Terms of service

The agreement for using Cost Intelligence, in plain words.

Last updated 5 September 2026

These terms are a draft under review by counsel, published for the same reason as the privacy policy: they reflect how the service actually works today.

These terms are the agreement between you and Cost Intelligence for using the service. They are written plainly on purpose. How your data is handled is covered separately in our privacy policy, and how it moves through the software is explained on our security page.

The agreement

By creating a workspace or using the service, you agree to these terms. If you are agreeing on behalf of a business, you are confirming you are allowed to do that, and "you" means that business.

What the service is

Cost Intelligence reads financial exports you provide and answers questions about them — totals, breakdowns, charts, comparisons, and written summaries. We provide access to it over the internet; you do not install anything and we are not giving you a copy of the software.

Your account

• You are responsible for what happens under your account, and for keeping your password to yourself.
• You are responsible for the people you invite into your workspace and what they do in it.
• Tell us promptly if you think someone has got into your account.
• A workspace always keeps at least one administrator, so it can never be locked out of itself.

Your data stays yours

You keep all rights to the data you upload. We do not claim ownership of it. You grant us only the permission we need to run the service for you: to store your data, process it to produce answers, and show it back to you and the people you have invited.

You are responsible for having the right to upload what you upload. If the file contains someone else's personal information, that is your responsibility to handle lawfully.

Acceptable use

Do not:

• use the service to break the law, or to store data you are not allowed to hold;
• try to reach another customer's data, or probe, scan, or attack the service;
• attempt to extract the software itself, resell access, or run it as your own service;
• upload malicious files, or deliberately overload the service;
• use it to make decisions that legally require a qualified professional without involving one — see below.

What this is not

The service is not accounting, tax, legal, or financial advice. It reads the data you give it and reports what that data says. It does not replace your accountant, your bookkeeper, or your judgement, and it should not be used as the sole basis for filing anything or for a decision with legal consequences.

Answers depend entirely on what you upload. If the export is incomplete, out of date, or miscategorised, the answers will be too. We show you the rows behind every figure precisely so you can check.

Availability

We aim to keep the service running and will not take it down carelessly, but we do not currently offer a guaranteed uptime commitment, and we would rather say so than promise one we cannot keep. We may change or improve features over time. If we remove something you depend on, we will give you reasonable notice.

Fees

Paid plans, if you are on one, are billed as described when you sign up. Fees are payable in advance and are not refundable except where the law requires it or we have said otherwise. We will give notice before changing a price that applies to you.

Ending it

• You can leave at any time. Export your data, then close your workspace.
• Closing a workspace deletes its data after 30 days, as set out in the privacy policy. During that window you can come back and pick up where you left off.
• We may suspend or close an account that breaches these terms, that we are legally required to close, or that is causing harm to the service or other customers. Except where the breach is serious or urgent, we will tell you first and give you a chance to put it right.

Liability

To the extent the law allows: the service is provided as it is, without warranties beyond those we cannot exclude; we are not liable for indirect or consequential losses, or for lost profits or lost data; and our total liability for any claim is limited to what you paid us in the twelve months before it arose. Nothing here limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. If a change matters to you, we will give notice before it takes effect. Continuing to use the service after that means you accept the updated terms; if you do not, you can close your workspace.

Law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Florida, United States, and the courts there will handle any dispute — unless the law where you live gives you the right to bring it somewhere else, which it may.

Contact

Reply to any email from us, or use the contact address in your workspace.