1. Scope & definitions
The Service means the Metalhost platform — virtual machines (including GPU passthrough), bare-metal leases, block and file storage, tenant networking and firewall rules, public IPv4/IPv6, prepaid wallet billing, support tickets, webhooks, the HTTP API, CLI, Go SDK, dashboard at app.metalhost.net, and any other software or infrastructure AES Services LLC provides under the Metalhost brand. You / Customer means the entity or person agreeing to these Terms; if an individual is acting for an organization, that organization is also bound.
Customer Data means any data you upload, store, transmit, or process through the Service. Account means your Metalhost account and all child resources (projects, organizations, API keys, wallets). Bare-metal lease means a dedicated physical server assigned exclusively to you for the lease term, provisioned and managed through the Metalhost control plane (not a shared hypervisor VM).
2. Eligibility & accounts
You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter a binding contract to use the Service. Accounts are personal to the customer named at signup; you may not share credentials, and you are responsible for everything done under your Account.
You must keep your account information accurate and your credentials secure. Notify us immediately at security@metalhost.net if you suspect unauthorized access.
3. The Service
We provide compute (shared VMs and dedicated bare-metal hosts), block and file storage, networking, and related infrastructure on a per-second- or prepaid-term-metered basis from datacenters we operate. Catalog SKUs, prices, and capabilities are listed at metalhost.net/pricing, in the dashboard configurator, and via the public catalog API. Bare-metal leases include unlimited bandwidth; VM egress is subject to the published transfer allowance. We may add, change, or retire SKUs from time to time; we will give reasonable notice (typically 30 days) before retiring a SKU that affects an active workload.
4. Bare metal leases
Bare-metal leases give you exclusive use of a physical host for the selected billing term. Pricing, hardware specs, and available terms are published in the catalog. Leases may be billed hourly (pay-as-you-go while active) or on prepaid monthly terms (1, 3, 6, or 12 months, charged from your wallet at lease time or renewal). Prepaid terms may offer published discounts. Optional auto-renew extends a prepaid term at expiry; if auto-renew is off, an expired prepaid lease falls back to hourly billing until you release it.
Provisioning. At lease time you choose a managed operating system (catalog image with SSH keys and optional cloud-init) or bring-your-own OS (no managed install). Managed installs run over the network; do not power-cycle or interrupt provisioning until the lease reaches an active state. BYO leases are installed by you via serial/KVM console and the ISO library; you are responsible for configuring networking using the assigned public IPv4 block, gateway, and subnet mask shown in the dashboard.
Access. You receive out-of-band console access (KVM) and power controls through the dashboard. We do not provide physical datacenter access, colocation handoff, or unmanaged IPMI credentials. SSH access on managed installs uses the keys you select at lease time.
Operations. Power off, reboot, rescue mode, reinstall (managed leases), ISO attach/detach, and release are available per the product documentation. Power off does not stop billing while the lease remains active. Reinstall and release wipe the boot disk; you are responsible for backing up data beforehand. Customer-uploaded ISOs are stored in our object store and may be deleted when you remove them from your library or close your account.
Release & end of term. Releasing a lease returns the host to our inventory and permanently erases local disk contents as part of decommissioning. Hourly leases may be released at any time; billing stops when release completes. Prepaid leases generally cannot be released before the prepaid term ends unless we agree otherwise in writing — you remain responsible for fees already charged for the term. On account suspension or termination, we may release or decommission bare-metal leases after the notice periods in Section 7.
Bandwidth & networking. Bare-metal egress is unlimited at published lease rates (no per-byte transfer meter on bare metal). Public IPv4 blocks are assigned from Metalhost address space; you may not announce our IPs in BGP outside the Service without a separate written agreement.
Hardware. Hosts are provided as cataloged SKUs without a guarantee of a specific serial number, NIC port, or minor component revision. If hardware fails, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to repair or replace the lease on equivalent or better specs; downtime remedies are governed by the SLA.
5. Acceptable Use
You agree not to use the Service for, and not to permit any third party to use the Service for, the following prohibited activities:
- Illegal content. Anything that violates applicable law, including but not limited to child sexual abuse material (CSAM), human trafficking, terrorist content, or counterfeit goods. We report CSAM to NCMEC and cooperate with law enforcement.
- Network abuse. Outbound denial-of-service attacks, sustained port-scanning of the public internet, brute-force credential attacks, or any activity intended to disrupt other networks.
- Spam. Sending unsolicited bulk email, SMS, or other commercial communications from any resource on the Service. Outbound mail must comply with CAN-SPAM, CASL, GDPR e-Privacy, and similar laws.
- Tor exit relays. Operating a Tor exit node from any Metalhost resource. Using Tor as a client, running internal Tor middle/guard relays, or running other privacy-preserving software is permitted.
- Resource abuse. Attempting to escape your tenant, attacking the hypervisor, accessing other customers' data, or probing Metalhost's own infrastructure beyond your assigned resources.
We may suspend or terminate access to investigate or remediate violations. We will use reasonable efforts to notify you first when the situation allows, but we may act immediately for active abuse. Report violations to abuse@metalhost.net.
6. Wallet, billing & refunds
The Service operates on a prepaid wallet model. You top up your wallet by card or bank account (Stripe) or cryptocurrency settled in USDC (Coinbase Commerce). Usage is metered per second (or per prepaid monthly term for eligible SKUs) and debited from the wallet at the rates published in the catalog. Third-party payment processors are listed in our Privacy Policy.
Wallet credits are non-refundable. Once added, credits remain on your wallet until consumed by usage. There is no expiration. We do not issue cash refunds for unused credits. We may, in our sole discretion, issue a refund or credit adjustment for billing errors or service failures.
If your wallet balance reaches zero, we will notify you and apply the suspension policy described in Section 7. Taxes (where applicable) are added at checkout. You are responsible for any taxes other than those based on our net income.
7. Suspension & termination
You may close your account at any time from the dashboard or by emailing support@metalhost.net. We may suspend your account if (a) your wallet balance has been zero for more than 72 hours, (b) you breach these Terms or the Acceptable Use rules, (c) we are required to do so by law, or (d) we believe in good faith that continued operation poses a security risk to other customers or to Metalhost.
We may terminate your account for material breach not cured within 14 days of notice, for unpaid balances, or where suspension has continued for more than 30 days. On termination, we delete Customer Data per our retention policy in the Privacy Policy (30-day soft delete, then permanent purge).
8. Customer Data — ownership, license, and your responsibility
You own your data. We don't. You retain all right, title, and interest in and to Customer Data. AES Services LLC acquires no ownership interest in Customer Data. Nothing in these Terms transfers any intellectual-property rights in Customer Data from you to us.
You grant AES Services LLC a narrow, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, transmit, duplicate, back up, and display Customer Data solely to the extent necessary to (a) provide the Service to you, (b) prevent or address technical, security, or fraud issues, (c) enforce these Terms and the Acceptable Use rules, and (d) comply with law. The license ends when we have completed deletion of your data under our retention schedule.
We will not: use Customer Data to train artificial-intelligence or machine-learning models; sell or "share" (as that term is defined under CCPA/CPRA) Customer Data for cross-context behavioral advertising; mine Customer Data for marketing insights; or use Customer Data for any commercial purpose other than operating the Service for you.
You are solely responsible for Customer Data. You are solely responsible — and AES Services LLC is not responsible — for: (a) the content of Customer Data and whether it is lawful, accurate, complete, or fit for any purpose; (b) obtaining all rights, consents, licenses, and notifications required to process Customer Data through the Service (including under data- protection, export-control, intellectual-property, and content laws); (c) any third-party claim of any kind arising out of or related to Customer Data, including infringement, defamation, privacy, publicity, or illegality; and (d) backing Customer Data up against accidental loss or corruption. We offer snapshot tools, replication, and object-store export, but we do not act as a system of record for Customer Data and do not warrant against loss absent a separately executed written agreement providing for it.
Our IP. AES Services LLC owns the Service, the underlying software, the API, the documentation, and the Metalhost trademarks. You may use the API per its published specification; you may not reverse-engineer, redistribute, or resell the Service except as expressly permitted in writing.
9. Conduit role & illegal content
AES Services LLC provides hosting, storage, and networking infrastructure. We act as a conduit, intermediary, and neutral provider. We do not pre-screen, monitor, edit, curate, endorse, or take editorial responsibility for Customer Data, and nothing in these Terms imposes any obligation on us to do so. The Service is content-agnostic by design.
To the maximum extent permitted by law (including 47 U.S.C. § 230, 17 U.S.C. § 512 / DMCA, the EU Digital Services Act Articles 4 and 6, and equivalent hosting-intermediary safe harbors in other jurisdictions), AES Services LLC is not liable for Customer Data or for any act or omission of a customer or its end users, including the upload, storage, transmission, or distribution of content that is unlawful, infringing, defamatory, obscene, harassing, or otherwise objectionable. You agree we have no duty of general monitoring under DSA Article 8 or any analogous provision.
Notice-and-takedown. Anyone who believes Customer Data on the Service infringes their copyright may send a DMCA notice (or equivalent under local law) to dmca@metalhost.net. Notices that substantially comply with 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3) will be acted on promptly. Counter-notices may be submitted by the affected customer.
Illegal content. If we become aware of CSAM or other content we are required by law to report or remove, we will: (i) preserve, remove, or disable access to the content; (ii) report it to NCMEC or the appropriate authority where required (in the case of CSAM, this reporting is mandatory under 18 U.S.C. § 2258A); and (iii) cooperate with lawful legal process. The existence of such content and the actions we take to address it do not waive any safe-harbor protection available to us.
Cooperation. We will not voluntarily disclose Customer Data to a third party absent (a) lawful legal process we cannot reasonably resist, (b) the customer's authorization, or (c) an emergency situation involving imminent risk of death or serious physical injury. We will, where lawful and practical, notify the affected customer before disclosure.
10. Confidentiality
Each party will protect the other's non-public information with the same care it uses for its own, and no less than reasonable care. This obligation survives three (3) years after termination, except for trade secrets, which are protected for as long as they remain trade secrets under applicable law.
11. Warranties & disclaimers
The Service is provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE". Except as expressly stated in these Terms or our Service Level Agreement, AES Services LLC disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, accuracy, and any warranty arising out of course of dealing or usage of trade.
We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure against every attack, or that Customer Data will not be lost or corrupted. Our sole obligation for service-level issues is the remedy described in the SLA.
No warranty as to Customer Data. We make no representations or warranties about Customer Data of any kind. We do not warrant that Customer Data is lawful, accurate, complete, non-infringing, or fit for any purpose. We do not inspect, review, or moderate Customer Data, and any decision we may make to remove, suspend, or report Customer Data is taken in our discretion without admission of any duty to monitor.
12. Limitation of liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, in no event will AES Services LLC's aggregate liability under these Terms exceed the amounts you paid for the Service in the three (3) months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim.
Neither party is liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits, revenue, data, or goodwill, even if advised of the possibility of such damages. This limitation applies regardless of the legal theory (contract, tort, statute) and survives termination.
Nothing in this section limits liability for gross negligence, willful misconduct, fraud, indemnification obligations, or amounts that cannot lawfully be limited.
13. Indemnification
You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless AES Services LLC, its affiliates, and their officers, employees, and agents (the "Indemnified Parties") from and against any third-party claims, demands, suits, proceedings, investigations, damages, judgments, liabilities, fines, penalties, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees and litigation costs) arising out of or relating to:
- Customer Data, including any claim that it infringes intellectual-property rights, violates privacy or publicity rights, is defamatory, is obscene, contains malware, is illegal under any applicable law (including export-control, sanctions, child-safety, and obscenity laws), or otherwise gives rise to liability;
- Your use of the Service, including any product, application, or service you build on or operate through the Service;
- Your breach of these Terms or of the Acceptable Use rules;
- Your violation of any law in connection with your use of the Service;
- Any act or omission of your end users, employees, contractors, or anyone else accessing the Service through your account; or
- Your failure to obtain or maintain the rights, consents, and lawful bases necessary to process Customer Data through the Service.
We will give you prompt written notice of any covered claim. You will control the defense and settlement of the claim with counsel reasonably acceptable to us; you may not settle any claim in a way that imposes any obligation, admission, or liability on an Indemnified Party without our prior written consent. We may participate in the defense with our own counsel at our own expense, and we reserve the right to assume sole defense at your expense if you fail to defend diligently. You will reasonably cooperate with us at your expense.
14. Force majeure
Neither party is liable for failure or delay caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including natural disasters, war, terrorism, civil unrest, government action, labor disputes, internet or power outages affecting third parties, and pandemics. The affected party will make commercially reasonable efforts to resume performance.
15. Governing law & venue
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. The exclusive venue for any dispute is the state and federal courts located in Texas, and each party submits to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.
The UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply.
16. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be announced via email to the address on your account and/or a prominent in-product notice at least 30 days before they take effect. Continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance.
17. Miscellaneous
Entire agreement. These Terms (together with the SLA, Privacy Policy, and any DPA executed by the parties) are the entire agreement between the parties and supersede any prior agreements on the same subject. Assignment: you may not assign these Terms without our prior written consent; we may assign to an affiliate or in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of substantially all assets. Severability: if any provision is held unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. No waiver: failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. Notices: to us at legal@metalhost.net; to you at the email address on your account. Independent contractors: the parties are independent contractors, not partners or employees of each other.
Contact
AES Services LLC
Texas, USA
legal@metalhost.net · general legal
abuse@metalhost.net · AUP violations
security@metalhost.net · security incidents