Terms and conditions

As of 17 October 2026. This is a convenience translation; the German version is binding.

1. Scope and contracting parties

1.1 These terms apply to all contracts for the rental of the software “Provomatic” between Timo Kessel, Dülkener Straße 2, 41068 Mönchengladbach, Germany, sole proprietor (the “provider”), and the customer. They cover two separate contracts: the rental of the software licence (Provomatic Self-Hosted, section 4.1) and the managed provision (Provomatic Managed-Hosted, sections 4.2 and 9). Provomatic Managed-Hosted does not include a licence; it requires an existing contract for Provomatic Self-Hosted (section 4.2).

1.2 These terms apply to orders in the provider’s shop (provomatic.de), which is aimed at businesses only. They govern only the relationship between the provider and its customer. The systems that the customer itself rents out to its end customers with the software (e.g. web hosting, game servers) are the customer’s own offers in its own shop; only the customer’s own terms and legal texts apply to them (section 8.4).

1.3 The offer is aimed exclusively at businesses within the meaning of § 14 of the German Civil Code (BGB) that use the software for their commercial or independent professional activity. The customer confirms in the order process that it is a business. Consumers are excluded from concluding a contract. If a consumer orders by giving incorrect information, the provider may reject the order or end the contract.

1.4 Deviating or additional terms of the customer apply only if the provider has expressly agreed to them in text form.

2. Definitions

• Software: the application “Provomatic” including modules, themes, documentation and updates.
• Self-hosted variant (“Provomatic Self-Hosted”): provision of the software for installation and operation on infrastructure of the customer.
• Managed hosting variant (“Provomatic Managed-Hosted”): provision of the software as an operated instance on infrastructure managed by the provider. It does not include a licence but requires a licence under Provomatic Self-Hosted.
• Licence key: key that binds an installation to a domain.
• Installation: use of the software under exactly one domain or subdomain.
• End customers: customers of the customer to whom the customer sells hosting, game server or similar services with the software.
• Licence server: the provider’s servers that check licence keys.
• Availability: share of time during which the managed instance is reachable (section 9.3).

3. Conclusion of the contract and trial period

3.1 The presentation of the products in the shop is not a binding offer. By completing the order process (“order with obligation to pay”) the customer makes a binding offer. Before submitting, the customer can check and correct its details.

3.2 The contract is concluded when the provider confirms the order by email or provides the licence key or the managed instance.

3.3 The contract text (these terms and the order data) is stored and sent to the customer by email. Orders can be placed in German.

3.4 The provider offers a free trial period of 14 days for Provomatic Self-Hosted and Provomatic Managed-Hosted, without a payment method having to be given in advance. The trial period does not create a contract for the fixed term and no obligation to pay. The licence or instance is locked on the 15th day if the customer has not concluded a contract under sections 3.1 and 3.2 by then. A contract with a fixed term of 12 months arises only through the customer’s own order, never automatically when the trial period ends. Sections 5 to 8 and 11 apply accordingly to the trial period; support under section 7 and, for managed hosting, the services under sections 9.2 and 9.3 are provided to the same extent as under the contract. Data from the trial period is kept for 30 days after the lock and is then deleted if the customer does not conclude a contract; the customer can export it during this time. If the customer orders during the trial period, the fixed term of 12 months starts with the order; the part of the trial period used up to then is not counted. For the trial period, which is free of charge, the provider is liable only for intent and gross negligence and in the other cases of section 15.2; it is not liable for simple negligence because no fee is paid during the trial period.

4. Subject matter

4.1 Self-hosted: The provider lets the customer use the software on the customer’s infrastructure for the duration of the contract and provides a licence key, updates and support (section 7). The customer itself is responsible for the server, operating system, database, security and backups of its infrastructure.

4.2 Managed hosting: The provider makes an operated instance of the software available to the customer for the term of the contract and provides operation, updates, backups and support under sections 7 and 9. The fee for Provomatic Managed-Hosted covers the managed provision (in particular the server operation), not the licence. For this the customer additionally needs a contract for Provomatic Self-Hosted; the rights of use under section 5 arise solely from that licence contract. If the licence contract ends before the contract for Provomatic Managed-Hosted (e.g. by extraordinary termination), the latter ends at the same time; no fee is charged for the remaining term, amounts already paid are not refunded; if the licence is locked (section 12.5), the provider also locks the managed provision for the duration of the lock.

4.3 The exact range of functions follows from the product description at the time of the order. Further commitments exist only if the provider confirms them in text form.

5. Rights of use

5.1 For the term of the contract the provider grants the customer a simple, non-transferable, non-sublicensable right to use the software for running its own business, within the limits of section 5.2.

5.2 The licence applies to one installation under one domain or subdomain. Each further domain or subdomain requires a further licence. The number of end customers, products, invoices and team members is not limited. Development and test copies under local or reserved addresses are permitted insofar as the licence server recognises them as such; the licence server confirms a key on at most three development copies within 30 days.

5.3 The customer may adapt or newly create themes and modules for its own installation. Rights in the customer’s adaptations remain with the customer, the rights in the software remain with the provider.

5.4 Unless the law (in particular §§ 69d, 69e of the German Copyright Act, UrhG) allows otherwise, the following are not permitted: passing on, reselling, renting out, sublicensing or publishing the software, operating it for third parties as a separate offer of the software itself, and circumventing, deactivating or removing the licence check. Mandatory statutory rights, for example to correct errors, make a backup copy and decompile to establish interoperability, remain unaffected.

5.5 Rights in the software, source code, documentation, names and trademarks remain with the provider. Included open-source components are subject to their own licences.

5.6 The right of use ends when the contract ends (section 14).

6. Licence activation and licence check

6.1 The licence key is bound to the domain of the installation with the first successful check. The software regularly confirms the licence with the licence server. This requires an outgoing HTTPS connection. If the licence server is temporarily unreachable, the software keeps running.

6.2 The customer can release the domain of its licence in the customer area on provomatic.de at any time and bind it to a new address (“release”); the number of releases is not limited. The licence applies to one installation under one address at a time. To prevent abuse, a short technical waiting time may apply between two releases.

6.3 The data processed during the licence check is described in the privacy information for the software.

7. Updates, maintenance and support

7.1 During the term of the contract the provider provides updates (bug fixes, security updates, new versions). There is no claim to specific new functions. The provider may develop the software further as long as the contractually agreed range of functions is essentially preserved (section 18.1).

7.2 Support is provided via tickets, email and Discord; there is no telephone support. Confidential access data or personal data of third parties should not be sent via Discord. Support hours: Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm, except public holidays in North Rhine-Westphalia; language German. The provider handles requests within a reasonable time. Fixed response and resolution times are not promised; an SLA is currently not offered (annex C).

7.3 Support covers questions on the use of the software and on errors in the software. It does not cover setting up and operating the customer’s infrastructure, adaptations for the customer or advice on tax or law.

8. Customer obligations, third-party systems

8.1 The customer meets the technical requirements of the installation guide, keeps access data secret, reports defects without delay and, for self-hosted, installs updates within a reasonable time.

8.2 Self-hosted: The customer backs up its data regularly and is responsible for server, network, security and recovery.

8.3 At the customer’s request the software connects third-party systems, in particular payment providers (Stripe, Mollie, PayPal), server panels (Pelican, Pterodactyl, KeyHelp, Plesk, Proxmox), registrars and DNS services. The customer concludes the contracts with these providers itself and observes their terms. The provider does not owe the availability of these services and is not liable for their outages or for changes to their interfaces, but endeavours to provide adaptations within a reasonable time.

8.4 With the software the customer runs its own shop for its end customers. For this it uses its own legal texts (terms, privacy policy, legal notice and, where applicable, withdrawal policy for consumers). The customer alone is responsible towards its end customers for content, prices, terms, invoices, taxes and data protection. The customer’s contracts with its end customers do not become part of this contract; the provider does not become a contracting party of the end customers.

9. Special provisions for managed hosting

9.1 Service: Operation of the instance on infrastructure of Hetzner Online GmbH (data centres in Falkenstein and Nuremberg, Germany; customer environments are located only in Germany), maintenance, updates, backups and support.

9.1a Address of the instance: When ordering, the customer chooses either a subdomain of provocloud.de (e.g. name.provocloud.de) or its own domain or subdomain. Certain names are blocked; the provider may reject names. With its own domain, the customer sets the DNS record named by the provider itself; provision starts only once the record is set correctly. The customer is responsible for its own domain and its renewal.

9.2 Backups: The provider creates a backup of the instance once a day and keeps the last 14 daily backups; older ones are overwritten. Restores are carried out at the customer’s request. The customer remains jointly responsible for exporting important data (section 14.3). No further commitments exist.

9.3 Availability: The provider aims for an availability of the instance of 99 % on an annual average. Not counted are: announced maintenance (announced at least 48 hours in advance, at most 8 hours per month, preferably at night; emergency maintenance without notice is counted), disruptions due to force majeure, actions of the customer or third parties, disruptions of third-party systems under section 8.3, and attacks that occur despite reasonable protective measures. If the target value is not reached, there is no automatic claim to a credit; the provider decides in each individual case whether and to what extent a credit is granted. Statutory rights of the customer, in particular rent reduction (§ 536 BGB), remain unaffected.

9.4 Demarcation: The provider is responsible for disruptions of the managed infrastructure and remedies errors in the software under section 15; outages of the customer’s infrastructure and third-party systems are the customer’s responsibility.

9.5 Security: The provider takes the measures described in the data processing agreement. It reports security incidents affecting the customer without delay. The customer can report vulnerabilities in the software to [email protected].

9.6 Data protection: The data processing agreement (annex D), which forms part of the contract, applies to the processing of personal data on behalf of the customer. The provider makes it available to the customer, signed, as a PDF in the customer area after the contract has been concluded.

10. Data protection

10.1 For the self-hosted variant the provider does not process end-customer data on behalf of the customer. The privacy information for the software applies.

10.2 For managed hosting, section 9.6 applies.

11. Abuse and locking due to legal violations

The customer does not use the software for unlawful purposes and, for managed hosting, does not provide unlawful content. If there are specific indications of violations, the provider may temporarily lock the instance after a warning (without one in case of imminent danger) and makes it available again once the violation has been removed.

12. Prices and payment

12.1 The annual prices in the shop’s price list at the time of the order apply (Provomatic Self-Hosted and Provomatic Managed-Hosted). All prices are net prices plus statutory VAT, which is shown separately in the order process. For customers in other EU member states with a valid VAT ID, the reverse-charge procedure applies.

12.2 The contract has a fixed term of 12 months. With annual payment the fee is the annual price under section 12.1. With monthly payment the annual price plus a percentage surcharge is paid in 12 equal monthly instalments. The amount of the surcharge (for Provomatic Managed-Hosted possibly a separate surcharge or a fixed price) and the resulting amount of each monthly instalment follow from the price list and the order at the time of the order, each plus VAT. The monthly instalment is rounded to the cent; the annual amount is the sum of the instalments. The monthly instalment is not a monthly rent: the customer commits to the fixed term of 12 months and cannot terminate for individual months. The monthly instalments are each due in advance at the start of the respective billing month. The invoice is issued 14 days before the due date; the payment period is 14 days. The obligation to pay exists for the entire fixed term regardless of a lock under section 12.5. Payment methods: Stripe, Mollie, PayPal and bank transfer. Invoices are provided electronically.

12.3 No additional fees are charged, except for additional services, if offered, which are shown separately.

12.4 Default in payment is governed by the statutory provisions. The provider may charge default interest and dunning costs. Further rights, such as early acceleration of the remaining fee, exist only to the extent provided by law.

12.5 If the customer is more than 14 days in default with a payment after the due date (this period is set by the provider for contracts under these terms), the provider may lock the licence key (for managed hosting, the instance) after prior notice in text form. The lock ends immediately after full payment. Until payment, the possibility of use is suspended; the obligation to pay continues. The right to extraordinary termination remains unaffected. For a customer locked because of default in payment, invoices continue only within the agreed contract term; when this term expires, the contract ends without being renewed. Exporting the data under section 14.3 remains possible during the lock.

13. Term and termination

13.1 The contract runs for the term stated in the order and the order confirmation, for the variants under these terms 12 months, from the conclusion of the contract under section 3.2 (provision of the licence key or the managed instance for the ordered contract); the trial period under section 3.4 is not counted. The term is set per product.

13.2 The contract can be terminated in text form with 30 days’ notice to the end of the term. If it is not terminated in time, a new contract term of the same length as the previous one begins (for 12 months, again 12 months). The notice period can be set in the product; the value at the time of the order, stated in the order confirmation, applies to the contract.

13.3 Termination is possible by email or via the customer account.

13.4 The right to extraordinary termination for good cause remains unaffected, in particular under § 543 BGB and for violations of section 5 or section 11 despite a warning.

14. Consequences of termination

14.1 The right of use ends when the contract ends. The customer stops operation and deletes the software and copies (self-hosted); the provider locks the licence key.

14.2 For self-hosted, the data that the customer manages with the software remains in its infrastructure and belongs to it.

14.3 Managed hosting: The customer can export its data until the end of the contract and for 30 days afterwards (database dump, files). The provider then deletes the data; the backups are deleted within a further 14 days, unless a statutory retention obligation applies (e.g. the provider’s invoices).

15. Defects and liability

15.1 The statutory provisions on rental contracts apply (§§ 535 et seq. BGB). The customer reports defects without delay. The provider remedies defects within a reasonable period.

15.2 The provider is liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, for injury to life, body or health, under the Product Liability Act, insofar as it has given a guarantee or fraudulently concealed a defect, and for damages under Art. 82 GDPR.

15.3 For simple negligence the provider is liable only for breaches of essential contractual obligations (cardinal obligations: obligations whose fulfilment makes the contract possible in the first place and on which the customer may regularly rely), limited to the foreseeable damage typical for the contract and at most to the annual fee of the contract concerned. The provider is not liable for breaches of non-essential obligations through simple negligence.

15.4 For managed-hosted, the provider is liable for loss of data, unless its liability is unlimited under section 15.2, only for the effort of restoring the data from a properly created daily backup under section 9.2. For self-hosted, the customer operates the data itself (section 8.2); in this respect the provider is not liable for data loss in the customer’s infrastructure, except under section 15.2.

16. Confidentiality

The parties treat confidential information of the other party as confidential. Access data and licence keys must be kept secret and, if misuse is suspected, reported and changed without delay.

17. Security incidents

The parties inform each other without delay of security incidents that may affect the other party. For managed hosting, the provisions of the data processing agreement apply.

18. Changes

18.1 Software and service: The provider may change and develop the software further insofar as the agreed scope of service is essentially preserved and the change is reasonable for the customer. It announces significant restrictions in text form with reasonable notice; the customer may then terminate with effect from the date the change takes effect.

18.2 Terms: Changes to these terms require the customer’s consent. The provider communicates them in text form; if the customer does not object within six weeks after being informed of the consequences, they are deemed accepted. This does not apply to changes to the main service, the price and the term; these require an express agreement or take effect at the next renewal date.

19. Final provisions

19.1 German law applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.

19.2 The place of jurisdiction for all disputes is, where permitted (§ 38 of the German Code of Civil Procedure, ZPO), the provider’s place of business.

19.3 If a provision is invalid, the rest remains valid; the statutory provision applies.

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Annex A: Service description

Annex B: Managed hosting terms

The terms for managed hosting are set out in section 9.

Annex C: SLA

An SLA is currently not offered.

Annex D: Data processing agreement

The data processing agreement applies to managed hosting. The provider makes it available to the customer, signed, as a PDF in the customer area.