Terms of Service

The agreement

These Terms of Service govern your use of hosting services provided by Rack1 Networks (“Rack1”, “we”, “us”). By ordering, accessing or using our services you agree to these terms, together with our Acceptable Use Policy and Privacy Policy, which are incorporated by reference.

If you are entering into these terms on behalf of a company or other organisation, you confirm you have authority to do so.

The services we provide

We provide managed web hosting on shared and accelerated infrastructure, together with related services including email, DNS, SSL certificates, content delivery through our edge network and automated offsite backups.

• The specifications, allowances and limits applicable to your service are those published on the plan page for the tier you purchase
• Our services are fully managed. You do not receive root or administrative access to underlying servers
• We may modify, improve or replace elements of the platform. Where a change materially reduces the service you have paid for, we will give reasonable notice
• Services are provided for hosting websites. Reseller hosting is not offered and reselling your allocation is not permitted

Your account

You must provide accurate registration and billing information and keep it current. You are responsible for all activity under your account, for maintaining the confidentiality of your credentials, and for the conduct of anyone you grant access to.

You must be at least 18 years old, or have the consent of a parent or legal guardian, to hold an account.

Fees, billing and renewal

• Fees are stated in US dollars and are charged monthly in advance. We do not offer annual billing and there is no minimum term
• Services renew automatically each month at the then-current rate unless cancelled before renewal
• We do not charge setup fees. Taxes may be added where applicable
• You can upgrade at any time; the change is applied and the difference is pro-rated. Downgrades take effect at your next renewal, and you are responsible for ensuring your usage fits within the lower tier's limits first
• Outside the price guarantee below, price changes will be notified at least 30 days in advance and take effect at your next renewal

Bandwidth allowances and overage

Each plan includes a monthly bandwidth allowance, published on that plan's page. Bandwidth used beyond the allowance is charged at a rate not exceeding $0.10 per GB. That figure is a ceiling, not a starting point.

• Static, Basic Shared, Accelerated and WordPress Optimized. We absorb minor or occasional excesses at our discretion and at no charge. Where an excess is substantial or persistent we will contact you before any charge is applied, and any charge will not exceed $0.10 per GB
• Plans with reserved resources, such as Managed Cloud once launched. Bandwidth beyond the allowance is billed at a flat $0.10 per GB
• We will notify you before charging for bandwidth in any month, and you may move to a larger plan instead
• No other charge applies to bandwidth, including content delivered through our edge network

Bandwidth consumed through activity that breaches our Acceptable Use Policy may be restricted rather than billed.

Five-year price guarantee

For Static, Basic Shared, Accelerated and WordPress Optimized plans, the monthly fee for the plan you purchase will not increase for five years from the date you first purchase it. This is a commitment, not an introductory rate.

• The guarantee applies to the recurring hosting fee for your plan, at the tier you are on
• If you change tier, the new tier's current published price applies from that change, and a fresh five-year guarantee runs from that date
• Existing customers are never charged more than a new customer signing up for the same plan on the same day. If we lower a price, tell us and we will move you down to it
• The guarantee is a price commitment, not a specification freeze. We may improve what a plan includes, and we will not reduce a published limit on a plan you already hold

The guarantee does not apply to:

• Domain registrations and renewals. These are priced by the registries that operate each extension and change independently of us
• Managed Cloud once launched, which reserves dedicated hardware resources and tracks the cost of that hardware
• Applicable taxes, which are set by the relevant authorities

Late payment and non-payment

If payment fails we will attempt to contact you and retry. If an account remains unpaid, services may be suspended, and after a further reasonable period the account and its data, including backups, may be deleted. Please keep your billing details current; we would much rather send you a reminder than delete your website.

Cancellation and refunds

• You may cancel at any time, effective at the end of the current month. There is no minimum term and no cancellation fee
• New hosting accounts may be cancelled within 14 days of first purchase for a full refund of the hosting fee. This does not apply to domain registrations, which are non-refundable once registered, or to accounts terminated for violating our Acceptable Use Policy
• Beyond the first 14 days, fees already paid are non-refundable, but you keep the service you paid for until the end of the period
• Please download anything you want to keep before cancelling. Data is removed after cancellation

Your content and your responsibilities

You retain ownership of everything you upload. You grant us only the limited licence necessary to host, transmit, cache, back up and display your content in order to provide the service.

You are responsible for your content, your applications, keeping your software updated, and complying with our acceptable use obligations and applicable law, including data protection law where you collect personal information from your own visitors.

Acceptable use

Our Acceptable Use Policy forms part of these terms and is incorporated into them. It is written to be read, and we recommend you do, but the substance of it is this.

You must not use the services

• In any way that breaches applicable law or regulation, or for any unlawful or fraudulent purpose
• To harm or attempt to harm minors in any way. Child sexual abuse material results in immediate termination and a report to the appropriate authorities, with no notice and no refund
• To send, or procure the sending of, unsolicited bulk or commercial email. We operate a zero-tolerance policy and may suspend or terminate without notice
• To transmit malware, ransomware, trojans, keystroke loggers, spyware or any other malicious code
• To distribute material that infringes copyright, trade mark or any other intellectual property right
• To publish material that is defamatory, obscene, hateful, inflammatory, pornographic, discriminatory, deceptive, threatening, or that invades another person's privacy or impersonates someone
• To gain or attempt to gain unauthorised access to our systems, another customer's account, or any system connected to ours

Resource and storage limits

• Your storage is for a website you serve from your account. It is not general-purpose cloud storage, a backup target or a file archive. Files that are neither reachable over the web nor required for the site to function may be removed without notice
• You must not run unattended processes or daemons, web spiders, IRC software, BitTorrent or other peer-to-peer systems, game servers, proxy or tunnelling services, remote file-hosting services, or self-hosted cloud storage platforms
• You must not consume a disproportionate share of a shared server on a sustained basis. Genuine traffic spikes are covered by Rack1 Burst at no extra cost and are not a breach
• Scheduled tasks must be configured through the control panel
• Individual MySQL databases are limited as published on your plan page
• You must not resell, sub-divide or otherwise supply your allocation to third parties as a hosting service

If you breach it

Failure to comply is a material breach of these terms. We may withdraw your right to use the services, remove or edit offending material, issue a warning, suspend or terminate the account without notice where the breach is serious, disclose information to law enforcement where the law requires or permits it, and take legal proceedings to recover reasonable costs arising from the breach. Where the breach is minor or inadvertent we will normally contact you first and give you a chance to put it right.

The full policy sets all of this out in more detail, including how to report abuse. We may revise it at any time by amending that page, and material changes are notified as described under changes to these terms.

Backups

We take automated daily offsite backups of hosting accounts and retain them for the period published on your plan (14 or 30 days). You can restore from them yourself through our control panel.

Availability

We target 99.9% availability of hosting services in any calendar month, as described in our uptime commitment. Planned maintenance, issues caused by your own content or applications, and circumstances outside our reasonable control are excluded from that calculation.

Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate services where you breach these terms or the Acceptable Use Policy, where your account is being used to harm others or the platform, where payment is not made, or where we are required to do so by law. Where practical and appropriate we will contact you first and give you an opportunity to put things right.

You may terminate at any time as described under cancellation above.

Warranties and liability

We provide our services with reasonable skill and care. Beyond that, and to the maximum extent permitted by law, services are provided “as is” without further warranties of any kind, express or implied.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential losses, loss of profits, loss of business, loss of goodwill or loss of data. Our total aggregate liability arising out of or relating to the services is limited to the fees you paid us for the service in question in the twelve months preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited.

Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold Rack1 Networks harmless from claims, damages, losses and reasonable costs arising from your content, your use of the services, or your breach of these terms or the Acceptable Use Policy.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. Material changes will be posted here with an updated date and notified to existing customers by email at least 30 days before they take effect. Continuing to use the services after that date constitutes acceptance.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, United States, and the courts of that state have exclusive jurisdiction, without prejudice to any mandatory consumer protections available to you where you live.

Questions about these terms? Email hello@rack1.net.