Bot/Service Users pricing policy change in Ultimate
Problem to solve
Bot users are becoming more widely used in enterprises as they move to more automation. GitLab charges for these bots as if they are users. This proposal is to make bot users a reduced price, along similar lines as Guest users in Ultimate (initially).
Some of our larger customers are already flagging this today as an issue. Ultimate customers (such as customer, as they are paying the most, are currently experiencing the most "pain" around this issue, which I don't believe is intended.
Intended users
Further details
I believe we should start with making them cost less in Ultimate as it's easier to move this policy down tiers or reduce the cost further to free, at a later date.
Proposal
A commercial policy change only at this stage, which would rely on customers self-reporting the number of bot users to us.
A technical way of counting them would need to follow. As per @aolson we can require usage ping turned on for these instances in self-managed: #6883 (comment 87400096). @brodock mentions some of the complexity that may be involved here in counting the users in product: #6883 (comment 119095359)
Permissions and Security
For this proposal, none as far as I'm aware, as it's only a pricing change being proposed.
Documentation
We would need to update the home page and our quoting systems.
Testing
It would not necessarily effect the product if more bot users were added (unsure if this would result in more API calls on GitLab.com?).
What does success look like, and how can we measure that?
Success looks like customers not blocked from exploring bots for automation in their workflows as they move towards continuous deployment.
What is the type of buyer?
As this will be for Ultimate only, CXO's.