Terms of Service

Last Updated: July 2026

1. AGREEMENT AND ACCEPTANCE

a. These Terms of Service (“Terms”) constitute a legally binding agreement between you (“Customer”, “you”, or “your”) and Cowboy Hosting, LLC (“Cowboy Hosting”, “we”, “us”, or “our”). By creating an account, ordering, accessing, or using the Cowboy VPS service (“Service”), you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms, our Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”), Privacy Policy, and any additional terms as may presented at signup or order. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

2. SERVICE DESCRIPTION AND KEY LIMITATIONS

a. Cowboy VPS is a self-managed virtual private server (VPS) hosting service that provides Customers with dedicated computing resources (CPU, RAM, storage, bandwidth), pre-installed operating system images, network connectivity (IPv4 where available and IPv6), and administrative/root-level access to a virtualized server environment.

b. The Service is designed for Customers who require full control over their server environment. The following core limitations apply:

  • Self-Managed Only: No managed server administration, application support, or hands-on technical assistance inside the VPS is provided.
  • Root/Administrative Access: Customers receive full administrative (root/sudo) access and are solely responsible for all configuration, security, maintenance, updates, and operation of the operating system, software, applications, and data.
  • Outbound SMTP Blocked: TCP port 25 is restricted by default to prevent spam and abuse. Legitimate email should use authenticated submission ports via third-party providers.
  • Limited Support Scope: Support is strictly limited to infrastructure, virtualization platform, physical network, power, and account/billing issues. No Linux administration, application troubleshooting, or security hardening beyond platform defaults.
  • IPv4/IPv6: IPv4 addresses are limited and may be subject to additional fees. IPv6 is provided where technically available at no extra charge.
  • Bandwidth is unmetered subject to fair use policies.
  • Free Tier: One free VPS per verified Customer account, subject to resource quotas, fair use, inactivity suspension, and abuse protections.

3. ELIGIBILITY, ACCOUNT REGISTRATION & FREE TIER

a. You must be at least 18 years of age and have full legal capacity. You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials (including SSH keys) and for all activity under your account. Free-tier VPS instances are limited to one (1) per verified Customer or account. Cowboy Hosting may suspend or terminate free instances without prior notice for prolonged inactivity (e.g., 30+ consecutive days with no meaningful resource utilization or interactive access), resource abuse, violation of these Terms or the AUP, or for any reason or no reason. Free tier instances have no cash value and limited or no backup functionality.

4. BILLING, PAYMENT, SUBSCRIPTIONS & REFUNDS

a. Services are billed in advance monthly or annually according to the selected plan and add-ons. Subscriptions automatically renew unless canceled through the account portal before the renewal date. Failure to maintain valid payment information or pay amounts due may result in suspension and or termination. Refunds are governed by our separate Refund Policy. In general, no refunds are provided for partial periods or used services. Chargebacks may result in immediate account termination.

b. You may cancel your Service at any time through the account portal. Cancellation will be effective at the end of the current paid billing period (or at the end of the prepaid term for annual plans). Upon cancellation, auto-renewal will be disabled.

c. Failure to maintain valid payment information or pay amounts due may result in suspension and/or termination. Chargebacks may result in immediate account termination.

5. SERVICE AVAILABILITY AND MAINTENANCE

a. We will use commercially reasonable efforts to maintain availability of the underlying infrastructure. The Service is provided “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE”. We do not guarantee uninterrupted, error-free, or secure operation. Scheduled or emergency maintenance, hardware failures, network issues, power events, or events beyond our reasonable control may cause service interruptions. We will endeavor to provide advance notice of scheduled maintenance when practicable.

6. CUSTOMER RESPONSIBILITIES

a. Because the Service is self-managed with root access, you are fully and solely responsible for:

  • Operating system installation, configuration, patching, hardening, and ongoing maintenance (including security updates).
  • Installation, configuration, updating, and security of all applications, web servers, databases, containers, and other software.
  • Firewall configuration, SSH key management, user account security, access controls, and intrusion prevention.
  • All data stored on or transmitted through the VPS, including backups, encryption, and compliance with applicable data protection laws.
  • Ensuring all content, applications, and activities comply with these Terms, the AUP, and all applicable laws.
  • Any third-party claims arising from your use of the Service, your content, or your end-users.

7. SHARED RESPONSIBILITY

a. We are responsible for the physical infrastructure, virtualization platform (hypervisor), storage platform, network connectivity (upstream), physical security, power, and cooling. You are responsible for everything inside the virtual machine: the operating system, user accounts, applications, website content, security updates/patches, firewall rules, data, backups, and compliance. Root/administrative access is provided for your control and convenience. You acknowledge and accept all risks associated with such access, including misconfiguration, security breaches, data loss, and unintended disruptions. Cowboy Hosting is not responsible for consequences arising from your use (or misuse) of root access.

8. BACKUPS, DATA LOSS, AND DATA RECOVERY

a. YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR BACKING UP ALL DATA stored on or generated by your VPS. We strongly recommend automated, off-site, tested backup solutions. Any backup, snapshot, or replication services we may offer in the future are supplemental, optional, and provided “AS IS” without warranty of completeness, integrity, availability, or restorability. We are not liable for any data loss, corruption, or unavailability, whether or not you have purchased backup services. Always maintain independent backups and export your data before the end of the any rentention period following cancellation.

9. SUSPENSION, TERMINATION, AND CANCELLATION

a. We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service, in whole or in part, immediately and without prior notice, for: non-payment or failed payment; violation of these Terms or the AUP; suspected or actual illegal activity, security threat, or abuse harming the platform, other customers, or third parties; resource abuse or noisy-neighbor behavior; extended inactivity on a free-tier VPS; to comply with law enforcement or regulatory requirements; for any reason or no reason as determined solely by us. Upon termination, you lose access and data may be permanently deleted after a retention period (no more than 30 days). You may cancel via your account portal; cancellation is effective at the end of the current paid period. You are solely responsible for exporting your data beforehand.

b. You may cancel your subscription at any time via the account portal. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the then-current paid billing period (or at the end of the term for annual plans). Upon the effective cancellation date, the VPS instance will be shut down. We will retain the instance for 7 days following the effective cancellation date, during which time you may request reactivation through the account portal or by contacting support. After the 7-day retention period, the VPS instance and all associated data will be permanently deleted, and recovery cannot be guaranteed.

c. You remain solely responsible for exporting or backing up your data prior to or during the retention period. We are not liable for any data loss following deletion.

10. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, CONTENT, AND DMCA

a. Cowboy Hosting retains all right, title, and interest in the Service, platform, hypervisor, trademarks, and related intellectual property. You retain ownership of your content, data, and applications. You grant us a limited license to host and transmit such content as necessary to provide the Service. You represent that your use and content do not infringe third-party rights. We respect copyright and maintain a DMCA policy. Send takedown notices to dmca@cowboyhosting.com (or the address published on our website). Repeat infringers may have accounts terminated.

11. WARRANTIES, DISCLAIMERS, AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

a. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES. THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, “AS AVAILABLE”, AND “WITH ALL FAULTS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, UNINTERRUPTED OPERATION, ERROR-FREE PERFORMANCE, OR SECURITY. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT SELF-MANAGED VPS HOSTING WITH ROOT ACCESS INVOLVES INHERENT RISKS INCLUDING DATA LOSS, SECURITY BREACHES, SERVICE OUTAGES, AND THIRD-PARTY CLAIMS.

b. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL COWBOY HOSTING, ITS AFFILIATES, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, OR SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, GOODWILL, OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE, REGARDLESS OF THE THEORY OF LIABILITY AND WHETHER OR NOT ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY. OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM SHALL NOT EXCEED THE TOTAL FEES ACTUALLY PAID BY YOU TO COWBOY HOSTING FOR THE SPECIFIC AFFECTED VPS INSTANCE DURING THE APPLICABLE BILLING PERIOD IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE CLAIM. THE FOREGOING LIMITATIONS SHALL APPLY EVEN IF ANY REMEDY FAILS OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.

12. INDEMNIFICATION

a. You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Cowboy Hosting, its affiliates, and their respective officers, directors, employees, agents, successors, and assigns from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to: your use of the Service; your content, applications, or data; your violation of these Terms, the AUP, or applicable law; any claim by your end-users or third parties arising from your VPS; any allegation that your content or use infringes third-party rights; or any security incident or regulatory action resulting from your configuration or use of the VPS.

13. CHANGES TO TERMS, PRICING, AND SERVICE

a. We reserve the right to modify these Terms, the AUP, pricing, resource allocations, features, or any other aspect of the Service at any time. Your continued use of the site or Services constitutes acceptance of these Terms.

14. GOVERNING LAW AND VENUE

a. These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Washington, United States, without regard to its conflict of laws principles. Any legal action or proceeding arising under these Terms shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Spokane County, Washington, and you consent to personal jurisdiction and venue therein. We may seek injunctive or other equitable relief in any court of competent jurisdiction.

15. DISPUTE RESOLUTION

YOU UNDERSTAND, ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT WE RESERVE THE SOLE AND ABSOLUTE RIGHT TO ARBITRATE ANY DISPUTE PRIOR TO OR IN LIEU OF OTHER TYPES OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION AS REQUIRED BELOW.

PLEASE READ THESE SECTIONS CAREFULLY BECAUSE: 1. IT ONLY APPLIES TO INDIVIDUALS OR ENTITIES WHO HAVE FORMED LEGALLY BINDING CONTRACTS UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, 2. IT MAY REQUIRE YOU TO ARBITRATE CERTAIN DISPUTES AND CLAIMS AND LIMITS THE MANNER IN WHICH YOU CAN SEEK RELIEF FROM US AND 3. IF ARBITRATION IS SELECTED BY US, SUCH ARBITRATION SHALL PRECLUDE YOU FROM SUING US IN COURT OR HAVING A JURY TRIAL.

a. Disputes

  1. You agree that any Dispute (defined below) or claim between you and us is personal to you and us and that any dispute will be resolved solely through individual action, and will not be brought as a class arbitration, class action or any other type of representative proceeding (“Agreement”). This Agreement applies to all Disputes based in contract, tort, statute, fraud, misrepresentation, or any other legal theory, including but not limited to Disputes asserted against us by those you list as authorized contacts on your order.
  2. By your access and or continued use of the Site and or Services, you agree to waive your rights to a jury trial and to have any dispute or claim arising out of or relating to any product or service purchased from us (collectively, “Dispute(s)”) resolved in the manner as described herein. Disputes include, but are not limited to, (a) those arising out of or related to these Terms or our Services, and (b) those related to advertising, privacy, data security, and the use of our Site. Questions regarding the arbitrability of a dispute or claim between you and us are not included in the definition of a Dispute and are to be adjudicated by a court of law as set forth below.
  3. Required Procedures. For any Dispute you agree to attempt to resolve the Dispute informally via the following process. If you assert a claim against us, you will first contact us by sending a written notice of your Dispute (“Claimant Notice”) to us by U.S. certified mail addressed to Notice of Dispute, Legal Department, Cowboy Hosting LLC, 1623 Central Ave. Ste 172, Cheyenne, WY 82001. The Claimant Notice must (i) include your name, residence address, email address, and telephone number; (ii) describe the nature and basis of the Dispute; (iii) set forth the specific relief sought; (iv) identify whether the party contends the Dispute is within the scope of this Agreement and is arbitrable; and (v) be personally signed (in the case of any digital signature, the digital signature shall comply with the requirements of the federal E-Sign Act).
  4. For a period of sixty (60) days from receipt of a completed notice (which can be extended by agreement of the parties), you agree to negotiate in good faith in an effort to resolve the Dispute. Completion of this mandatory dispute resolution process (“Process”) is a condition precedent to initiating any Dispute against us. If an arbitration has been commenced any arbitration then underway shall be stayed. The court shall have the authority to enforce this condition precedent to arbitration, which includes the power to enjoin the filing or prosecution of arbitrations and the assessment or collection of arbitration fees. Nothing in this Section limits this the right of a party to seek damages for non-compliance with this Process. All applicable limitations periods (including statutes of limitations) will be tolled from the date of receipt of a completed notice through the conclusion of this Process.
  5. Any claim under these Terms must be brought within one (1) year after the cause of action arises, or such claim or cause of action is barred. No recovery may be sought or received for damages except that the prevailing party will be entitled to costs and attorneys’ fees.

b. Upon Notice of Arbitration by Us

1. Arbitration Procedures.

(a) If the parties unable to resolve any such Dispute after completion of the Process discussed herein, and the Dispute, in our sole and absolute discretion, falls within the scope of this Agreement and is arbitrable, then we may submit the Dispute to binding confidential arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”). Other than submitted arbitrable Disputes by us, Disputes must be submitted to the federal court sitting in Spokane County, Washington or, if the federal court in Spokane County, Washington is not available, then the state court in Spokane County, Washington. Said court shall make a preliminary determination as to whether the Dispute falls within the scope of this Agreement and is arbitrable.

(b) All Disputes submitted to AAA will be resolved through binding arbitration before one arbitrator.

(c) You agree to use the AAA Commercial Arbitration Rules, including the Expedited Procedures for all Disputes, except for the AAA rules concerning the arbitrability of Disputes, which may be exclusively determined by a court as set forth herein. The most current version of the AAA Commercial Arbitration Rules is available on the AAA’s website at AAA Rules, Forms & Fees, and such rules are hereby incorporated by reference into this Agreement. You either acknowledge and agree that you have read and understand the applicable AAA Arbitration Rules or waive your opportunity to read the AAA Arbitration Rules and waive any claim that such rules are unfair or should not apply for any reason. If AAA is unavailable or unwilling to administer the arbitration consistent with this arbitration agreement, the parties shall agree on an alternative administrator that will do so. If the parties cannot agree, they shall petition the federal court sitting in Spokane County, Washington or, if the federal court in Spokane County to appoint an administrator that will do so. The award rendered by the arbitrator shall include costs of arbitration, reasonable attorneys’ fees, and reasonable costs, including costs for expert and other witnesses, to the prevailing party.

(d) You acknowledge that the purpose of this Section is to streamline the dispute resolution process and that Coordinated Filings or Mass Arbitration’s are likely to frustrate that purpose. A “Coordinated Filing” or a “Mass Arbitration” is any demand for arbitration where the underlying claim is similar to at least five (5) or more other demands for arbitration regarding the same or substantially similar issues filed by or with the assistance of the same law firm, group of law firms, or organizations. We may, at our option, decline arbitration and instead litigate the claim in a civil court of competent jurisdiction as determined by us. In the event that a Dispute is part of a Coordinated Filing or a Mass Arbitration, our respective Dispute(s) will be arbitrated in a coordinated fashion such that arbitrator shall: (1) administer the arbitration demands together; (2) appoint one arbitrator for the coordinated demands; and (3) issue one set of case management, hearing and administrative fees due per side, one procedural calendar, and one hearing (if any) in a place to be determined by the arbitrator. To the extent the parties disagree on the application of the provisions of this paragraph, the disagreeing party shall advise the arbitrator, and the arbitrator shall stay the arbitration pending a determination of the applicability of this Section and process by a court. In such a proceeding, the prevailing party may recover its reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs in connection therewith.

  1. Individualized Arbitration Proceedings and Remedies
  1. You agree that the enforceability of this Section will be substantively and procedurally governed by the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. § 1, et seq. (the “FAA”), to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law. As limited by the FAA, these Terms and the AAA Rules, the arbitrator will have authority to grant any relief that would otherwise be available in court, including but not limited to public injunctive relief, and to make all procedural and substantive decisions regarding any Dispute, including those arising out of or relating to interpretation or application of this Agreement, and including the enforceability, revocability, or validity of the Agreement or any portion thereof. The arbitrator may conduct only an individual arbitration and may not consolidate more than one individual’s claims, preside over any type of class or representative proceeding, or preside over any proceeding involving more than one claimant, except for Coordinated Filings or Mass Arbitrations.
  2. Judgment on the arbitrator’s award may be entered in any court having jurisdiction. This clause shall not preclude the parties from seeking provisional remedies in aid of arbitration from a court of appropriate jurisdiction. Nothing in this Agreement will prevent us from litigating in court to compel arbitration, to stay a proceeding pending arbitration, or to confirm, modify, vacate, or enter judgment on the award entered by the arbitrator and or seeking injunctive relief in any court of competent jurisdiction as necessary to protect our proprietary interests.
  3. Confidentiality
  4. The arbitration will allow for the discovery or exchange of non-privileged information relevant to the Dispute. Both parties agree to cooperate to seek from the arbitrator protection for any confidential, proprietary, trade secret, or otherwise sensitive information, documents, testimony, and/or other materials that might be exchanged or the subject of discovery in the arbitration. The parties agree to seek such protection before any such information, documents, testimony, and/or materials are exchanged or otherwise become the subject of discovery in the arbitration.
  5. Payment of Arbitration Fees
  6. The costs of arbitration shall be governed by the AAA’s fee schedules, available at AAA Rules, Forms & Fees. Both parties agree to pay the its respective shares of the applicable AAA Commercial Case Filing Fee and all other AAA fees and costs. If, however, the arbitrator finds that either the substance of a Dispute is frivolous or was brought by an initiating party for an improper purpose (as measured by the standards in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(b)), then the initiating party will be required to pay all AAA fees.

15. MISCELLANEOUS

a. These Terms, together with the AUP, Privacy Policy, order confirmation, and any additional terms accepted at signup, constitute the entire agreement. If any provision is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force. Our failure to enforce any right shall not constitute a waiver. You may not assign these Terms without our prior written consent; we may assign freely. Notices may be given by email to the address on file and are effective upon sending. These Terms do not create any agency, partnership, or joint venture. Export compliance is your responsibility.

16. CONTACT INFORMATION

If you have questions, contact websupport@cowboyhosting.com.