Web hosting agreement

This website hosting agreement template should be used for B2B web hosting services where the agreement will be signed in hard copy by each of the parties.

The services provider must provide the hosting services to the customer and must use at least reasonable efforts to maintain the availability of the services during the term of the agreement, subject to scheduled maintenance. The customer grants to the services provider the right to store and process customer-supplied data, and gives to the services provider warranties in relation to the legality of that data. The agreement includes personal data processing clauses to aid compliance with EU and UK data protection law (including the General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR). Optional clauses cover the implementation of the hosting services, the provision of helpdesk-based support, indemnities protecting one or both parties.

The standard version of this agreement assumes that the hosting services provider will host a particular website or websites, rather than providing hosting capacity; the premium version, by contrast, assumes that the customer will be given access to hosting resources and will have some freedom to choose how to use those resources. In addition to the clauses in the standard agreement, the premium agreement includes an availability SLA.

This document is only suitable for use in relation to the provision of hosting services to businesses. It is not suitable for B2C contracts.

Premium version contents

1. Definitions
2. Term
3. Hosting Services
4. Customer obligations
5. Hosted Data
6. No assignment of Intellectual Property Rights
7. Charges
8. Payments
9. Confidentiality obligations
10. Data protection
11. Warranties
12. Indemnities
13. Limitations and exclusions of liability
14. Force Majeure Event
15. Termination
16. Effects of termination
17. Notices
18. Subcontracting
19. Assignment
20. No waivers
21. Severability
22. Third party rights
23. Variation
24. Entire agreement
25. Law and jurisdiction
26. Interpretation

Schedule 1 (Hosting Services particulars)

1. Specification of Hosting Services
2. Financial provisions
3. Contractual notices

Schedule 2 (Acceptable Use Policy)

1. Introduction
2. General usage rules
3. Unlawful Content
4. Graphic material
5. Marketing and spam
6. Regulated businesses
7. Monitoring
8. Data mining
9. Harmful software

We occasionally get customers who abuse our low-cost hosting facilities. Will this contract stop them?

That depends upon the nature of the abuse. Different types of hosting service are susceptible to different types of abuse. An acceptable use policy is included with this contract. It says that the customer must not use the services to host, store, send, relay or process any "prohibited content", for any purpose which is unlawful, fraudulent, or infringes any third party rights, or in any way which could put the host in breach of any obligation owed to any ISP. The suggested definition of prohibited content covers not just illegal content but also pornography, spam etc. You should adapt the definition of prohibited content and the acceptable use clause to fit with the particular risks that your business faces.

The description of the key provisions of the premium template says that it covers back-up services. On what basis?

The suggested provision says that the service provider will make back-ups of the customer’s website. The back-ups are to be made at defined intervals (e.g. daily) and each back-up is to be retained for a defined period (e.g. 10 days). Optionally, the service provider may be obliged to make regular off-site back-ups, in case of a fire or other major incident affecting the data centre or other facility where the site is hosted.

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