Terms of Service: the deal between us

1Service Definition & Registration Requirements

1.1 What we provide

HireVPS ("the Platform") rents you a dedicated, physical Apple Silicon Mac mini ("the machine"), along with the network connectivity, console management, and technical support that go with it. "Dedicated" means the entire physical machine is assigned to a single account for the rental period — no virtualization, no sharing compute with other users. "Dedicated hardware" means you get full administrator (root) access to the physical hardware itself.

The service includes: the machine and your selected configuration (chip, memory, SSD), a dedicated public IP, SSH and VNC remote access credentials, power/reinstall/macOS version-switching controls in the console, and ticket support as described on our Support page. The service does not include: installing or maintaining software inside the machine on your behalf, managing any third-party platform accounts, or backing up data stored on the machine (see the data boundary statement in our Privacy Policy).

1.2 Registration requirements

• You must be a natural person with full legal capacity, or a duly authorized representative of an organization; if registering on behalf of an organization, you represent that you have authority to bind that organization to these terms.
• Registration requires a valid, active email address, used to deliver boot credentials, invoices, and security notices. You're responsible for any missed notices caused by an inactive email address.
• You may register multiple accounts, but using multiple accounts to evade a suspension or claim promotions repeatedly counts as a violation, and the Platform may consolidate or close the accounts involved.
• You're responsible for safeguarding your account credentials (password, API keys, SSH private keys). Any action taken with valid credentials is technically treated as your own; if you notice anything unusual, reset your credentials in the console immediately and open a support ticket.

2Acceptable Use Policy

You're free to use the machine for development, builds, testing, AI experimentation, audio/video production, and any other lawful purpose. The following are explicitly prohibited. If confirmed, the Platform may suspend or terminate service depending on severity, with no refund for serious violations:

2.1 Apple ecosystem

• Bulk-registering, trading, or abusing third-party platform accounts, or using the machine to circumvent any third-party platform's security mechanisms;
• Using the machine to manipulate App Store rankings, post fake reviews, or inflate download counts;
• Distributing apps in ways that circumvent Apple Developer Program licensing terms, including unauthorized enterprise certificate abuse and unlawful sideloading distribution.

2.2 Network & security

• Launching port scans, penetration tests (without the target's written authorization), DDoS attacks, or participating in botnets against any target;
• Sending spam, hosting phishing sites, distributing malware, or relaying traffic for any of the above;
• Running open proxies, tunneling exits, or similar services that expose the machine's IP as a public egress point, resulting in the IP being blacklisted;
• Probing or interfering with other users' machines or the Platform's infrastructure in any way.

2.3 Content & resources

• Storing or distributing content that infringes others' intellectual property or is otherwise unlawful;
• Cryptocurrency mining (Apple Silicon isn't well-suited for it anyway, and sustained full load shortens hardware lifespan);
• Keeping CPU/GPU utilization pinned at full load continuously for 72+ hours without a legitimate computing justification — normal builds, training, and rendering are exempt from this. If your workload genuinely requires sustained full load, just open a ticket to let us know.

3Billing, Renewals & Refunds

3.1 Billing logic

• We support prepaid daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly billing cycles. Pricing is the USD ($) price shown on the Plans page at the time of purchase.
• Daily billing rounds up to a full day: the rental period starts the moment credentials are issued, with each 24-hour block counted as one day. Any partial day at the end is billed as a full day.
• Price lock during the paid period: prices already paid for aren't affected by later price changes. Any price change only applies to new orders and renewals, and we'll notify you by billing email at least 7 days in advance.
• Upgrades are prorated: for the remaining rental period, you pay the difference between the daily rates of your old and new plans, effective immediately. Downgrades aren't supported mid-cycle — you can switch to a lower-tier plan at your next renewal.

3.2 Renewals & overdue accounts

You can enable auto-renewal in the console (charged from your account balance or linked payment method 24 hours before expiration), or renew manually. Machines that expire without renewal are handled as follows:

Wiping is performed via full-disk encryption key destruction plus overwrite — the same process used when you voluntarily cancel. Please migrate important data out before expiration: we don't back up the data on your machine, which is both a privacy commitment and the reason wiped data can't be recovered afterward.

3.3 Refunds

• No-questions-asked refund window: within 24 hours of credentials being issued for your account's first machine, you can request a full refund; the used portion is deducted at the daily rate, and the remainder is refunded to your original payment method.
• If the service can't continue for reasons attributable to us (hardware failure not resolved within the SLA commitment, or node decommissioning), the unused portion is refunded in full, or converted to account credit at your preference.
• If service is terminated due to your violation of the Acceptable Use Policy in Section 2, the unused portion is not refunded.
• Vouchers and promotional credits are non-refundable in cash and can only be applied toward purchases.
• Refunds are returned to the original payment method within 7 business days of approval; actual arrival time depends on your payment provider.

4SLA & Compensation

4.1 Uptime commitment

All of our nodes run 365 days a year with no scheduled downtime. We commit to 99.9% monthly uptime for every machine (no more than roughly 43 minutes of downtime per month). "Downtime" means the machine is inaccessible via both SSH and VNC for more than 5 consecutive minutes due to hardware, network, or power issues on our side.

The following are excluded from downtime calculations: (a) force majeure (natural disasters, major backbone internet outages, etc.); (b) inaccessibility caused by your own actions, including but not limited to changes to system network settings, firewall misconfiguration, OS reinstallation, or software deadlocks inside the machine; (c) shutdowns and restarts you initiate yourself; (d) any period during which service is suspended due to your violation of these terms.

4.2 Compensation schedule

• Compensation is issued as service credit, redeemable against any order; the maximum credit per machine per month is capped at 100% of that machine's fees actually paid that month.
• For daily and weekly billed machines, the monthly fee is calculated using the average daily rate before the same schedule applies.

4.3 How to claim

1. Within 7 days of the incident, submit a ticket via our Support page specifying the machine ID and the downtime window;
2. We'll cross-check the downtime against our monitoring data and respond with our determination within 3 business days;
3. If approved, service credit is added to your account within 24 hours of our response.

5Software & Licensing Responsibility

• macOS: the macOS system that comes with your machine runs on genuine Apple hardware. You're responsible for complying with Apple's own software license agreements when using macOS and its built-in components; you bear the consequences of any violation of those agreements.
• Development tools & third-party software: Xcode, Unity, Logic Pro and its plugins, sample libraries, SDKs, and the like must be installed under your own accounts and licenses. You represent and warrant that all software you install and run on the machine is properly licensed; the Platform does not provide, preinstall, or purchase any paid third-party software on your behalf.
• License migration: some software licenses are hardware-bound. Deauthorize them yourself before canceling or switching machines — we can't help recover a license lost due to failure to deauthorize.
• Ownership of your output: any code you write, artifacts you build, or audio/video you produce on the machine remains entirely yours. The Platform claims no rights over it and will not access or use it.

6Limitation of Liability & Disclaimers

• Our liability for service availability is governed exclusively by the SLA compensation in Section 4. Outside of SLA compensation, our total liability for any order is capped at the total fees you actually paid for that machine in the 12 months preceding the claim.
• To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, we are not liable for indirect losses — including but not limited to loss of profits, business interruption, data loss (we've been explicit that we don't back up data on your machine; please maintain your own snapshots and off-site backups for anything important), or loss of goodwill.
• You're solely responsible for the legality and compliance of the business you run on the machine (app publishing, content distribution, model training and inference outputs, etc.). You'll handle and hold us harmless from any third-party claims arising from your business activities.
• Nothing in this section excludes liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law; where mandatory provisions of applicable law conflict with the above, those provisions govern.

7Changes, Termination & Dispute Resolution

7.1 Changes to these terms

We may update these terms as our business or applicable regulations evolve. Material changes (affecting billing, refunds, SLA, or liability provisions) will be announced at least 14 days in advance via your registered email and a console notice; other wording adjustments take effect simply by updating the version number and effective date on this page. Continuing to use the service after a change takes effect means you accept the new terms. If you don't accept them, you may terminate under Section 7.2 before they take effect, with any unused balance refunded per Section 3.3.

7.2 Termination

• Termination by you: you may cancel a machine or close your account in the console at any time. Cancellation triggers the data wipe process described above; please settle any outstanding balance and migrate your data out before closing your account.
• Termination by us: we may terminate service if you seriously or repeatedly violate these terms, fail to renew past the data retention window, or if termination is legally required. Where termination isn't due to your breach, the unused portion is refunded in full.
• After termination, the intellectual property terms in Section 5, the liability limitations in Section 6, and the dispute resolution terms in Section 7.3 remain in effect.

7.3 Governing law & dispute resolution

The formation, validity, interpretation, and performance of these terms are governed by the laws of the jurisdiction in which our operating entity is established. Any dispute arising from these terms should first be resolved through good-faith negotiation between the parties; if that fails, either party may bring the matter before a court of competent jurisdiction in that same jurisdiction. During negotiation, both parties shall continue to perform their remaining obligations under these terms, aside from the matter in dispute.

7.4 Contact us

Questions about these terms? Email support@hirevps.com, or reach us through our Contact page. Common billing and refund questions are already answered on our FAQ page.