1. Eligibility
You must be at least 18 years old (or the age of digital consent in your jurisdiction) and have the legal capacity to enter into a binding agreement to use the Service. If you are accepting these Terms on behalf of an organisation, you represent that you have the authority to bind that organisation, in which case “you” refers to that organisation.
2. The FreeVM HCI Community Edition
The FreeVM HCI Community Edition is a free, downloadable software release. It is not open source; it is a proprietary community product. The Community Edition may be used in production at no cost, subject to these Terms. Optional paid editions (Standard and Professional) are governed by their separate commercial licence agreements.
3. License Grant (Community Edition)
Subject to your compliance with these Terms, FreeVM HCI grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to:
- Download and install the Community Edition on hardware you own or control.
- Use the Community Edition for any lawful purpose, including commercial production workloads.
- Deploy the Community Edition on up to three (3) nodes per cluster for community use.
4. Restrictions
You agree not to:
- Resell, sublicense, or redistribute the Community Edition as a hosted or managed service offering that competes with FreeVM HCI commercial editions.
- Reverse-engineer, decompile, or disassemble the Community Edition except to the extent that such activity is expressly permitted by applicable law.
- Remove or alter any proprietary notices, labels, or markings on the Community Edition.
- Use the Community Edition in any way that violates applicable law or infringes the rights of any third party.
- Attempt to gain unauthorised access to FreeVM HCI systems or to other users’ clusters.
5. Updates and Changes
FreeVM HCI may, from time to time, release updates to the Community Edition. Updates are provided on an as-available basis; we do not guarantee a regular release schedule for the Community Edition. Some updates may include automatic feature toggles, telemetry collection, or security patches that you cannot opt out of without losing compatibility with the rest of the ecosystem.
6. Support
Community support is provided on a best-effort basis through public forums, documentation, and community chat channels. Guaranteed response times, named engineers, and 24×7 incident support are available only under paid Standard or Professional Edition support agreements.
7. Fees and Payment
The Community Edition is provided free of charge. Paid editions (Standard, Professional) and add-on services are billed according to the pricing in effect at the time of order. Prices are subject to change with 30 days’ notice for renewals.
8. Intellectual Property
The Service, including all software, documentation, logos, and trademarks, is and remains the exclusive property of FreeVM HCI and its licensors. No transfer of ownership is granted by these Terms other than the limited license above.
9. User Content and Feedback
If you submit feedback, suggestions, or ideas about the Service, you grant FreeVM HCI a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use, modify, and incorporate that feedback into the Service without any obligation to you. You represent that you have all rights necessary to make such submissions.
10. Termination
These Terms remain in effect until terminated. You may terminate by uninstalling the Community Edition and ceasing all use of the Service. FreeVM HCI may suspend or terminate your access at any time if you breach these Terms. Upon termination, the licenses granted herein automatically expire.
11. Disclaimer of Warranties
THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY. FreeVM HCI SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. FreeVM HCI DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, SECURE, OR FREE OF HARMFUL COMPONENTS.
12. Limitation of Liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, FreeVM HCI WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOST PROFITS, LOST DATA, OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE, EVEN IF FreeVM HCI HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN NO EVENT WILL FreeVM HCI’S TOTAL LIABILITY EXCEED ONE HUNDRED US DOLLARS (US$100) OR THE FEES YOU PAID FOR THE SERVICE IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM, WHICHEVER IS GREATER.
13. Indemnification
You agree to indemnify and hold FreeVM HCI, its affiliates, and their respective officers, directors, and employees harmless from any claims, damages, or expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising from your misuse of the Service or violation of these Terms.
14. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution
These Terms are governed by the laws of the jurisdiction in which FreeVM HCI is incorporated, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute arising from these Terms will be resolved exclusively in the competent courts of that jurisdiction. Nothing in this section limits your right to seek injunctive relief in any competent court to protect your intellectual property or confidential information.
15. Changes to These Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be announced on this page with a revised “Last updated” date. Continued use of the Service after a change indicates acceptance of the updated Terms.
16. Contact
For any questions about these Terms, contact us at legal@freevm.net.