Website hosting agreements
We advise website hosts, hosting resellers and businesses on website hosting agreements. We can draft, review and improve hosting contracts covering hosting services, service levels, reseller arrangements and data protection responsibilities.
We also review template and AI-generated hosting agreements. While these can provide a useful starting point, they often require tailoring to reflect the hosting service and allocation of legal risk.
What is the point of a website hosting agreement?
A website hosting agreement regulates the legal relationship between the customer and the supplier of the hosting service. This may involve shared hosting, dedicated hosting, cloud hosting, reseller hosting or co-location arrangements.
Hosting providers usually need agreements that define the service, limit liability and allow them to respond properly to complaints about hosted content.
Do hosting resellers need their own agreements?
Yes. Hosting resellers should not assume that their upstream hosting contract protects them against claims from their own customers.
The end customer is usually not a party to the reseller’s agreement with the upstream provider. The reseller therefore needs its own hosting terms, and those terms should not promise more than the reseller receives from the upstream host.
What should a website hosting agreement cover?
The exact terms depend on the hosting service, but common issues include:
- description of the hosting services
- uptime commitments
- support arrangements
- planned maintenance
- service credits
- customer responsibilities
- acceptable use rules
- response to unlawful or infringing hosted content
- data protection and GDPR obligations
- liability limits
- suspension and termination rights
What is a hosting SLA?
A service level agreement, or SLA, sets measurable commitments for the hosting service. This may include uptime targets, response times and support commitments.
SLAs should define the commitments clearly. For example, “availability” should explain whether planned maintenance, slow performance or third-party network outages count as downtime.
Hosting providers often limit remedies for missed service levels to defined service credits.
Are website hosts liable for defamatory or infringing material?
Potentially, yes. A host may face risk if it fails to act after receiving notice of unlawful, defamatory or infringing content hosted on its systems.
For that reason, hosting terms should allow the host to suspend or remove problematic content quickly when appropriate.
How does GDPR affect website hosting agreements?
In many hosting arrangements, the hosting customer is the controller and the host is the processor of personal data stored as part of the service.
Data protection law requires processor contracts to contain specific terms. These should deal with matters such as processing instructions, security, sub-processors, data subject rights and what happens to personal data when the service ends.
What is a co-location agreement?
Co-location is a form of hosting where the customer owns the server and places it in the host’s premises.
Co-location agreements may need to cover physical access, security, power supply, connectivity, cooling, service levels and responsibility for equipment.
Frequently asked questions about website hosting agreements
Do website hosting providers need written agreements?
Yes. Clear agreements help define the hosting service, service levels, liability and customer responsibilities while reducing the risk of disputes.
What is a hosting SLA?
A Service Level Agreement sets measurable performance commitments, such as uptime targets and response times, together with the remedies available if those commitments are not met.
Can you review a template or AI-generated hosting agreement?
Yes. We can review and tailor template and AI-generated hosting agreements so that they properly reflect your hosting business and commercial objectives.