Fees for Identity Providers

Non-recurring costs

A once-off take-on charge of R 2 550 will be levied for each new production entity registered under the SAML2 technology profile to cover the administrative overheads of processing a new identity provider registration.

Annual recurring costs

The annual recurring cost is calculated based on the technology profile as well as the number of full-time equivalent staff1 and students at the participating institution.

Annual fees for Identity Providers
FTE Band Technology Profile Effective Max Discount
SAML2 RADIUS
0–500 R 3 525 R 650 ‡ -
501–1 000 R 6 345 R 1 170 10%
1 001–2 500 R 14 981 R 2 763 15%
2 501–5 000 R 28 200 R 5 200 20%
5 001–10 000 R 52 875 R 9 750 25%
10 001–15 000 R 74 025 R 13 650 30%
15 001–30 000 R 126 900 R 23 400 40%
> 30 000 + R 2 350 per additional 1 000 FTE over 30 000 + R 433 per additional 1 000 FTE over 30 000 > 40%

For public and private institutions recognised by the Department of Higher Education and Training, the FTE count from the last published HEMIS2 submissions will be used. For other organisations, a mutually agreeable method for determining FTE count must be derived.

All annual recurring costs are subject to an annual escalation to reflect the increasing costs of providing and maintaining the service.

Discounts and exemptions

  • Institutions that subscribe to a basket of NREN services from TENET receive a 100% discount on SAFIRE’s fees so long as they continue to receive that basket.
  • Non-profit or public benefit organisations properly registered as such in South Africa may request a discount.
  • The SAFIRE Steering Committee may, at its sole discretion, elect to discount or exempt any organisation from paying SAFIRE’s fees.
  • All prices exclude value-added tax (VAT)
  • ‡ eduroam identity providers with 150 or fewer users may use the managed IdP service at no charge.
  • Non-profit or public benefit eduroam identity providers that provide a reciprocal service provider used by other institutions receive a 50% discount on the RADIUS profile fees.

  1. For the avoidance of doubt, this covers the FTE count of all persons recognised as "staff" or "student" under the eduPersonAffiliation definition, but excludes those who are merely "employee" under that definition. In HEMIS terms, this means the "trade/craft" and "service" personnel categories are excluded. ↩︎

  2. DHET’s Higher Education Management Information System, or its successor or equivalent government-mandated reporting system. Note that published HEMIS submissions usually lag by approximately two years. ↩︎

South African Identity Federation