Terms of Service

Welcome to Hostking (Pty) Ltd ("Hostking", "we", "us", "our"). By accessing or using our services, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Agreement"), our Privacy Policy, and our Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP").

Hostking (Pty) Ltd is registered in South Africa (2013/095847/07) and operates internationally. These Terms are governed by the laws of South Africa.

1. Acceptance of Terms

By using our services, you agree to comply with this Agreement and all applicable laws.

2. Services

Hostking provides shared hosting, VPS servers, dedicated servers, domain registration, website design, and related services.

Hostking may modify service specifications, pricing, and features at any time.

3. Accounts & Security

You are responsible for maintaining account security and all activity under your account. Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) is recommended.

Hostking may suspend services immediately where required to protect security or other customers.

4. Billing & Payments

Services are billed in advance on monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, annual, biennial or triennial cycles.

Unpaid services after 3 days may be suspended. After 30 days, services may be terminated and data deleted.

VAT may be charged where required by law.

5. Chargebacks & Payment Disputes

Chargebacks or disputes result in immediate suspension. Services reinstated after resolution and settlement.

6. Terms and Conditions for Automated Recurring Payments (Stripe)

These terms govern automated recurring payment services provided through Stripe, Inc. ("Stripe"). By using recurring billing, you agree to these terms in addition to this Agreement.

Definitions

Company: Hostking (Pty) Ltd
Customer: Individual or entity making payment
Stripe: Stripe, Inc.
Service: Automated recurring payment service

Recurring Payments

You authorize Hostking to charge your payment method automatically.

Cancel at least 14 days before next due date.

Payment Processing

Payments processed through Stripe. Hostking not responsible for Stripe platform security incidents.

Fees & Charges

Customer responsible for bank/Stripe fees.

Privacy & Data

Hostking complies with POPIA. Stripe handles payment data under its own policies.

Termination

Either party may terminate with 14 days notice.

7. Refund Policy

30-day money-back guarantee on first shared hosting order only.

No refunds on domains, transfers, licenses, VPS, dedicated servers, setup fees, or promotions.

8. Affiliate Commissions

Minimum payout $200 USD, paid by Wise or bank transfer.

Hostking may withhold commissions in cases of fraud, abuse, or chargebacks.

Payout account changes must be emailed to billing@hostking.host.

8A. Hostking Rewards Programme

Hostking Rewards is an optional programme through which customers may earn account credit, and in some cases cash payments, for qualifying activity and for publicly sharing content about Hostking. Participation is voluntary and is not required to use any Hostking service.

The programme is governed by the Hostking Rewards Programme Terms, which are incorporated into this Agreement by reference. Those terms set out who may take part, how rewards are earned, claimed and paid, and the circumstances in which a reward may be withheld or reversed. Reward credit has no cash value and is applied against Hostking invoices only. The programme is a trial and may be changed or ended at any time as set out in those terms.

9. SMS Notifications

Operational SMS may be sent for invoices, domain expiry, and suspension notices.

You may opt out of non-essential SMS at any time.

10. Backups & Data Responsibility

Backups are provided as a convenience only and are not guaranteed.

Customers are solely responsible for maintaining their own backups.

11. Acceptable Use & Fair Usage

Illegal activity, malware, phishing, spam, gambling, adult content, and abusive usage are prohibited.

11A. Resource Usage (Shared Hosting)

Users may not:

Use 25% or more of system resources for longer than 90 seconds.
Run stand-alone or unattended server-side processes or daemons (including IRCD).
Run web spiders, crawlers, or indexers.
Run software interfacing with IRC networks.
Run BitTorrent applications or clients.
Participate in peer-to-peer file sharing.
Run game servers.
Create cron jobs shorter than 15 minutes.
Run MySQL queries longer than 15 seconds.

Best Practices:

MySQL tables must be indexed.
Use local file includes instead of URLs.
Do not force HTML to process server-side code.
Use HTTPS only where required.

11B. Excessive Usage & Websites Allowed

Excessive usage includes:

Databases larger than 8GB (10GB max).
Inode counts above 2,000,000.
Excessive CPU, RAM, disk I/O, bandwidth, or email usage.
Using hosting as storage or backup repository.

Not permitted on shared hosting:

Gambling or lottery sites.
Pornographic content.
Large crypto exchanges.
Music/movie streaming platforms.
High-traffic SaaS platforms.

Traffic exceeding 300GB/month may be deemed excessive if it affects others.

12. Email & Spam Policy

Sending unsolicited bulk email may result in immediate termination.

13. Abuse & Takedown

Content may be removed upon receipt of valid abuse complaints.

14. Domains

Domain registrations, renewals, and transfers are non-refundable.

WHOIS details must be accurate.

Domains auto-renew only with sufficient credit.

Expired domains may enter redemption and incur high fees.

Hostking not liable for domain registration, renewal, or transfer failures.

Free domains apply only to selected annual packages.

No support provided to reseller end-users.

15. VPS & Dedicated Servers

Unmanaged servers do not include backups.

Managed VPS servers include weekly backups (Customers should keep their own backups).

Dedicated server data deleted 30 days after cancellation.

Backup Responsibility (Managed cPanel VPS)

While we may provide local backup solutions on your VPS (including backups stored on separate disks within the same server environment), these backups are provided as a convenience only and are not guaranteed.

All managed cPanel VPS customers are solely responsible for maintaining their own independent, off-server backups of all data, accounts, and configurations.

You are required to:

Maintain regular backups stored outside of your VPS environment (e.g., remote storage, third-party backup services, or local copies).

Ensure backups are functional, accessible, and restorable.

We do not accept responsibility for:

Data loss due to hardware failure, corruption, security breaches, or user error. Failure, inaccessibility, or corruption of any on-server backup system.

By using our services, you acknowledge that:

On-server backups do not replace the need for independent offsite backups. Failure to maintain your own backups is done at your own risk.

16. Free Website Design

Free design must remain hosted for 12 months.

Design examples. We may show designs we make under this offer as examples on our websites, with the customer’s phone number, email address, WhatsApp number and street address hidden. Customers can opt out on the request form, on the design brief, or by emailing webdesign@hostking.host, and we will remove the example.

16A. Free Trial

We may offer a free trial of our web hosting. The following terms apply to every free trial:

The trial lasts 14 days from the date the account is set up. When it ends, the account and all of its content are removed automatically unless you have upgraded to a paid plan.
The trial is free. No payment is taken to start it and you are not charged when it ends.
One free trial per person and per business. We may decline or cancel a trial where we believe this limit is being avoided or the details given are false.
The trial includes WordPress, installed for you, and our website builder, on a free subdomain with 500 MB of storage. Using your own domain name requires a paid plan.
Outgoing email is switched off during the trial. Email accounts are available on paid plans.
Backups are not included during the trial, and a trial account cannot be restored once it has been removed.
You may upgrade to a paid plan at any time during the trial and keep your website. Paid plans are subject to these Terms, including our refund policy. A paid plan cannot be downgraded to a free trial.
Our Acceptable Use Policy applies in full. A trial used for phishing, spam, malware, copyright infringement or any other abuse will be suspended or removed immediately and without notice.
Hostking may change or withdraw the free trial offer at any time. Trials already running are not affected.

16B. Website Care

The following terms apply to Website Care and Website Care Pro:

Website Care is a monthly service. It covers building your website, a designer finishing it, hosting, a domain name, business email, SSL, daily backups and an agreed number of changes each month.
Website Care includes two change requests a month and Website Care Pro six. Unused changes do not carry over. A change is an edit to your existing website, such as text, photos, prices, opening hours, a section or a page. Larger work is quoted and only started once you accept the quote.
We aim to complete a change request within two working days. Times can be longer for work that needs content, photos or approvals from you.
Website Care runs for an initial term of 12 months, because the website build and the design work are done at the start. After that it continues month to month until you cancel.
Our 30-day money-back guarantee applies to your first invoice. After 30 days, fees already paid are not refundable, and cancelling early does not end the remainder of the initial term.
You own your website and its content. At the end of your term we hand over your website files and help you move your domain to another provider.
The domain name is included while the service is active. If you cancel within the first 12 months, we may invoice the normal registration fee for that domain.
The website is built for you from the information you provide. You are responsible for that information being accurate and for having the right to use any photos, logos or text you send us.
Services may be suspended if an invoice is unpaid, and our Acceptable Use Policy applies in full.
Prices may change. We will give you at least 30 days' notice before a change affects your renewal.

17. Resellers

Resellers responsible for their customers.

18. Uptime Guarantee

99.9% uptime target. Credits sole remedy.

19. Marketing & Data Protection

Hostking complies with POPIA and applicable laws.

20. Disclaimer of Warranties

Services provided "as-is".

21. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Hostking shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including but not limited to loss of profits, loss of data, business interruption, or other commercial damages arising out of or related to your use of, or inability to use, the services.

Hostking’s total cumulative liability for any claim arising under this Agreement shall not exceed the total amount paid by you to Hostking for the affected service during the previous billing period.

22. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Hostking, its directors, officers, employees, agents, and affiliates from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from:

(a) your use of the services;
(b) your violation of this Agreement;
(c) any content hosted, transmitted, or distributed through your account; or
(d) your violation of any law or third-party rights.

23. Force Majeure

Hostking shall not be liable for any failure or delay in performance resulting from circumstances beyond its reasonable control, including but not limited to acts of God, war, terrorism, labor disputes, power failures, network outages, natural disasters, government actions, or failures of third-party providers.

24. Severability

If any provision of this Agreement is held to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

25. Entire Agreement

This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between you and Hostking regarding your use of the services.

26. Governing Law

Laws of South Africa apply.

27. Contact Information

Email: support@hostking.host