What are terms and conditions?
Terms and conditions are the contract between a website or app and its users. Learn what they must cover, which clauses actually bind users, and what to look for before you accept.
The short answer
Terms and conditions (also called terms of service or terms of use) are the contract between a business and the people using its website, app or service. They cover what the service does, what users may not do, payment and cancellation, liability limits, and how disputes get resolved. They bind users only if the user had a genuine chance to see and accept them.
Clickwrap vs. browsewrap — why acceptance matters
A clickwrap flow asks the user to tick a box or press a button next to a link to the terms. A browsewrap simply puts a link in the footer and claims that continued use equals agreement.
Courts across many jurisdictions regularly enforce clickwrap and regularly refuse to enforce browsewrap. If your terms matter — and they do if you limit liability or require arbitration — capture an affirmative click and log the timestamp and version.
What a complete set of terms covers
Most workable terms of service contain the same building blocks:
- Who the contract is with, and eligibility (age, jurisdiction)
- The service description and any right to change or discontinue features
- Account rules, acceptable use and grounds for suspension
- Pricing, billing cycle, renewal, refunds and cancellation
- Ownership of the platform, and the licence users grant over their own content
- Disclaimers, liability caps and indemnity
- Changes to the terms, and notice of those changes
- Governing law, jurisdiction or arbitration, and termination
The unilateral change clause
Almost every set of terms lets the provider update them. The weak version says changes take effect when posted; the fair version gives notice (often 30 days) for material changes and lets users cancel without penalty before they take effect.
For consumer services, an unrestricted right to change terms at any time is one of the clauses most likely to be struck out by consumer protection rules.
User content licences
If users upload anything, the terms will grant the platform a licence. A reasonable licence is limited to operating, displaying and promoting the service, and ends when the content is deleted. A greedy one is perpetual, irrevocable, sublicensable and covers any purpose whatsoever.
As a user, look for whether the licence survives deletion. As an operator, take only what you actually need to run the product.
Terms are not a privacy policy
They do different jobs, and in most jurisdictions you need both. The terms are the contract; the privacy notice explains what personal data you collect, why, on what legal basis, who you share it with, and how long you keep it. Bundling them into one document makes both harder to rely on.
Sample clause language
Illustrative wording, written for this guide — not copied from any real contract.
We may modify these Terms at any time without notice, and your continued use constitutes acceptance. You grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, sublicensable licence to use your content for any purpose. To the maximum extent permitted, we exclude all liability of any kind.
No notice of change, a content licence far beyond operating the service, and a blanket exclusion that consumer rules in many countries will not enforce.
We will give at least 30 days' notice by email before any material change to these Terms takes effect, and you may cancel without charge before then. You grant us a non-exclusive licence to host, display and distribute your content solely to operate and promote the Service; this licence ends when you delete the content, except for copies already shared with other users.
Notice with an exit, and a content licence tied to actually running the product.
Red flags to look for
- Terms linked only in the footer with no acceptance step.
- Right to change terms at any time with no notice and no cancellation right.
- Perpetual, irrevocable content licence surviving account deletion.
- Total exclusion of liability, including for death, injury or fraud.
- Automatic renewal with no reminder and a cancellation window buried in the text.
What to ask for
- Operators: capture an affirmative click and store the accepted version.
- Give 30 days' notice of material changes with a penalty-free exit.
- Scope the content licence to operating and promoting the service.
- Cap liability at a stated amount rather than excluding it entirely.
- Keep the privacy notice as a separate, linked document.
Find this clause in your own contract
Upload a PDF, Word file, or image and Lawly AI will pull out the clauses that matter, quote the exact wording, and explain the risk in plain English.
Frequently asked questions
Are terms and conditions legally binding?
Yes, when the user had reasonable notice of them and took some action to accept. A tick box next to a visible link is strong; a footer link alone often is not.
Do I legally need terms and conditions?
There is rarely a law requiring them, but without them you have no contractual limit on liability, no acceptable-use rules and no stated refund policy. A privacy notice, by contrast, is legally required in most places if you collect personal data.
Can I copy another company's terms?
It is copyright infringement and usually a poor fit — their terms describe their service, pricing and jurisdiction. Use them as a structure reference and write your own.
What is the difference between terms of service and terms of use?
Nothing meaningful. The names are interchangeable; what matters is the content and how acceptance is captured.
Related guides
This guide is general educational information about how these clauses usually work. It is not legal advice, and contract law differs by jurisdiction. For a decision that matters, speak to a qualified lawyer.