Terms of service

1. Scope and contracting parties

These terms apply to all contracts on the use of Podless (podless.app) between Ryvelia UG (haftungsbeschränkt), Wasserturmstraße 3, 04442 Zwenkau, Germany (“we”) and you as the user. They apply to consumers and businesses; terms that apply to one group only are marked accordingly. Deviating terms of the user do not become part of the contract.

2. What Podless is

Podless provides third-party open-source applications (“apps”) as ready-to-run private instances. You choose an app from the catalogue and a size (CPU, memory, storage); we run the app in its own environment (“pod”), provide an address with a TLS certificate, apply updates and provide tools for management, monitoring and backup.

The apps are software of the respective open-source projects and subject to their licences. We owe the operation of the apps, not their feature set: what an app can do and how it behaves is determined by the project. We select versions carefully and test updates before rollout but cannot rule out that an app’s functions change with an update.

3. Account and organisation

You need an account to use the service. You must be of legal age and capacity and provide correct information when registering. Keep your credentials secret; you are responsible for everything that happens through your account unless you are not at fault for the misuse and inform us without delay.

Apps belong to an organisation. Whoever creates an organisation becomes its owner and can invite members; members act within the organisation on behalf of the owner. Contracts on balance are concluded by the organisation.

4. Conclusion of contract

Registration concludes a free-of-charge contract on the use of the account. By topping up balance you conclude a paid contract on the use of resources in the amount topped up; we confirm the top-up by email. By starting an app you call off services from that balance.

5. Prices and balance

Usage is billed by resources: CPU and memory per started hour in which an app runs; storage per day, pro rata to the monthly price, even while the app is stopped. The prices per tier are shown on the pricing page and in the dashboard; they are in euros including statutory VAT.

Consumption is deducted from the balance. When the balance is used up, running apps are paused until you top up; the data is retained. We inform you before the balance runs low.

Balance does not expire: it stays usable for as long as your account exists. If you terminate yourself, unused balance is not paid back in money — so spend it beforehand.

We do pay out unused purchased balance on request where the termination does not come from you or is our doing: if we terminate the contract without you having given cause, if we discontinue Podless or a material function, or if you terminate because of a breach of contract on our side. The right of withdrawal under section 6 and your statutory claims likewise remain unaffected. Welcome credit and promotional credits can never be paid out or transferred.

We announce price changes at least 30 days in advance by email. They apply to consumption from the stated date. If you do not agree with a change, you can spend your balance at the previous prices until then and delete your apps before the effective date.

6. Right of withdrawal for consumers

If you are a consumer you have the right to withdraw from the contract on topping up balance within fourteen days without giving reasons. The period begins on the day the contract is concluded. To exercise the right, inform us of your decision by an unequivocal statement (for example by email to hi@podless.app or by letter to the address above). Sending the statement before the period expires is sufficient to meet the deadline.

Effects of withdrawal: we refund all payments received for the withdrawn top-up without undue delay and at the latest within fourteen days from the day we receive your statement, using the same means of payment. If you requested that use begin during the withdrawal period — which you do by starting an app — you pay us a reasonable amount corresponding to the proportion of the service provided until withdrawal; that is the part of the balance consumed by then.

Model withdrawal form: “I hereby withdraw from the contract concluded by me on topping up balance at Podless. Topped up on: … Name: … Address: … Date: … Signature (only for notice on paper)”.

7. Your obligations

• You use your apps only for lawful purposes. Prohibited in particular are unlawful content, attacks on third-party systems, sending unsolicited messages, cryptocurrency mining, proxy and tunnel services for third parties, and anything that impairs the operation of the platform or other customers.
• You are responsible for the content you or your users store in your apps and for the rights to it.
• You take care of backing up your data: Podless offers backups to a storage of your choice as well as export, SFTP and database access. Without a configured backup destination, no backups are created.
• You keep your contact details up to date so that notices about balance, updates and incidents reach you.
• You keep secret the credentials, keys and passwords Podless shows you for your apps.

8. Availability, maintenance and updates

We strive for uninterrupted operation but do not owe a specific availability unless separately agreed. Maintenance, security updates, incidents at upstream providers and force majeure may temporarily restrict use; we announce planned maintenance where possible.

We apply app updates after testing them on our own instances. You can ask to be informed by email beforehand. An update may change an app’s functions; changes to the app itself are the responsibility of the respective project.

We may temporarily suspend apps or accounts where there are concrete indications of misuse, danger to the platform or legal violations, or where an authority requires it. We inform you where legally permissible and lift the suspension as soon as the reason no longer applies.

9. Term and termination

The contract runs for an indefinite period without a minimum term. You may delete any app at any time and terminate your account at any time in the dashboard or by email. Deleting an app ends its billing. For unused balance, section 5 applies: it is not paid out when you terminate yourself, but it is in the cases listed there.

We may terminate the contract with 30 days’ notice to the end of a month; the right to terminate for cause — in particular for serious or repeated violations of section 7 — remains unaffected. After the contract ends we delete your apps and data; back them up beforehand. Statutory retention duties remain unaffected.

10. Warranty and liability

Statutory warranty rights apply. We are liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, for injury to life, body or health, under the German Product Liability Act and for guarantees we expressly assumed.

For slightly negligent breaches of material contractual obligations — obligations whose fulfilment makes proper performance of the contract possible in the first place and on whose observance you may regularly rely — we are liable only for the typical, foreseeable damage. Otherwise liability for slight negligence is excluded. Liability for data loss is limited to the recovery effort that would have arisen with regular and appropriate backups.

We give no warranty for the functions of the apps themselves, for third-party content or for disruptions of services you connect yourself (such as your backup storage or your domain).

11. Data protection

How we process personal data is described in the privacy policy. For the content of your apps you are the controller; on request we conclude a data processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR.

12. Changes to these terms

We may change these terms where there is a valid reason — such as a change in the law, new features or changes at upstream providers — and the change does not unreasonably disadvantage you. We announce changes at least 30 days before they take effect by email. If you do not object before they take effect, the changed terms apply; we point out this consequence in the announcement. If you object, either party may terminate the contract as of the effective date.

13. Final provisions

The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. If you are a consumer, mandatory consumer protection provisions of the state in which you have your habitual residence remain unaffected. For merchants, legal entities under public law and special funds under public law, Leipzig is the exclusive place of jurisdiction.

Should a provision of these terms be or become invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions remains unaffected; the statutory provisions replace the invalid provision. The German version of these terms is authoritative; this English version is provided for convenience.