HostPhoton Terms of Service
Acceptable Use Policy
By accepting our Terms of Service, you also agree to our Privacy Notice and Data Use Policy.
Please click here for more information on our Privacy Notice and Data Use Policy
All users of HostPhoton services, and all customers upon signing up for HostPhoton services, agree to comply with HostPhoton Terms of Service (“TOS”). The spirit of the TOS is to ensure customers are using HostPhoton services with due regard to the rights of other Internet users and in conformity with the requirements of the HostPhoton network environment. The TOS are not exhaustive and HostPhoton reserves the right to add, delete, or modify any provision of its TOS at any time without notice, effective upon either the posting of the modified TOS to www.hostphoton.com or notification of the modified TOS. Any complaints about a customer’s violation of the TOS should be sent to abuse@hostphoton.com. Please see our abuse terms for more details on abuse policy. When you agree to the terms, you are also agreeing to our Billing terms. Except when expressly agreed to the contrary in writing by an authorized representative of HostPhoton, this TOS supersedes any other agreement with HostPhoton, whether written, oral, by conduct, or otherwise.
Server Resources
Any Web site that uses a high amount of server resources (such as, but not limited to, CPU time, memory usage, and network resources) will be given the option to reduce the resources used to an acceptable level. HostPhoton will be the sole arbiter of what is considered to be a high server usage level. Any Web Hosting account deemed to be adversely affecting server performance or network integrity will be shut down without prior notice.
Any script that consumes large amounts of resources is not allowed, such as (but not limited to): Bots, proxy scripts, rapid leech scripts, torrent related scripts, chatting or chat room scripts, PTC (Paid-to-click) site scripts, file or image hosting scripts, mail-bombers or spam scripts, topsites scripts, auto-blog scripts and plugins. Such scripts will be terminated immediately with no prior notice and account owners will not be eligible for a refund. We provide shared hosting, therefore, any script you run that will consume large amounts of resources affects other customers on your server negatively, so please use common sense when using a script. If you are unsure of any script, before running the script in your account, please contact HostPhoton Sales or Support to ensure the script is allowed.
Any account should not use more than 25% CPU consistently for more than 5 minutes. If you are consistently using 25% or more CPU, you will need to upgrade to the next available hosting plan. If you are using the maximum hosting plan and are still using 25% or more CPU consistently, then you have most likely outgrown a shared hosting environment and should therefore obtain a VPS or dedicated server to better suit your needs.
Any account suspended or terminated due to violation of our Terms of Service will not be eligible for a refund, including during our 30 day money back guarantee period.
Spam/Bulk Mail
HostPhoton has a “No Tolerance” policy on Spam and bulk mail. Sending unsolicited, bulk and/or commercial messages over the Internet or by text messaging (known as “spamming”) is prohibited, regardless of whether or not it overloads a server or disrupts service to HostPhoton customers. HostPhoton also does not allow CAN-SPAM compliant bulk email or consider emails not Spam just because you include an Opt-Out notice. The term “spamming” also includes, but is not limited to, maintaining an open SMTP policy, sending unsolicited text messages, engaging in spamming using the service of another ISP or IPP and referencing in the spam a Web site hosted on a HostPhoton server, and selling or distributing software (on a Web site residing on a HostPhoton server) that facilitates spamming. If a HostPhoton server IP has become blacklisted due to spamming by a users domain name hosted on our servers, the violator will face immediate termination and no refunds will be given. HostPhoton reserves the right to determine, in its sole and absolute discretion, what constitutes a violation of this provision.
Any client found to be spamming may face a spam cleanup fee from $250 – $500 depending on the circumstance and level of cleanup involved. Any account suspended or terminated due to spamming will not be eligible for a refund.
Denial of Service Attacks
“Stress testing” or purposely receiving DDoS/DoS attacks is not tolerated on our servers. While we will do our best to block/mitigate DDoS/DoS attacks, in order to ensure all clients receive an acceptable level of service on our servers, any account that is receiving a DDoS/DoS attack shall not negatively affect other accounts on that particular server or degrade overall server performance. This includes, but is not limited to: null routing the offending IP address(s), suspending the account receiving the DDoS/DoS and/or terminating the account.
This also includes sending a DDoS/DoS or taking part in a DDoS/DoS from any HostPhoton account, be it shared/reseller/vps or dedicated server. Any account found actively sending abusive traffic will be immediately suspended and possibly terminated with no refunds given.
Prohibited Material
The following material is not allowed on our shared and reseller hosting servers:
IRC related items
Proxy scripts
VPN scripts
Nulled or pirated software
Image or File hosting
Rapid Leech scripts
File sharing applications (including cloud apps such as: ownCloud, NextCloud)
PTC sites
Spam or bulk mail scripts
Hacking sites
Sites that promote illegal activity
Sites or forums that link to and/or distribute illegal content or copyrighted material
Sites that host or link to copyrighted material without proper consent
Bitcoin miners
Chatroom scripts
Auto-blog scripts or plugins
Social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) auto-post or auto-like scripts
Inodes
Inodes are the amount of all the files located on your account. For example, an email stored in your account will be 1 inode, an email that contains 2 attachments will be 3 inodes. Any image, file, video, HTML file, folder and script file are each considered inodes.
Once your accounts inode limit had been reached, you will no longer be able to create any additional files. Your website might also stop working properly if it requires writing data to disk, such as a database. The solution is to free up space by removing any unused files, emails or even empty your mailbox spam folder
To see the inode limit for each plan, please see
We use CloudLinux on our Linux servers (cPanel and DirectAdmin) and set resource limits with each hosting account/plan. The following are our current limits**:
Web Hosting Plan Limits
CPU = 100%
RAM = 3 GB
Entry Processes = 30
I/O = 50 MB/sec
IOPS = 5024
Inodes = 300000
Disk Space Usage
Account disk space is meant for files related to your websites only. Using your disk space for backups of any kind, file sharing or any type of short or long term storage is not permitted. This also includes the usage of cloud storage applications such as ownCloud or NextCloud that allow you to store and share files from your hosting account. Use of these applications is not permitted.
Reselling Non-Reseller Plans
Your HostPhoton shared hosting account may not be resold and you may not resell any shared hosting services provided by HostPhoton. This includes, but is not limited to, email accounts, add-on domains and FTP accounts. Violaters will face immediate termination and no refunds will be given.
If you would like to resell hosting space, please see our reseller hosting plans. Reseller hosting plans may not be set-up at this time.
Reseller Plan Policy
Non-Exempt
All reseller accounts must abide by the same policies in our Terms of Service as any other account and are in no way exempt.
Free Hosting/Free Email
Resellers are not permitted to offer free hosting plans, free trial offerings or free email accounts with our reseller hosting plans.
Free Blesta License
Resellers with active/current reseller plans in good standing are eligible for a free Blesta license. Limit 1 Blesta license per HostPhoton client. Clients agree to maintain an active HostPhoton reseller plan for the life of their Blesta license. If the client fails to maintain an active reseller plan, the Blesta license will be subject to immediate cancellation without prior notice.
Blesta licenses provided by HostPhoton must be used on HostPhoton servers only and are not to be used on remote servers. Blesta licenses provided by HostPhoton found active on remote servers will be subject to immediate cancellation.
All issued Blesta licenses must be actively used and bound to a valid domain name. Licenses found to be unused and/or not bound to a domain will be cancelled/terminated at our discretion. If reseller option from HostPhoton is not currently set-up, disgregard this Free Blesa License offer.
Abusive Clients of Resellers
HostPhoton reserves the right to suspend or terminate any reseller client account(s) we find to be abusive, illegal, etc. as per our regular Terms of Service abuse policy without prior notification based on the severity of the abuse.
Suspended Account Storage
Resellers are not permitted to have any account in a suspended state for a period of more than 90 days. Since this falls under our backup storage policy and the storage of backups not being permitted in your account, any reseller cPanel sub-account found to be suspended for more than 90 days will be terminated in accordance with this policy. If you have a need for the account and it will be in a suspended state for more than 90 days, we suggest making a full backup of the account and storing the backup file remotely.
Dedicated IP Address Policy
Dedicated IP addresses purchased from HostPhoton are non-transferrable and cannot be transferred to a new host. The assigning of dedicated IP addresses are subject to ARIN’s new policies which require justification for the need of the IP address. An example of proper justification includes, but not limited to: SSL certificates, reseller accounts and dedicated servers. HostPhoton will deny requests for dedicated IP addresses without proper justification.
Uptime Guarantee
HostPhoton guarantees that your website will be up and running at least 99.9% of the time during any given 12-month period. This guarantee includes network uptime, server uptime, web server and service uptime. It does not cover any areas where HostPhoton.com has no direct influence, such as backbone provider failures, fibre-optic main line cuts, DNS or Domain Registrar issues with subscriber’s domain name, connection issues between the client’s location and HostPhoton.com data center. This uptime guarantee is also not applicable if the service interruption was caused by external issues such as Acts of God, Wars or any other natural or unnatural events that HostPhoton.com cannot directly influence.
To request a service credit due to an uptime concern, please submit a request for this guarantee via HostPhoton’s web site.
If requesting a “service credit” we ask that the client briefly explains the reasons for doing so. Include any documentation supporting your request.
Server Location
Data center Locations are subject to availability and choosing a specific location during your order does not guarantee that location. HostPhoton reserves the right to substitute the chosen server location as necessary and/or move accounts to other server locations as needed.
Daily Backups
HostPhoton performs daily full account backups. Daily backups include the backup of all account data, email accounts and MySQL databases. Weekly backups are for HostPhoton disaster recovery purposes only. Resellers accounts and their client accounts are included in the accounts we backup, however, backups are not included as a part of their service and Resellers are ultimately responsible for their own backups and should not soley rely on the backups HostPhoton performs. No guarantee of data is expressed or implied.
Ownership of Web Site
The legal owner of customers’ Web sites and accounts with HostPhoton will be the individual or organization whose name is listed in HostPhoton database as the owner. Customers will fully cooperate with and abide by any and all of HostPhoton security measures and procedures in the event of any dispute over ownership of customers’ Web sites and accounts with HostPhoton.
Illegal Use
HostPhoton servers may be used for lawful purposes only. Transmission, storage, or distribution of any information, data, or material in violation of any applicable law or regulation, or that may directly facilitate the violation of any particular law or regulation is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to: warez; nulled scripts; copyrighted material; providing access to or linking to copyrighted material; trademarks; trade secrets or other intellectual property rights used without proper authorization; material that is obscene, defamatory, constitutes an illegal threat, or violates export control laws. Additionally, in purchasing HostPhoton services, all HostPhoton customers certify that they and/or the organization they represent in procuring services from HostPhoton are not, nor have been designated, a suspected terrorist as defined in Executive Order 13224; are not owned or controlled by a ‘suspected terrorist’ as defined in Executive Order 13224; and are not on, are not a member of, related to, associated with, or controlled by any organizations on the list contained in the Annex to Executive Order 13224 and all updates thereto. HostPhoton reserves the right to immediately terminate any account containing, providing access to or linking to illegal material. Clients terminated for violating our copyright policy or Terms of Service will not be eligible for refunds or backups of their data.
Copyright Violations
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) sets forth the law regarding the use of copyrighted materials on the Internet. All HostPhoton customers are subject to the requirements of the DMCA. Individuals or entities submitting notifications of copyright infringement by a HostPhoton customer (per the DMCA) to HostPhoton must follow the below procedures. Customers who are the subject of a DMCA notification that meets the below criteria may be subject to account termination at HostPhoton sole discretion.
DMCA Copyright Infringement Notification Requirements:
Send the notification via email to:
abuse@HostPhoton.com
Or submit a ticket to our Abuse department Here
The DMCA contains very specific guidelines as to what proper notification of claimed infringement must contain. Copyright owners may obtain a copy of the DMCA, including these guidelines, by visiting the web site of the U.S. Copyright Office at http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html#512.
HostPhoton is not required to respond to notices that do not meet the requirements of the DMCA. Copyright owners should be aware that there are substantial penalties for false claims and that HostPhoton will actively refer complainants who use the DMCA for improper purposes to relevant law enforcement agencies.
In the event that HostPhoton must remove, or disable access to, material on your web site that is alleged to infringe another’s copyright under the DMCA, you acknowledge and agree that HostPhoton may do so by disabling access to your entire web site or terminating your account.
Child Pornography
The use of HostPhoton services to store, post, display, transmit, advertise or otherwise make available child pornography is prohibited. HostPhoton is required by law, and will, notify law enforcement agencies when it becomes aware of the presence of child pornography on, or being transmitted through, its services.
Indemnification
HostPhoton customers agree to protect, defend, hold harmless, and indemnify HostPhoton, any third party entity related to HostPhoton (including, without limitation, third party vendors), and HostPhoton executives, directors, officers, attorneys, managers, employees, consultants, contractors, agents, parent companies, subsidiaries, and affiliates, from and against any and all liabilities, losses, costs, judgments, damages, claims, or causes of actions, including, without limitation, any and all legal fees and expenses, arising out of or resulting in any from the customer’s use of HostPhoton services.
Disclaimer
The HostPhoton service is provided on an as is, as available basis without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement. HostPhoton expressly disclaims any representation or warranty that the HostPhoton service will be error-free, secure or uninterrupted. No oral advice or written information given by HostPhoton, its employees, licencors or the like, will create a warranty; nor may you rely on any such information or advice. HostPhoton and its partners and suppliers will not be liable for any cost or damage arising either directly or indirectly from any transaction or use of the service.
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT, AND UNDER NO THEORY OF LAW OR EQUITY, WILL HostPhoton (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, HostPhoton’ s EXECUTIVES, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, ATTORNEYS, MANAGERS, EMPLOYEES, CONSULTANTS, CONTRACTORS, AGENTS, PARENT COMPANIES, SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, THIRD-PARTY PROVIDERS, MERCHANTS, LICENSORS, OR THE LIKE) OR ANYONE ELSE INVOLVED IN CREATING, PRODUCING, OR DISTRIBUTING HostPhoton’s SERVICES, BE LIABLE FOR THE LOSS OF A DOMAIN NAME, OR ANY BUSINESS OR PERSONAL LOSS, REVENUES DECREASE, EXPENSES INCREASE, COSTS OF SUBSTITUTE PRODUCTS AND/OR HostPhoton SERVICES, OR ANY OTHER LOSS OR DAMAGE WHATSOEVER, OR FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE OR INDIRECT DAMAGES OF ANY KIND ARISING OUT OF ANY USE OF, OR ANY INABILITY TO USE, ANY HostPhoton SERVICES EVEN IF HostPhoton HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. HostPhoton’s TOTAL CUMULATIVE LIABILITY, IF ANY, TO CUSTOMER, OR ANY THIRD PARTY, FOR ANY AND ALL DAMAGES, RELATED TO THE TOS OR HostPhoton’s SERVICES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THOSE FROM ANY NEGLIGENCE, ANY ACT OR OMISSION BY HostPhoton OR HostPhoton’ REPRESENTATIVES, OR UNDER ANY OTHER THEORY OF LAW OR EQUITY, WILL BE LIMITED TO, AND WILL NOT EXCEED, THE ACTUAL DOLLAR AMOUNT PAID BY THE CUSTOMER FOR THE SERVICES WHICH GAVE RISE TO SUCH DAMAGES, LOSSES AND CAUSES OF ACTIONS DURING THE 3-MONTH PERIOD PRIOR TO THE DATE THE DAMAGE OR LOSS OCCURRED OR THE CAUSE OF ACTION AROSE.
Modifications
HostPhoton may discontinue, upgrade, replace, modify, or change in any way, without limitation, any software, application, program, data, hardware, equipment, or portions or components thereof, used to provide customers with HostPhoton services. Certain changes to HostPhoton services may affect the operation of customers’ personalized applications and content. Each customer is solely responsible, and HostPhoton is not liable, for any and all such personalized applications and content, except as expressly agreed to by HostPhoton.
Backup of Data
Except where HostPhoton has expressly agreed in writing to the contrary, customers are solely and entirely responsible, and HostPhoton is in NO way responsible, for the management and backup of all customer data, and all updates, upgrades, and patches to any software that customers use in connection with HostPhoton services. HostPhoton servers are also NOT be used as a backup storage and is only for hosting files directly related to your website.
Governing Law and Severability
The TOS, and any other agreement for HostPhoton services, will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of Ontario, Canada without reference to its conflicts of laws principles. Any litigation or arbitration between a customer and HostPhoton will take place in Ontario, Canada, and the customer will consent to personal jurisdiction and venue in that jurisdiction. If any provision or portion of the TOS or other HostPhoton agreement is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unenforceable for any reason, the remainder of the TOS or the agreement will continue in full force and effect.
Independent Contractors
Nothing in this Agreement will be construed as creating a partnership or relationship of employer and employee, principal and agent, partnership or joint venture between HostPhoton and its customers. Each of HostPhoton and its customers will be deemed an independent contractor at all times and will have no right or authority to assume or create any obligation on behalf of the other, except as may be expressly provided herein.
Construction and Interpretation
Wherever in this TOS the masculine, feminine, or neuter gender is used, it will be construed as including all genders, and wherever the singular is used, it will be deemed to include the plural and vice versa, where the context so requires. The division of the TOS into sections/paragraphs, and the insertion of headings/captions, are for convenience of reference only and will not affect the construction or interpretation of the TOS. Any rule of construction to the effect that any ambiguity is to be resolved against the drafting party will not be applicable in the construction or interpretation of the TOS.
Complete Agreement and Exclusivity
The TOS, and/or any other specific agreement for HostPhoton services, constitutes the complete understanding and agreement between HostPhoton and its customers. Except when expressly agreed to the contrary in signed writing by an authorized representative of HostPhoton, the TOS supersedes any other written (including digitized/computerized) agreement, oral agreement, and/or agreement by conduct. This TOS, and/or any other specific agreement for HostPhoton services is between HostPhoton and its customers only and will not confer any rights in any third party except as otherwise expressly provided by HostPhoton.
Refusal of Service
We reserve the right to refuse, cancel or suspend service at our sole discretion. All sub-networks, distributive hosting sites of HostPhoton.com must adhere to the above policies.
Third Party Providers
You agree that certain services may be provided by third party providers of HostPhoton and that your use of such services may be subject to further agreements, policies, terms, and conditions in addition to those contained or referenced in this Agreement.
Abuse Towards Staff
HostPhoton will not tolerate clients that are abusive towards our staff. This includes but is not limited to: Using abusive language or threatening a staff member. HostPhoton reserves the right to decide what is considered abusive and immediately suspend or in severe cases, terminate clients that commit the abuse.
*** Billing Policy ***
The following Terms of Service constitute HostPhoton Billing Policy and apply to ALL HostPhoton customers:
Payments
All charges are shown in US Dollars. Payments are to be made in US dollars. HostPhoton accepts the following types of payment:
Credit Card (VISA, MasterCard, Discover and American Express)
PayPal
All payments are due on the Account Statement Date. The Account Statement Date is the monthly anniversary of the date the account was activated. Accounts with a recurring payment method such as a PayPal subscription, will continue until such time that you cancel your account in accordance with HostPhoton Billing Policy in the TOS. You are directly responsible for keeping your recurring payment information up-to-date (including, but not limited to card number, expiration date, billing address, or card status).
Customers agree to make payment of their balance due within three (3) days of the Account Statement Date.
All VPS/dedicated hosting accounts are due on the date due. If not paid on the due date, the server will be deactivated and scheduled to be formatted and redeployed.
Grace Period
Accounts that are three (3) days past due will be automatically suspended. Accounts reaching (15) days past due are automatically terminated. When an account is terminated for non-payment, all files and databases related to the account are deleted and are not retrievable. All past due and unpaid balances are subject to collection. In the event of collection, you will be liable for costs of collection including attorney’s fees, court costs, and collection agency fees.
Account Credit
Your credit balance can only be used for HostPhoton products and services. Any payments due will be automatically deducted from your available account balance upon invoice generation. Account credit is non-refundable and cannot be withdrawn at any time.
Overpayments
Any overpayments made to your account will be automatically added to your accounts credit balance and are considered non-refundable.
Account Renewals
In order to insure uninterrupted service to your website, all plans will automatically renew at the end of the plan’s Billing Cycle. Plan renewal charges are based on the prevailing rate on the date of renewal according to the service selected. Plans are renewed for the same billing cycle. If you wish to cancel your plan before plan renewal, please refer to the Cancellation section below.
Statements
HostPhoton does not mail paper invoices or statements. Statements can be viewed and printed through our client area: https://billing.HostPhoton.com/client/login
Cancellations
Please refer to the following knowledgebase article for instructions on properly cancelling your account:
https://billing.hostphoton.com/knowledgebase
Hosting plans will automatically renew until a plan is cancelled. In order to cancel service, you must submit a cancellation request for the service from our client area.
Cancellation requests must be received by HostPhoton prior to the end of your Billing Cycle. Cancellations submitted later than this time may result in automatic renewal of your hosting plan. Cancellations become effective on the day processed by HostPhoton. HostPhoton is unable to cancel your account effective for a future date. HostPhoton will confirm the cancellation request when it is processed. If you do not receive a confirmation, please contact HostPhoton as soon as possible.
Any active PayPal subscriptions must be cancelled by logging into your PayPal account upon cancelling your HostPhoton account to avoid being automatically billed by PayPal for future payments. If you fail to do so, any overpayments will be added to your accounts credit balance and are non-refundable.
HostPhoton does not monitor, and will not automatically cancel, plans for problems related to domain name transfers, non-usage, Internic, your ISP, or any other secondary issues not directly related to HostPhoton services. Cancellation of services does not relieve the customer from paying any outstanding balance owed on the account. HostPhoton reserves the right to cancel any account, at any time, without notice, for any reason HostPhoton considers appropriate.
Bitcoin Payments
We do not currently accept Bitcoin payments, but when we do, due to constantly changing market conditions, Bitcoin payments do not qualify for our 30 day guarantee and are not refundable.
Refund Policy
There are no refunds, but in some reasonable circumstances HostPhoton will offer a refund. Refunds will be provided in the same payment method of the original payment. HostPhoton has full power in judgement of providing refunds and refunds for our promotional offers.
We also reserve the right to subtract any payment processing fees when issuing refunds.
There are no refunds given at any point for the following services:
Dedicated Server plans
VPS Server plans
Server Management Services
SSL certificates
Any addon services
Domain Registration/Transfer/Renewal
Credit Card Disputes/Chargebacks
HostPhoton has a zero tolerance policy for chargebacks. Any customer who disputes a credit card payment is subject to a fine, suspension and account termination at HostPhoton discretion. A charge of $50.00 per chargeback will be assessed to all accounts that receive a chargeback.
Billing/Price Changes
HostPhoton policies and prices are subject to change without notice. Any price changes become effective in the next billing cycle.