloud “empowers organizations to deploy and manage Strategy analytics solutions within their own cloud infrastructure” using containerized images, and customers are responsible for applying Strategy updates to their deployments.[5] The Enterprise Platform SKUs are described as installable in the customer’s own on-premises data centre or any other cloud.[6] The MSA restricts use to a specified operating or cloud environment where the order form names one.[7]
Cloud credits. The pricing page says existing cloud credits can be used “only with Strategy Enterprise”: if the customer deploys Strategy in its own AWS, Azure, Google Cloud or STACKIT environment, usage can count toward the cloud provider’s commitment spend or credits. The option is not available for Strategy Standard.[1] Catalog proof: Existing cloud credits count only with Strategy Enterprise deployed in the customer’s cloud.
Government. Strategy Government is “FedRAMP Authorized” and hosted on AWS Gov Cloud, and the MCG service procures an environment with FedRAMP Authorization on AWS on the customer’s behalf.[1][4]
Programs
- Strategy Standard free trial. A free 30-day trial of Strategy Standard, which includes Mosaic Studio.[1]
- Strategy AI auto-replenishment. The 20,000-Question use period and renewal rules above.[2]
- Cloud Elite Support. An MCE add-on that ends with the related Order Term.[2]
- MCE service level. Service credits are decided by Strategy after the customer reports unavailability, and can be applied to the next invoice or used to extend the term.[2]
Out of scope
This article does not cover Strategy Mosaic as a semantic layer product beyond the licence entries, the data processing addendum in each service guide, or disaster recovery options. It does not give prices beyond the Standard price signal and cannot say what an Enterprise or Government quote contains. It does not cover the MCE on Stack IT service guide in detail, which the Terms page lists separately.[9]