Fair usage policy

1. What this policy covers

The Service runs many organisations’ workloads on shared infrastructure. Fair usage is the simple principle that no single account’s activity should degrade the experience for everyone else. The Terms already set out what you may not do (Section 6: no load-testing outside Documented mechanisms, no malware, no unauthorised access). This policy fills the gap those clauses leave: the capacity and load dimension — what “unlimited” really means, how our APIs are rate-limited, and how we respond when an account exceeds its plan.

2. What “unlimited” means

Where a Subscription Plan describes a resource as unlimited, that covers the normal operation of a compliance programme by a team of that plan’s size — routine scanning, findings review, evidence collection, and reporting. It does not cover unbounded automated load, bulk re-scanning designed to stress the platform, or use that’s materially out of step with how a comparable team would use the Service.

Any reference to data volume in this context means Findings Metadata and scan throughput — the structured detection records the Agent produces. Consistent with our data-minimisation design, the Agent never transmits the raw regulated content it discovers, so “data volume” is never a measure of your files’ contents.

3. Plan entitlements and capacity

Seats, Authorized Devices, and scan and data volume are set by your Subscription Plan. Current figures are shown on our pricing page and in-product, so they can change without us re-issuing this policy. Capacity is measured as active seats and billable assets computed at snapshot time, following the methodology described in the Documentation and in Section 8 of the Terms.

On paid plans, usage above your included capacity (extra seats, extra Authorized Devices, and addon entitlements) is billed in arrears in accordance with your Order Form. The Free plan is capacity-limited rather than billed for overage: it enforces its limits rather than letting you exceed them and pay later.

4. API and agent rate limits

Our ingestion and platform APIs are rate-limited per account so that one caller can’t crowd out another. Requests beyond the applicable limit are throttled and receive a standard rate-limit response; batch sizes and request payloads are bounded. We publish the current thresholds in the Documentation rather than here, so we can tune them as the platform evolves.

Throttling of this kind is automatic and temporary, and happens without prior notice— it protects shared performance and stops runaway load in the moment. It is distinct from suspension of your account, which follows the notice commitment in Section 6 of the Terms (described in Section 6 below).

5. What we treat as unfair or abusive use

In addition to the prohibited uses in Section 6 of the Terms, the following undermine fair usage:

• sustained automated load against the Service beyond Documented mechanisms;
• circumventing, disabling, or working around usage limits, licence keys, or integrity checks (see Section 4 of the Terms);
• enrolling the Agent on devices that are not Authorized Devices, or that you are not entitled to manage (see Section 5 of the Terms);
• sharing credentials between individuals to use more than your seat entitlement (see Section 3 of the Terms); and
• any use that degrades, or is likely to degrade, the performance, integrity, or availability of the Service for other customers.

6. How we handle accounts that exceed their plan

When an account runs past its entitlements, the Service moves through escalating modes as described in the Documentation and in Section 8 of the Terms. We default to the least disruptive step that resolves the issue:

• Visibility. We surface the overage in-product and get in touch. Nothing is blocked at this stage.
• Soft enforcement. New capacity-consuming actions — for example, adding assets — may be blocked, while your existing operation continues.
• Hard enforcement. Once entitlements and any grace period are exhausted, capacity-limited operations — scanning, enrolment, and asset creation — are blocked until you’re back within plan or have added capacity.

The Free plan enforces its limits from first use. Where enforcement restricts your access, we’ll use commercially reasonable efforts to let you know as soon as practicable and to restore normal operation once the underlying issue is resolved. Separately, and as set out in Section 6 of the Terms, we may suspend access immediately and without prior notice if your use poses a security, legal, or operational risk to the Service or to other customers.

7. Staying within fair use, or asking for more

If you’re approaching your limits, you can upgrade your plan or add capacity from the pricing page or by talking to our team. Planning an unusually large one-off scan? Tell us first at hello@emberhound.com so we can make sure it runs smoothly for you and for everyone else on the platform.

8. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time as the Service evolves. We’ll give reasonable notice of material changes, and the effective date at the top of this page always reflects the current version.

9. Contact

General questions: hello@emberhound.com. Security concerns: security@emberhound.com. Legal notices: legal@emberhound.com.

EmberHound Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales. This policy and the Terms it supplements are governed by the laws of England and Wales.