ScaleToadTerms of Service

ScaleToad Terms of Service

Version: 2026-10-06.1
Effective date: October 6, 2026
Operator: Fort de dossiers inc., trading as ScaleToad
Business address: 6185 Taschereau Blvd, Brossard, QC J4Z 0E4, Canada
Support and legal notices: support@scaletoad.com
Abuse reports: support@scaletoad.com

1. Agreement and mandatory rights

These terms govern ScaleToad's website, accounts, unmanaged virtual private servers, prepaid balances and additional services expressly included in an order (the “Service”). “We” means the operator above. “You” means the individual or organization entering the agreement.

These terms form part of a Service agreement when they are presented and accepted or otherwise validly incorporated under applicable law. Merely visiting the website does not constitute acceptance of our paid-service agreement. You must be at least 18 and have legal capacity where you live. Anyone accepting for an organization must have authority to bind it.

The agreement includes these terms, your accepted order and any separate agreement signed by both parties. A signed agreement prevails within its scope; the accepted order controls specific resources, location, duration, price and purchased features. Personal information remains subject to applicable privacy law and any separate privacy notice or data-processing agreement provided to you. Acceptance of these terms is not consent to unrelated marketing or optional data processing.

Mandatory rights come first. Nothing excludes a right, warranty, remedy, duty or liability that applicable law does not allow the parties to exclude or restrict, including consumer guarantees, refunds, withdrawal, privacy, access to courts and unfair-contract protections. Consumer status follows applicable law, not an account label or the fact that you rent a VPS. Mandatory protections for small businesses also apply.

The French version is available at Conditions d’utilisation. Where Québec language law applies, it must be supplied before an express choice to contract in English. Merely browsing the English page does not make that language choice or waive a language right. Both versions describe the same protections; mandatory language and interpretation rules prevail.

2. Accounts and access

Provide accurate account and billing information, use an email you control and keep it current. Protect credentials, SSH keys, tokens and integrations. You are responsible for authorized users and applications, and for losses caused by failing to take reasonable account-security precautions, where lawful. You are not automatically liable for unauthorized use caused by our failure to meet our obligations.

Notify support promptly about suspected compromise. Do not send passwords, private SSH keys, full card numbers or security codes to support. We may request proportionate identity or payment verification where reasonably necessary to secure an account, prevent fraud or comply with law, explaining the request where lawful.

3. Unmanaged service and optional features

We supply the resources, location, operating-system image, access method and features in your accepted order. Capacity and quotes have the availability and expiry shown before payment. Marketing examples do not add managed applications, licenses, public application ports or other unpurchased features.

You configure and maintain the guest operating system and applications, install security updates, manage access and licenses, and keep independent backups. Shared hardware can affect performance. A vCPU is a virtual allocation, not an exclusive physical core unless expressly described that way.

Shared SSH provides an assigned connection port, not arbitrary public application ports. A dedicated IP, backup, saved image, resize, rebuild or other add-on is included only when available, expressly ordered and confirmed. An advertised price does not reserve or deliver an add-on. IP addresses are assigned for service use, not sold as property, and can change for legitimate operational or legal reasons with reasonable notice where practicable.

Guest password access and direct root access, when offered, require explicit selection. We may perform necessary infrastructure maintenance and security work, using reasonable care to limit disruption. Infrastructure obligations and any expressly purchased managed features remain our responsibility.

4. Orders and payment

Review resources, duration, total, currency, taxes and separately charged features before payment. Public estimates are informational; the accepted quote sets the purchased price. Future tariff changes do not increase an accepted prepaid price. An obvious pricing error discovered before delivery will be explained; you can accept a corrected quote or cancel for a full refund. We will not charge a different amount without authorization.

Use payment methods and funds you are authorized to use. Cards are processed through Stripe's hosted checkout. Banks may charge their own conversion or transaction fees; our fees must be disclosed before purchase.

Payment authorization or a receipt alone does not confirm delivery. Delivery and rental activation occur when the ordered machine and included access are ready and confirmed in the panel. Section 7 applies if a paid order cannot be delivered. Contact support about a pending payment before paying again.

5. Prepaid time and renewal

The accepted order states the exact prepaid duration. A 30-day rental means 30 days, not a calendar month. There is no automatic rental renewal or balance top-up. Renewal is a new authorized purchase at its displayed price. First-term discounts do not apply to renewals unless the offer says so.

Rental time starts on confirmed delivery, not initial payment. Stopping, shutting down, disconnecting from or voluntarily deleting a delivered VM does not pause time or automatically refund unused time. Statutory rights and remedies for service failures still apply. Renew before expiry for continuous service, subject to the renewal's stated availability and eligibility.

6. Balances, promotions and trials

Balances are prepaid credit for eligible ScaleToad services. They are not bank accounts, investments or transferable currency, earn no interest, and remain tied to their account and payment environment. Do not resell balances or use them to transfer money between people. This description does not exclude applicable prepaid-credit or financial-services law.

Paid funds, promotional credit and test credit are recorded separately. Promotional credit has no cash redemption value and follows the offer disclosed when granted. Test payments and credits are simulations with no cash value or live-payment entitlement. We will not retroactively add an expiry date to paid credit. Restrictions or expiry must be disclosed when issued and lawful.

Published promotion rules determine eligibility, value, duration and use. Duplicate accounts, false identities or collusion cannot multiply a one-per-customer benefit. Where fraud or ineligibility is reasonably established, we may remove the improperly obtained promotional benefit, explain the basis and allow review. Legitimate paid funds are not forfeited, and no undisclosed penalty is imposed.

Refunded, reversed or charged-back funding and its associated promotional credit are reconciled against the ledger. A proportionate spending hold may be needed while we investigate; we explain the basis and promptly review a dispute. We will not collect the same charge twice or treat a good-faith payment dispute as proof of fraud.

Contact support for unused-paid-fund refunds or account closure. After verifying funding and account records, we return refundable unused paid funds through the original payment method where available, or an agreed lawful alternative. Consumed service and non-cash bonuses are not refundable except where required by law. No undisclosed withdrawal penalty applies. Mandatory refund deadlines override processing estimates.

7. Refunds, cancellation and service problems

We return charges for undelivered orders that cannot be completed through the original funding channel: card refund or return to the originating prepaid balance. We correct verified duplicate charges. Bank posting may take additional time after a refund is initiated; we provide confirmation and comply with legal deadlines.

For correctly delivered prepaid rentals, changing your mind, stopping a VM or deleting it early does not itself create a prorated refund entitlement. This does not exclude statutory withdrawal, defective-service remedies, our breach or any refund the law requires. Send support the order reference and relevant incident times. No shortened contractual reporting deadline removes a lawful claim.

We investigate and take reasonable steps to remedy failures for which we are responsible. If we cannot provide contracted service or terminate it for our convenience, we refund unused affected prepaid service and unused paid balance without limiting further legal rights. A refund or credit is not an exclusive remedy where law provides another. We do not substitute promotional credit for a cash refund owed by law.

Where Québec's service-contract termination rules apply, a client may terminate the contract as provided by law. Amounts due for services already performed, eligible expenses and any other lawful adjustment are determined under those rules; prepaid billing does not itself remove that right. Québec's statutory distance-contract cancellation and chargeback remedies also remain available when their conditions are met.

Where EU/EEA or UK distance-contract withdrawal rules apply: consumers generally have 14 days from contract conclusion to withdraw from a service contract, subject to applicable exceptions and extensions for missing required information. Send a clear withdrawal statement to support or the business address above, identifying your name, account email and order. A special form is not required. We acknowledge withdrawal notices promptly on a durable medium where required. These contact methods do not restrict another withdrawal method or online function required by applicable law.

Early supply requires a separate express request where the law requires it. If you withdraw after validly requesting early supply, you owe only the lawful proportionate amount for service supplied, and only when the required information and consent were provided. Loss of withdrawal rights after full performance requires the legally required express consent and acknowledgment. Provisioning a VM does not by itself fully perform a multi-day rental. Accepting these terms alone is neither an early-supply request nor a withdrawal waiver. Refunds follow the statutory deadline, normally 14 days after notice, using the same payment means unless you expressly agree otherwise without a fee.

Withdrawal form

Use this form if you wish, or send another clear withdrawal statement:

  • To: Fort de dossiers inc., 6185 Taschereau Blvd, Brossard, QC J4Z 0E4, Canada, support@scaletoad.com.
  • Notice: I/we withdraw from the agreement to supply the following service: [SERVICE_DESCRIPTION_AND_ORDER_REFERENCE].
  • Date ordered: [ORDER_DATE].
  • Customer name(s): [CUSTOMER_NAMES].
  • Customer address(es): [CUSTOMER_ADDRESSES].
  • Account email: [EMAIL].
  • Date of this notice: [DATE].
  • Customer signature(s), if submitted on paper: [SIGNATURES].

Delete or complete fields as appropriate. Additional information is not required where it is not necessary to identify you and the agreement under applicable law.

8. Expiry, retention and deletion

Compute ends at prepaid expiry. Where offered, the order's Safe Zone defines the limited recovery window and end time; the current standard window is seven days. It retains the existing disk, not running compute or an independent backup. Recovery may require new prepaid time and retained-period charges, disclosed before authorization. Purchased recovery windows are not shortened retroactively.

After the window, the VM, disk and affected guest data may be permanently deleted. Explicit deletion or a confirmed destructive rebuild can remove data sooner. Read the confirmation, export needed data beforehand and keep an independent backup. Closure does not remove records we must lawfully retain for payments, security or legal obligations.

Retention does not guarantee recovery after hardware failure or data loss; our reasonable-care duties and purchased protection still apply. Export is not withheld to defeat mandatory portability or access rights. Legal preservation or urgent security requirements can affect access or deletion, subject to law.

9. Data, backups and intellectual property

You own your data. You grant only the permissions needed to host, transmit, copy for authorized backups, secure and administer it to provide service, follow your instructions and comply with law. Permission lasts only for those purposes and lawful retention, and does not allow sale of guest data, unrelated advertising or general AI-model training. We own our software, designs and trademarks; third-party software has its own licenses.

Maintain independent, tested backups. Restoring the panel database does not restore guest disks. Purchased backups or images have their stated scope, retention and restore limitations. No system guarantees perfect security or zero data loss; we must still meet our own security and service obligations.

You need a lawful basis for data placed in a VM and must meet your duties to its subjects. Obtain an applicable processor agreement before processing data that legally requires one. These terms alone do not supply a GDPR Article 28 agreement, healthcare business-associate agreement, payment-card certification or other regulated-data assurance. We retain the duties applicable to our role. A selected VM location does not guarantee all account, payment, support and operational records stay in that country. Our Privacy Notice and agreed data-processing terms govern those matters.

10. Acceptable use

Use the Service lawfully, within the published limits applying to your order, and respecting other customers and third-party rights. Do not:

  • Conduct unauthorized access, credential theft, phishing, fraud, impersonation, malware distribution, botnet activity or denial-of-service attacks.
  • Host or distribute illegal content, including child sexual abuse material, or content infringing intellectual property or privacy rights.
  • Send unsolicited bulk messages, run abusive relays or deliberately damage network or mail reputation.
  • Access other tenants, host management, provider networks, infrastructure metadata or administrative services without authorization.
  • Evade isolation, authentication, metering, payment controls or resource limits, or deliberately overload shared infrastructure.
  • Use stolen payment methods, false identities or abusive duplicate accounts to obtain service or promotional benefits.
  • Conduct transactions prohibited by export controls, sanctions or other laws applicable to you or us, or evade required screening.

Security research needs the target owner's permission and must stay within its agreed scope. Guest root does not authorize host or other-tenant access. Report vulnerabilities responsibly without exposing unrelated customer data. Honest reviews, lawful complaints, regulator reports and protected speech are permitted.

Do not rely on this unmanaged Service as the sole system for life-support, emergency response or another application whose interruption is reasonably likely to cause death or serious injury. Do not claim a regulatory certification or special suitability we have not expressly agreed to provide.

11. Reports and lawful requests

Send abuse reports to support@scaletoad.com with resource, time, description and evidence, omitting secrets and unrelated personal data. An allegation alone does not establish a violation. Copyright complaints should identify the work, allegedly infringing material and location, complainant's contact and authority, and statements required by applicable law. We follow applicable notice, response and appeal procedures; this clause does not claim a legal safe harbor or appoint a statutory agent.

We preserve or disclose information for legally valid requests or when otherwise required or permitted by law, limiting action to what is reasonably required and notifying you when lawful and practicable. These terms do not authorize disclosure without a lawful basis.

12. Suspension, termination and review

Proportionate restrictions may be needed for material breach, credible security threats, prohibited use, overdue authorized payments, funding reversals or legal requirements. Where safe and lawful, we explain the reason and give a reasonable opportunity to cure a remediable breach before termination. Immediate containment may be necessary to protect people or infrastructure.

You may ask support to review an action and submit evidence. We review in good faith and restore access when the basis is resolved. Honest criticism and exercise of refund, complaint or payment-dispute rights do not justify retaliation.

For lawful termination unrelated to your breach, we give reasonable advance notice where practicable, an export opportunity where safe and lawful, and section 7 refunds. Termination for breach does not automatically forfeit unused paid funds. Only amounts actually owed and lawfully recoverable may be retained; there are no automatic forfeitures or punitive fees. Urgent incidents or legal shutdowns may prevent a recovery window; mandatory access and refund rights remain.

For Québec consumers, a fixed-term service involving sequential performance may be terminated by us only on the grounds and conditions allowed by law, including applicable Civil Code articles 1604, 2126 and 2129. We have no general right to terminate such a contract for convenience. For an indeterminate-term consumer service, we give the written notice required by law, including at least 60 days where Québec law requires it and you are not in default.

You can stop renewing, delete a VM or request account closure. Voluntary early cancellation follows section 7. Closure preserves accrued lawful obligations and rights.

13. Availability, support and third parties

Email support is provided on a reasonable-efforts basis. No guaranteed response time, 24-hour support, automatic failover or contractual uptime percentage is included unless expressly agreed in writing. Maintenance, network incidents and equipment failure can interrupt service. We use reasonable care and skill and remain responsible for our contractual duties and statutory remedies.

Third-party software, integrations and payments may have separate terms. You authorize connected applications and AI agents, their permissions and guest-side actions; review commands and outputs before relying on them. Our responsibility for suppliers performing our duties remains to the extent required by the agreement and law. Their outage is not automatically an exemption from our obligations.

14. Business warranties and liability

For business use only, where lawful. This section does not apply where consumer or protected small-business law makes it inapplicable or unfair. It allocates unmanaged-service risk without removing express delivery and reasonable-care commitments.

Except for express promises and non-excludable duties, we disclaim implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. We do not promise uninterrupted or error-free operation, a particular business result or compatibility with every application. We do not disclaim our right to provide the Service.

Subject to section 16, neither we nor our personnel are liable for business loss of profit, revenue, anticipated savings, opportunity or goodwill, or indirect or consequential loss. Direct reasonable data-restoration costs are subject to the cap below, rather than a blanket data-loss exclusion.

Subject to section 16, our aggregate liability relating to the agreement, in contract, tort including ordinary negligence, or otherwise, is limited to the greater of USD 100 or the fees actually paid to us for the Service in the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim. Related claims from one event share that cap. Required returns of undelivered-service charges, unused service after our termination, duplicate charges and refundable unused paid balances are outside the cap and do not consume it. These limits operate only where fair, reasonable and lawful under applicable law.

15. Business third-party claims

For business use only, where lawful and fair, you reimburse reasonable losses, damages and external legal costs awarded by a court or included in a settlement you approve, arising from a third-party claim that your content infringes their rights, your use violates law, or your material breach of section 10 harms them. This applies only to the portion attributable to you or authorized users and excludes our breach, negligence or wrongful conduct.

We must notify you promptly, allow reasonable defense participation, mitigate loss and obtain your consent to a settlement at your expense, which you must not unreasonably withhold. Admissions, non-monetary obligations or restrictions on your rights need express approval. Late notice reduces your responsibility to the extent of material prejudice to the defense. This creates no consumer indemnity and does not displace mandatory small-business protection.

16. Consumer remedies and non-excludable liability

For consumers, we cover losses required by law, including reasonably foreseeable loss caused by breach or lack of reasonable care and skill. Sections 14 and 15 impose neither a business cap nor a business indemnity on you. No term excludes non-waivable guarantees, remedies or compensation, or shifts losses from our wrongful conduct to you.

For all customers, no exclusion or cap applies to fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, deliberate misconduct, gross negligence, death or personal injury caused by negligence, bodily or moral injury under Québec law, or any other liability that cannot lawfully be limited, including applicable statutory data-protection liability. Australian Consumer Law guarantees and remedies remain, including cancellation/refund for major service failure and required compensation. New Zealand and other mandatory consumer protections remain wherever applicable.

Each party takes reasonable steps to limit avoidable loss where law requires. Contractual limits do not prevent statutory refunds or non-excludable remedies.

17. Events outside reasonable control

Where law permits, neither party is responsible for delay caused by events outside its reasonable control that it could not reasonably prevent or overcome. The affected party must limit disruption and resume performance reasonably. This does not excuse inadequate maintenance, security or capacity planning, or ordinary responsibility for a chosen supplier. It does not let us keep payment for unsupplied service, defeat statutory remedies or prevent cancellation of materially affected service with section 7 refunds.

18. Changes and notices

We may propose updated terms for future agreements for legitimate legal, security, technology or service reasons. We give existing customers at least 30 days' advance written notice of a material proposed revision, unless law or urgent security requires a shorter period. The notice explains the new or changed provision, the former wording, the effective date and applicable rights.

We do not unilaterally change the essential features, price or duration of an accepted fixed-term consumer service. Any amendment to a current agreement must meet applicable law. Where Québec's unilateral-amendment rules apply, the required written notice and right to refuse and cancel without cost or penalty within the applicable period, including 30 days after the amendment takes effect when the law provides, are preserved.

New terms apply to new orders after taking effect and being accepted. They do not retroactively raise purchased prices, reduce purchased time or waive existing claims. A required change materially disadvantaging current purchased service lets you end that service and receive its unused portion without penalty. Website visits alone do not replace legally required acceptance. We preserve the version applicable to each purchase.

Keep your email current. Notices use email, the panel or the business address above and take effect under applicable delivery rules. Required paper, durable-medium and language rules still apply.

19. Governing law and disputes

For business customers, subject to mandatory law, the agreement is governed by the laws of Québec and the federal laws of Canada applicable in Québec, with exclusive jurisdiction in the competent courts of the judicial district of Longueuil, Québec, Canada. Mandatory local law and protected-small-business rights remain applicable.

For consumers, a choice of law cannot deprive you of mandatory protections that otherwise apply, including those of your habitual residence where applicable. You retain access to courts, tribunals, regulators and procedures provided by mandatory law, including your home courts where that right applies. These terms impose no pre-dispute arbitration, class/collective-action waiver or shortened statutory limitation period, and do not prevent urgent court relief.

Contact support to try to resolve a problem, but doing so is not a condition of exercising a legal right or an extension of a filing deadline. The parties may agree to mediation or another lawful procedure after a dispute arises.

20. General provisions

An unenforceable term is inapplicable to the extent of its defect; remaining terms continue only as law permits. An unfair term is not automatically rewritten into the strongest lawful restriction. One failure to enforce is not a permanent waiver.

You need written consent to transfer an account or agreement, which we will not unreasonably withhold. We may transfer it in a genuine business transfer if the recipient assumes our obligations without reducing mandatory rights or guarantees, with reasonable notice of a material impact and legally required cancellation rights.

This agreement creates no employment, partnership or agency. It records the contractual promises within its scope without excluding misrepresentation liability or legally binding pre-contract information. Accrued payments, refunds, claims, limited lawful retention and dispute provisions survive closure only as long as needed to give them effect.