Shared and reseller hosting work because resources are shared fairly between many customers. This Fair Use Policy ("Policy") explains what is acceptable so that every customer gets a fast, stable service. It forms part of our Terms of Service.
1. What fair use means
Plans that mention "unlimited" features, or that publish resource limits, are intended for normal website and email use. "Unlimited" does not mean unrestricted. Resources such as CPU, memory, disk I/O, processes, inodes (file count) and network usage must stay within levels that do not harm the server or other customers.
2. Resource guidelines
The following are typical limits that apply to shared plans. Your plan page and control panel show the exact limits for your service.
- CPU, memory and I/O: sustained high use that slows the server for others may be throttled.
- Processes and connections: limits apply to simultaneous processes and connections per account.
- Inodes: each account may store a reasonable number of files and folders. Very large file counts slow backups and the server.
- Disk space: your plan states your storage. Hosting is for website files and email, not for archives of files unrelated to your site.
- Email: hourly sending limits protect our mail reputation. See the email section below.
- Database use: long-running or extremely heavy queries may be stopped.
3. Not permitted on shared and reseller hosting
- Using the account as a file backup, file sharing or media distribution service.
- Running game servers, proxies, VPNs, anonymizers, IRC servers or bots, or peer-to-peer and torrent software.
- Cryptocurrency mining or any other computation-heavy background work.
- Long-running scripts, daemons or scheduled tasks that consume excessive resources. Scheduled tasks should run no more often than every 15 minutes unless otherwise agreed.
- Streaming or hosting large volumes of video or audio files, or very large downloads, that use disproportionate bandwidth.
- Running mass mailing, bulk email lists or newsletters through the server outside our email limits. Use a dedicated email-sending service for large campaigns.
- Stress testing, load testing or security scanning the server without our written permission.
If you need more power than shared hosting offers, ask about upgrading your plan.
4. Email limits
To protect deliverability for every customer, outgoing email is limited per domain and per hour. Sending unsolicited bulk email is prohibited under our Abuse Policy. Legitimate bulk sending should use a specialist email delivery service.
5. Backups
Backups are made to help us recover from failures, but they are not a guarantee. Keep your own backups of anything important.
6. Reseller accounts
Resellers are responsible for managing how their clients use resources. If a client's account causes problems, we may ask you to act on it, and where needed we may restrict the affected account to protect the server. Overselling beyond what your plan can support is not permitted.
7. What happens if you exceed fair use
- We tell you. We will email you or open a ticket explaining the issue and, where we can, how to reduce your usage.
- You fix or upgrade. You can optimize your site, remove the cause, or move to a plan that fits.
- We may act. If the problem continues or is urgent, we may throttle, limit or suspend the affected account, or the affected process, to protect other customers. In an emergency we may act first and notify you after.
8. Reasonable use of support
Support is for issues with our services. We cannot provide full custom development or help with third-party software beyond reasonable guidance. Abusive or threatening language towards our staff is not accepted.
9. Changes
We may update this Policy to reflect changes to our services. We will post updates here with a new date.
10. Contact
Questions about fair use: contact support.