Terms and Conditions

These Terms and Conditions govern the contractual relationship between InstantNode and its customers for hosting, server, infrastructure, software and related digital services. Individual agreements take precedence over these Terms.

1. Scope and Contracting Parties

These Terms apply to all prepaid bookings, balance top-ups and service orders placed via the website, the customer account or otherwise through distance selling with InstantNode. The mere registration of a customer account does not create any subscription obligation or minimum-term contract; what is decisive are the individual services booked and financed from balance in each case. Consumers within the meaning of these Terms are natural persons who enter into a legal transaction for purposes that are predominantly outside their trade, business or profession. Entrepreneurs are natural or legal persons or partnerships with legal capacity who, when entering into the contract, act in the exercise of their trade, business or profession. Booking paid services requires full legal capacity; minors may only book services with the consent of their legal guardians. InstantNode may request proof of this consent as well as age verification and may suspend accounts in the event of false information.

2. Conclusion of Contract

The presentation of services on the website does not constitute a legally binding offer, but an invitation to place an order. With each balance top-up or service booking, the customer submits an offer for an individual prepaid booking. A contract is only concluded once InstantNode expressly confirms the order, activates the account, provides the service or begins performing the service. InstantNode may decline orders where legitimate reasons exist, in particular in the case of incorrect customer data, suspected misuse or technical unavailability.

3. Services and Availability

The nature and scope of the services owed result from the service description in the order process, the agreed specifications and any individual supplementary agreements. The panel operates as a prepaid system: external payments serve to top up the panel balance; booked services are then charged against the existing balance according to the rate shown in each case. Unless expressly promised in writing, InstantNode owes no particular economic outcome and no suitability for any special purpose assumed by the customer.

Availability (SLA): InstantNode provides its hosting services with a target annual average availability of 99.9%, measured at the network handover point of the data center. Excluded from this calculation are planned maintenance windows announced in advance, disruptions attributable to the customer or their content, force majeure, and attacks by third parties (e.g. DDoS) insofar as InstantNode has taken commercially reasonable protective measures. If the availability actually achieved for a booked service falls below this value in a calendar year, the customer receives, upon request, a pro-rata credit to the panel balance for the affected service corresponding to the excess downtime. Further statutory claims, in particular warranty rights, remain unaffected.

Maintenance, security updates, technical adjustments and reasonable changes to services remain reserved, provided that the purpose of the contract is not unreasonably impaired thereby and mandatory consumer law remains unaffected.

4. Customer Account, Duties to Cooperate and Account Security

The customer is obliged to provide complete and accurate information during the order process and to update it without undue delay in the event of changes.

The customer is solely responsible for the security of their customer account. This includes in particular choosing a strong, non-reused password, treating all access credentials confidentially, and activating the security features available in the panel, in particular two-factor authentication (2FA). The same applies to third-party accounts (e.g. Discord, Google, GitHub) that the customer links to their InstantNode account or uses for login; the customer must also establish and keep up to date appropriate security measures there.

The customer is liable for all actions, orders and balance consumption initiated via their account, insofar as they are responsible for the misuse. InstantNode is not liable for unauthorized access resulting from a breach of the foregoing security obligations by the customer, in particular in the case of weak or reused passwords, 2FA not being activated, compromise of linked third-party accounts, or disclosure of access credentials. In such cases there is no claim to a refund of balance already consumed or services already rendered. Mandatory statutory liability provisions, in particular under Section 8, remain unaffected.

The customer must report any suspicion of unauthorized access to InstantNode without undue delay after becoming aware of it (e.g. via a ticket in the panel or to [email protected]), so that appropriate protective measures can be taken.

The customer is furthermore obliged to use their systems and content in such a way that no third-party rights, statutory prohibitions or security interests of InstantNode or third parties are violated. In particular, unlawful content, attacks on systems, spam, malware, circumvention of technical protective measures, and use contrary to agreed resource or license limits are prohibited. The operation of crypto-mining software of any kind is also prohibited. The customer must manage the utilization of their services in such a way that shared resources are not permanently and excessively strained (for example by faulty software, computationally intensive permanent processes or memory leaks); in the event of significant impairment of other customers or of system stability, InstantNode may restrict the affected service or take it offline, including without prior notice.

5. Prices and Payment Terms

The prices shown at the time of the order apply. Because the small-business regulation under § 19 of the German VAT Act (UStG) applies, no value-added tax is charged or shown separately. InstantNode generally offers services as prepaid services; provision therefore regularly takes place only after a successful balance top-up or where sufficient balance coverage exists. Details on due dates, accepted means of payment, charging of the panel balance, suspension in the event of insufficient coverage, and refunds are set out in the separate Payment Terms, which form part of these Terms.

6. Term, Renewal and Termination

The service applies in each case for the usage period booked or financed from the panel balance. For ongoing services, continuation or renewal can be funded from the available balance if an auto-renew function is activated for the respective product. If no renewal is activated or if insufficient balance is available when due, the service may be restricted, suspended or terminated after the paid period or a technically provided grace period has elapsed.

The customer may cancel ongoing services at any time in the panel or via the online cancellation function (“Cancel contracts here”) accessible on the website without logging in. An ordinary cancellation takes effect at the end of the current paid billing period: the service remains available until the end of the period already paid for and is not renewed thereafter. The paid current period is not refunded, except under the statutory right of withdrawal or the refund rules in the Payment Terms.

The right to extraordinary termination for good cause remains unaffected for both parties. Good cause exists for InstantNode in particular where the customer breaches these Terms or, through their use, endangers the security, integrity or availability of the systems. If InstantNode terminates extraordinarily for good cause attributable to the customer, there is, to the extent permitted by law, no claim to a refund of charges already paid for the current period or to a payout of remaining balance; details are set out in the Payment Terms.

7. Suspension and Restriction of Services

InstantNode may temporarily suspend or restrict services where this is necessary to avert danger, to remedy technical disruptions, to comply with statutory obligations, or because of a material breach of contract. Where reasonable, the customer will be informed in advance. In cases of imminent danger, immediate suspension is permitted.

8. Warranty and Liability

The statutory rights regarding defects apply. InstantNode is liable for damages without limitation in cases of intent, gross negligence, injury to life, body or health, under the German Product Liability Act, and in cases where a guarantee has been assumed.

In the case of slightly negligent breach of a material contractual obligation, liability is limited to the foreseeable damage typical for the contract. Material contractual obligations are those whose fulfilment makes the proper performance of the contract possible in the first place and on whose compliance the customer may regularly rely. In all other respects, liability for slight negligence is excluded. Mandatory statutory rights of consumers and the provisions for digital products remain unaffected.

9. Indemnification

The customer indemnifies InstantNode against claims by third parties that are based on an unlawful or contract-breaching use of the services by the customer, insofar as the customer is responsible for the breach of duty. This also includes the necessary costs of a reasonable legal defense. The customer will be informed without undue delay of any claims asserted, insofar as this is legally permissible and actually possible.

10. Data Protection and Data Backup

The processing of personal data is governed by the separate Privacy Policy. Unless expressly agreed otherwise, the customer remains responsible for the regular backup of their own data. InstantNode recommends setting up your own, verifiable backups.

11. Right of Withdrawal for Consumers

Insofar as consumers are entitled to a right of withdrawal by law, only the mandatory statutory provisions apply. Details on this may be provided separately. For services already used, digital content or balance already consumed, the statutory restrictions and conditions apply, in particular where performance of the service has expressly begun before the withdrawal period has expired.

12. Contract Language, Contract Text and Technical Steps

The contract may be concluded in English or German; the legal documents are available in both languages, and for consumers the language version in which the contract was concluded prevails. The contract text (the booked services, these Terms and the documents incorporated by reference in their versions applicable at the time of conclusion) is stored by InstantNode; customers can view the legal documents and the state of their consents at any time in the customer account and on the public legal pages. Before submitting an order, customers can review and correct their entries at any time using the input fields and navigation of the order process; an order only becomes binding when the concluding order button is pressed.

13. Merchandise (Physical Goods)

In addition to its hosting services, InstantNode offers branded merchandise (e.g. apparel, mugs, stickers) as physical goods. These items are produced on a print-on-demand basis and fulfilled and shipped by a print-on-demand partner with production facilities in the European Union. The following provisions apply to merchandise in addition to, and where relevant in place of, the provisions on digital services above.

Ordering and payment. Merchandise is browsed on the public store and ordered through a logged-in InstantNode account so the order can be tracked. Payment for merchandise is made directly at checkout via the offered payment provider (currently PayPal) and is charged in full at the time of the order; it is not deducted from any prepaid hosting balance. As InstantNode is a small business within the meaning of § 19 UStG, no value-added tax is charged or shown.

Prices and shipping. The item prices and the shipping fee applicable to the order are displayed before the order is placed and are binding for that order. The total is the sum of the item prices and the shipping fee shown at checkout.

Production and delivery. Merchandise is made to order; production and dispatch typically take a few business days, after which the item is shipped to the address provided by the customer. Delivery times stated are non-binding estimates unless expressly agreed as binding. Where the customer is a consumer, the risk of accidental loss and deterioration of the goods passes to the customer only upon handover of the goods to the customer (§§ 446, 475 BGB); where the customer is an entrepreneur, the risk passes upon handover to the carrier.

Right of withdrawal. Consumers have a statutory 14-day right of withdrawal for merchandise, running from receipt of the goods; the details and the model withdrawal form are set out in our separate Right of Withdrawal policy. Our merchandise uses standard catalogue designs and is not manufactured to individual consumer specifications or clearly personalised, so the exclusion of the right of withdrawal for custom-made goods does not apply.

Warranty for goods. For physical merchandise, the statutory warranty rights for defects apply. Obvious transport damage should be reported to us without undue delay so that we can assist with the fulfilment partner; this does not affect the customer's statutory rights.

14. Changes to these Terms

InstantNode may amend these Terms with effect for the future where there is an objective reason for doing so (for example changes in legislation, case law, or technical or functional developments) and the amendment is reasonable for the customer, weighing the interests of both parties. Amendments will be communicated to the customer in text form (for example by email or in the panel) at least four weeks before they are scheduled to take effect. If the customer does not object within four weeks of receipt of the notification, the amendments are deemed accepted; this consequence will be pointed out separately in the notification. If the customer objects in due time, either party may end ongoing services at the end of the period already paid for. The ratio of performance and consideration for periods already paid for is not shifted to the customer's disadvantage by amendments.

15. Final Provisions

The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies, to the exclusion of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. Vis-à-vis consumers, this choice of law applies only insofar as the protection afforded by mandatory provisions of the law of the consumer's habitual residence is not thereby withdrawn. If the customer is a merchant, a legal person under public law or a special fund under public law, the exclusive place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from the contractual relationship is the registered office of InstantNode. Mandatory statutory places of jurisdiction remain unaffected.

InstantNode is neither obliged nor willing to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board within the meaning of the German Consumer Dispute Resolution Act (VSBG).

Should individual provisions of these Terms be or become wholly or partially invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions remains unaffected. The statutory provisions apply in place of the invalid provision.