Terms Of Service or Term & Conditions

Terms of Service (ToS) – Updated on 21/12/2023

The following Term & Conditions or Terms of Service ("TOS," "Terms" or "Agreement" or "T & C") apply to your use of our website and all services, features and/or content provided by Aquahost ("Aquahost," "us,", "our" ). By purchasing one or more Services from Aquahost, you declare that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by this TOS. The latest version of our TOS is always available on the Aquahost website. It is essential that you read this TOS prior to purchasing any Service(s) from Aquahost.

The TOS apply to all Services provided by Aquahost to you throughout the entire Term or Renewal Term. All customers should agree on all terms and conditions stated prior to their signing up for any of the hosting plans and services mentioned on Aquahost. You shall agree to use only licensed and legal third party softwares in connection with your use of our services. Aquahost reserves the right to suspend or cancel a customer's access to any or all services provided, at any time, or when Aquahost decides that the account has been inappropriately used or illegal use.

All Comes Under Shared Hosting ("Monthly Web Hosting" "One Domain Hosting" "Multi Domain Hosting" "Unlimited Web Hosting" "Small Business Hosting" "Windows Hosting" "Cloud Web Hosting" "cPanel Web Hosting" "Fastest Web Hosting" "Reseller Hosting").

Abuse Of Resources (Unacceptable Resource Usage)

• To maintain the integrity of our servers and networks, as part of our commitment to providing excellent service to our customers, we must conduct a small verification process on your account, and you may be asked for KYC details (a clear scanned copy of your passport, driving license, or any other government-issued ID). The information on your ID should match the information on your account. Additionally, our team may contact you to verify your profile details, such as your phone number and address. In the unfortunate event that a customer fails to verify above information, their accounts will be canceled & no refund will be given.
• Customer can not use Big Brand Name or Famous Brands Name for buying WEB HOSTING or DOMAIN NAME (No Refund). Use of some one's Famous Brand Name or company name create Copyright Content Issues or Phishing Issues.
• Domian Name Change : Only 3 times domain are allowed to be changed for one hosting plans within 1 Year.
• Resource Limit Is Reached - If Resource Limit Is Reached or crossed of your cPanel or Plesk or DirectAdmin Panel or Website we will suspend you account/website. In this situation either you have to upgrade your account to VPS or optimized your website content like plugins, themes, website code, script code etc.
• Phishing & Copyright Content (Based or Found) Website Strictly Prohibited (No Refund).
• Adult Content based website or blog allowed to host in Offshore Web Hosting, VPS & Dedicated Server. And sometime purchased of additional Dedicated IP Address required for this.
• Hosting of Mp3, Music, Video & Movies File Website or sites designed primarily for download contents are only allowed to host in our VPS & Dedicated Server. If found any Movie / Video / Audio / Mp3 Website in Shared & Reseller Hosting then your Account will be Suspended/Terminated without any Notification (No Refund).
• We allow to host Free Domains or Freenom Domains e.g. .tk .cf etc. but no refund will be given in any situation if user cancels their services or requests for refund.
• CPU Abuse or Over Use of (Ram / CPU) are not allowed we immediately suspend that account without any Notice.
• Spamming /Bulk E-mail /Marketing E-mail is not allowed we immediately suspend that account without any notice & also user can not use E-mail as a Storage. Note: Email Limit (Max 20 E-Mails Per Hour & Total 50 E-Mails Per Day.) Also minimum limit per mailbox size between 150MB and Maximum limit is 500MB depending upon plans.
• Aquahost reserve the right to suspend or remove any databases that cause issues and downtime on any of our servers. Large and busy databases that require a lot of user connections should be hosted on a dedicated or VPS machine. Any database over 250 MB in size would be considered as overusage and not designed for shared hosting.
• Run cron entries with intervals of less than fifteen (15) minutes and Run any MySQL queries longer than thirty (30) seconds. Uses of twenty-five percent (25%) or more of our system resources for longer than ninety (90) seconds at a time. Activities that could cause this excessive use, include but are not limited to: CGI scripts, FTP, PHP, HTTP, etc.
• Resource Limit Is Reached - If Resource Limit Is Reached or crossed of your cPanel/DirectAdmin Panel or Website we will suspend you account/website. In this situation either you have to upgrade your account to VPS or optimize your website content like plugins, themes, code etc.

Fair Usage Policy for "Unlimited" Features

Applicable to All Hosting Plans: This policy applies to all hosting services where "unlimited" features are advertised, including but not limited to Shared Hosting, Cloud Hosting, Reseller Hosting, and any other plans mentioning unlimited resources.

Understanding "Unlimited" - Legal Definition & Fair Usage:

The term "unlimited" in web hosting refers to fair usage limits designed to maintain optimal server performance for all users. These limits are industry-standard practices to prevent resource abuse and ensure service quality.

• Unlimited Storage Policy: "Unlimited Storage" refers to a maximum allocation of 100GB disk space per account for all Shared Hosting and Cloud Hosting plans. This limit ensures optimal server performance and prevents storage abuse.
• Unlimited Bandwidth: Refers to unmetered data transfer subject to fair usage. Accounts consuming excessive bandwidth (typically above 1TB per month for shared hosting) may be reviewed and migrated to appropriate VPS plans.
• Unlimited Addon Domains: You may host up to 99 addon domains (websites) under a single cPanel account across all unlimited plans, subject to resource consumption limits.
• Unlimited MySQL Databases: Create up to 99 MySQL databases per account, with each database not exceeding 250MB in size. Larger databases require VPS or dedicated server solutions.
• Unlimited Email Accounts: Create email accounts subject to individual mailbox size limits (500MB maximum per mailbox) and sending limits (20 emails per hour, 50 emails per day) to prevent spam abuse.
• Unlimited Subdomains: Create up to 99 subdomains for your hosted websites, subject to overall resource consumption.
• For Reseller Hosting - Unlimited cPanel Accounts: Create up to 350 active cPanel accounts under your reseller package. Beyond this limit, server performance may be impacted, requiring upgrade to higher-tier solutions.

Resource Consumption Limits (CPU, RAM, I/O):

• CPU Usage: Maximum 25% CPU usage for more than 90 seconds is considered resource abuse and may result in account suspension.
• RAM Usage: Accounts consistently using excessive RAM (above allocated limits) will be flagged for optimization or upgrade recommendations.
• Disk I/O: High disk input/output operations affecting server performance may trigger automatic account optimization or suspension.
• Inode Limits: Maximum 300,000 files (inodes) per account to maintain file system performance.

Fair Usage Enforcement:

• Monitoring: All accounts are continuously monitored for resource usage patterns and compliance with fair usage policies.
• Optimization Notice: Accounts exceeding limits will receive optimization recommendations and 48-hour notice to reduce resource consumption.
• Mandatory Upgrade: Persistent resource abuse may require mandatory upgrade to VPS or Dedicated Server solutions at customer's expense.
• Account Actions: Severe resource abuse or non-compliance may result in temporary suspension or account termination without refund.

Prohibited Usage Under "Unlimited" Plans:

• Storage Abuse: Using hosting space for file storage, backup storage, or non-website related content is strictly prohibited.
• Resource Mining: Cryptocurrency mining, distributed computing, or resource-intensive applications are not permitted.
• Proxy/VPN Services: Running proxy servers, VPN services, or anonymous browsing services is prohibited on shared hosting.
• Media Streaming: Video/audio streaming services or high-bandwidth applications requiring dedicated resources are not allowed.

Legal Disclaimer: The term "unlimited" is subject to our Acceptable Use Policy and Terms of Service. Aquahost reserves the right to define and enforce fair usage limits to maintain service quality for all customers. These limits are established based on industry standards and server capacity management.

Recommendation: For websites requiring resources beyond these fair usage limits, we strongly recommend upgrading to VPS Hosting, Cloud VPS, or Dedicated Server solutions for optimal performance and unlimited resource access.

KYC (Know Your Customer) Requirements - Indian Compliance

As per Government of India Guidelines (CERT-In Notification No. 20(3)/2022-CERT-In, dated 28th April 2022):

• Mandatory KYC for Indian Server Services: All customers purchasing Indian VPS Hosting, Indian Dedicated Servers, Indian Cloud Hosting, or any India-based hosting services are required to complete mandatory KYC verification as per Indian cybersecurity regulations and CERT-In guidelines.
• Legal Compliance Requirement: This KYC verification is mandated by Indian law under IT Act 2000, CERT-In guidelines, and cybersecurity regulations for all service providers offering hosting, VPS, cloud, and server services within Indian jurisdiction.
• Required Documents for Indian Clients: Valid government-issued ID proof such as Aadhaar Card, PAN Card, Passport, Voter ID, or Driving License. Company clients must provide Certificate of Incorporation along with authorized signatory documents.
• Data Retention Policy: As per Indian regulations, KYC data and customer information will be maintained for minimum 5 years from account closure date for regulatory compliance and cybersecurity monitoring purposes.
• Verification Timeline: KYC verification must be completed within 48 hours of service activation. Failure to provide valid KYC documents will result in immediate service suspension.
• International Clients: Non-Indian customers using Indian server services must provide Passport copy, address proof from home country, and valid contact details for verification purposes.
• Non-Compliance Consequences: Accounts without valid KYC will be immediately suspended or terminated without refund. This is a legal requirement and not subject to our standard refund policy.
• Regulatory Updates: KYC requirements may be updated based on new government guidelines, RBI directives, or CERT-In notifications. Customers will be notified of any changes and required to comply within specified timelines.
• Privacy & Security: All KYC documents are stored securely in encrypted format and used solely for regulatory compliance. For complete data handling details, refer to our Privacy Policy.

Important Note: This KYC requirement applies specifically to Indian-based hosting services (Indian VPS, Indian Dedicated Servers, Indian Cloud Hosting). Offshore hosting services may have different verification requirements.

Legal Reference: Government of India - CERT-In Guidelines for Service Providers, IT Act 2000, and cybersecurity regulations for digital service providers operating in India.

WhatsApp OTP Verification - Phone Number Authentication Policy

As per AquaHost Security Guidelines and Anti-Fraud Measures:

• Mandatory Phone Verification: All customers registering on AquaHost platform are required to complete WhatsApp OTP (One-Time Password) verification to authenticate their registered mobile number and prevent fraudulent account creation.
• Anti-Fraud Security Measure: This WhatsApp OTP verification is implemented as a mandatory security protocol to prevent fake accounts, spam registrations, and unauthorized access to our hosting services and client portal.
• OTP Delivery Process: After successful account registration, a 6-digit OTP will be sent to your registered WhatsApp number within 2-5 minutes. You must enter this OTP on the verification page to activate your account.
• Verification Timeline: OTP verification must be completed within 30 minutes of account creation. Unverified accounts will be automatically suspended until phone verification is completed.
• Valid Phone Number Requirement: Only active WhatsApp-enabled mobile numbers are accepted for verification. VoIP numbers, temporary numbers, or inactive phone lines will be rejected by our verification system.
• One Number Per Account Policy: Each mobile number can be associated with only one AquaHost account. Attempting to use the same number for multiple accounts will result in verification failure and account suspension.
• Re-verification Requirements: Phone re-verification may be required for password resets, account recovery, billing changes, or security updates. Additional OTP will be sent to your registered WhatsApp number for these processes.
• OTP Validity Period: Each OTP is valid for 10 minutes from the time of generation. Expired OTPs cannot be used and a new OTP must be requested through the verification interface.
• Maximum Attempts Policy: Customers have maximum 3 attempts to enter the correct OTP. After failed attempts, the verification process will be locked for 24 hours to prevent brute force attacks.
• WhatsApp Integration Security: Our OTP system uses encrypted WhatsApp Business API with end-to-end security to ensure message delivery privacy and prevent interception of verification codes.
• Account Suspension Policy: Accounts failing phone verification will be immediately suspended and access to all services will be blocked until successful OTP completion. No services will be activated for unverified accounts.
• Phone Number Updates: To change your registered phone number, you must verify the new number via OTP and confirm the change from your old verified number. This dual verification prevents unauthorized phone number changes.
• Data Privacy & Retention: Phone numbers are stored securely and used solely for account verification, security alerts, and service communications. We do not share phone numbers with third parties. For complete details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
• Bypass Restrictions: OTP verification cannot be bypassed or disabled for any account type. This is a mandatory security requirement for all AquaHost customers regardless of service plan or payment method.
• Technical Support: If you experience OTP delivery issues, contact our technical support with proof of phone ownership. Alternative verification methods may be provided after manual identity verification.

Important Notice: WhatsApp OTP verification is mandatory for account activation and cannot be waived. Customers unable to complete phone verification will not be able to access AquaHost services.

Security Benefits: This verification system protects both customers and AquaHost from fraudulent activities, ensures genuine user registrations, and maintains the integrity of our hosting platform.

Legal Compliance: Phone verification aligns with Indian IT Act 2000, cybersecurity regulations, and industry best practices for digital service providers to maintain customer data security and prevent unauthorized access.

Server Uptime Policy

Any service interruptions or downtime due to scheduled maintenance by Aquahost or our network providers will not count towards the uptime guarantee. Aquahost is not liable in any way for failure of third party services. Aquahost will not be liable for failure or delay in performing its obligations if such failure or delay is due to circumstances beyond its reasonable control, including but not limited to acts of any governmental body, war, insurrection, sabotage, embargo, fire, flood, strike or other labour disturbance, interruption of or delay in transportation, unavailability of, interruption or delay in telecommunications or third party services (including DNS propagation), failure of third party software or hardware or inability to obtain raw materials, supplies or power used in or equipment needed for provision of the Services.

Aquahost upgrades the server, software and other tools time to time. For this purpose sometime we need to down some services for some certain time period. If in case of any upgrade, customer May or May not be informed 24 hours prior to the downtime. The downtime is usually not more then 10 to 48 Hours. In any situation or under any circumstance, Aquahost is not responsible for website, application, or server uptime. We do not offer any uptime guarantees like 99% or 98%. These are just references, or we do not pay compensation for server downtime. Our server contains so many third party software, so many network connections and hardware machines, so any issues can occur at any time. You are solely responsible for using our services.

Third Party Software Policy

Aquahost do not Provide any help regarding webmail, G suite, Outlook, Zoho Mail etc configuration or setup. Aquahost will not be responsible for working of any third party software /Script or Code. User can not blame us regarding any script or code that is working on different server or any other hosting company but not working on Aquahost's Server. In this situation customer had to contact their code provider or developer to install or run.(No Refund) Aquahost pricing may increase or decrease at any time or any situation (Renewable Price) if any third party software license price increase or decrease like Softaculous, Cloudlinux, Litespeed, cPanel, Plesk etc. Aquahost reserve the right to change Web Hosting Control Panel & their Software at any time.

Content Strictly Prohibited

Aquahost reserves the right to refuse service and/or access to its servers to anyone. The services provided by us must be used for lawful purposes only. Transmission, storage, or presentation of any information, data or material in violation of any applicable law or regulation is prohibited. The activities listed below are meant to provide you with examples of activities and content that are strictly prohibited.

E-Gold, proxy, bots, spam bots, mail bombers, port scanners, IP scanners, mail harvesting scripts, brute force scripts, chat rooms, banner rotators, file dumps, using disk space as secondary storage, sales of illegal pharma, drugs, explosives, anonymous or bulk sms gateways, malware, warez, phishing materials, IRC Hosts, Satta, lottery, gambling, illegal downloads, IRC bots, Autobot, pirated software, ROMS, emulators, crack & nulled themes or plugins, phreaking, hacking, password cracking, IP spoofing, human trafficking, child pornography, pornography materials, streaming or broadcasting of live copyrighted events, distribute of pirated software, songs, mp3's or any other pirated contents, also not allow to host website having content to defame any person or religion or community or organization etc.

• Games - We strictly do not allow to host any kind of games on our servers. Your hosting account would be immediately terminated if we found any gaming related stuff in your hosting account. (Games only allowed in VPS Hosting).
• Database servers must be used from our web servers only, we do not offer database hosting used from other web servers or Desktop Applications. For Desktop Application or remote database connectivity hosting please get in touch with our sales team for customized plans. If any website scripts found bad or resource hungry, will be stopped and customer will be informed by email. Once the customer checks and fix the problem in scripts, scripts can be allowed to run on servers with the approval of our technical team.

Domain Policy & Payments

• No refund is applicable once the domain is registered or activated.
• Domain infringement: User cannot register a domain name that is similar to any trademarked domain or domain similar to any brand or engaged in a business providing same & similar products & services. Any user trying to buy or register any such domain name will be counted for infringement of Trademark. Example: Flipkartstore.xyz, adtyabrlasfnanc.in, bajajfinancecs.com . That particular domain will be suspended & no refund will be given.
• Domain Renewal: We will send you an invoice reminders to renew your domain a month or a day before the expiry. For failure or delay in the renewal of domain name, we are not responsible. Once a domain is renewed no refunds will be given.
• Purchased Domain Not active or Not Available : Sometimes due to technical issues or domain registrar API issues, some already purchased domain or premium domain can be show available to buy or purchase from the customer end. If any customer bought/purchased or payment process is done for any such domain well in that case domain can not be activated. So In this situation, the customer has 2 options:-
  (1) The customer can provide us any other alternative domain name so that we can activate that new provided domain name with the same extension and no need to pay any additional amount.
  (2) Customer can get back their paid amount of money within 24 hours if they do not want to provide an alternative domain name.
• We do not Sell or Provide any Premium Domain Names.
• We do not Provide Domain names with "Special Characters" (ex .. "ß" "σ" "ἀ" etc).

Affiliate Terms and Conditions

To be an authorized affiliate of Aquahost, you agree to abide by the terms and conditions contained in this agreement. Please read this agreement carefully before registering and using the Aquahost service as an affiliate. By signing up for the Aquahost affiliate program, you indicate your acceptance of this agreement and its terms and conditions. Our affiliate program is designed to help you generate income in exchange for referring new hosting clients to our company. Listed below are the terms and conditions associated with our affiliate program.

Products eligible for affiliate commission: ("Monthly Web Hosting" "One Domain Hosting" "Multi Domain Hosting" "Unlimited Web Hosting" "Small Business Hosting" "Windows Hosting" "Cloud Web Hosting" "cPanel Web Hosting" "Reseller Web Hosting").

Products not eligible for affiliate commission: ("Domain Name" "VPS Web Hosting" "Dedicated Server" "SSL Certificate" "Windows VPS Hosting" "Data Storage Hosting" "Business E-mail" ).

• Affiliates are eligible for the commission only if they refer new clients. Existing clients placing order through affiliates, such commissions will be declined.
• Every time your balance reaches Rs 4000, you will be paid via Paytm, UPI, or Bank Account. Affiliates have 730 days or 2 years to reach the amount of Rs 4000, If the user failed to reach Rs 4000 within 730 days or 2 years then their Affiliates balance becomes zero(0).
• User will get best 20% commission from the total order value of active order excluding tax, pending order, cancel order, terminated account & Subscription Completed Account.
• Payout will be paid in multiples of Rs 4000. For example, if the user reached Rs 6000 then Rs 4000 will be paid and the rest amount will be paid when an affiliate's balance reaches again Rs 4000.
• If the existing client renews or purchases any other hosting service then the affiliate is not eligible for the commission on such orders.
• Affiliates are paid only if the order process is completed, if the client cancels the order then it is treated as cancelled and the affiliates are not eligible for the commission.
• The affiliate system calculates the commission on the total amount that includes product/service cost, GST and payment gateway fees. We will exclude the GST and payment gateway charges from your commission amount before making the payout.
• Affiliates are responsible for ensuring their tracking code is working properly before sending traffic to our servers. Any modification to the links is the sole responsibility of the affiliate. Referral fees will not be paid for tracking errors caused by editing, masking, redirecting or tampering with your links.
• Affiliate accounts may be deactivated at any time without warning or notice. Your account WILL BE DEACTIVATED and referral fees set to 0 for failure to comply with the Affiliate Terms.
• Any false or misleading advertising or suspected fraudulent activity associated with your affiliate account will result in immediate deactivation.
• Affiliate accounts generating a large number of fraudulent accounts will be deactivated. If you would like to discontinue your affiliate status, simply remove your affiliate links and no longer promote them. For accounting purposes your account and personal information will not be removed from our system.

Late Payment or Non-Payment or Invoice Policy

• Unpaid Invoices may result in the suspension of that hosting account on last due date & Termination (deletion of all hosting related account data) will be done in Next 10 days of suspension of that hosting account.
• If user account gets terminated, the data residing on it won't be restored and will be treated as a new account.
• Note: If user fail to renew on time & if their hosting account was terminated then Aquahost will not be responsible for user's website data (so please renew on time).
• We will not activate new orders or activate new packages for customers who have an outstanding balance on their account.
• After Plan Expired (Only For Monthly Hosting Plan User): Renew your monthly hosting plans on or before due date as you will only get next 10 days to renew for suspended hosting account. After 10 days Aquahost will not be responsible for your website data loss. And if user still pays same renewable invoices for suspended account... let say 10 days or 20 days later than that services will activated from invoice created date to invoice expire date not from the invoice paying date. (Aquahost recommend you to buy yearly hosting plans to avoid such situations).
• Renewable of Business Emails Services (Office 365 & G Suite): The user need to pay their renewable invoice 10 days before the due date. Additionally, we will stop your email services 5 days prior to the due date (email expiry date). We do this to maintain our services smoothly & also since this is a 3rd party service, so we need to pay their bill in advance.

Refusal of Service

We reserve the right to refuse, cancel, or suspend service at our sole discretion. Aquahost reserves the right to modify / change the terms of services at all times. All customers would be bound by the newest terms published on the website. The laws of the Republic of India shall govern this agreement. In any event of dispute the area of Jurisdiction would be Delhi only & Term & Conditions can be changed without any notification.

• In compliance with DMCA act, Aquahost has adopted procedures for parties who believe that a hosted site on our service is infringing their copyrights. All copyright complaints must be submitted to [email protected]