Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) form a binding agreement between you (“you” or “Customer”) and BenchStep (“BenchStep”, “we”, “us”) regarding your use of the BenchStep learning platform, marketplace, mobile applications, APIs, and related websites and services (collectively, the “Service”).

By creating an account, accessing the Service, or accepting these Terms in any other way, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by them. If you are accepting on behalf of an organisation, you represent that you have authority to bind that organisation, and references to “you” mean both you and that organisation.

If you do not agree to these Terms, you may not use the Service.

To use most parts of the Service you must create an account. You agree to provide accurate, current information, to keep it up to date, and to keep your login credentials confidential. You are responsible for all activity on your account.

If your organisation provisions accounts for individual users (learners, instructors, administrators), your organisation is responsible for those users' compliance with these Terms.

You must be at least 16 years old to create an account on your own. Younger learners may use the Service only through an organisation-provisioned account, in compliance with applicable child-protection laws.

Plans and fees

The Service is offered under several subscription plans (Freemium, Basic, Standard, Premium, and Enterprise), each with different feature sets, learner limits, and fees as described on our pricing page. Plan details and prices are incorporated into these Terms by reference and may change as described in section 15.

Free trial

Paid plans include a 14-day free trial. If you do not add a payment method or cancel before the trial ends, your workspace will convert automatically to the Freemium plan; your data is retained but paid features become unavailable.

Billing

Monthly subscriptions are billed in advance on a recurring monthly basis. Annual subscriptions are billed in advance for the full year. All fees are payable in [USD by default; including GBP, EUR, INR, AED, QAR, CAD, AUD, OMR unless otherwise agreed in writing.

Fees are non-refundable except as required by applicable law. We do not issue prorated refunds for unused time on monthly plans, and we do not refund unused months of an annual subscription on cancellation.

Taxes

Fees are exclusive of taxes. You are responsible for all sales, use, value-added, withholding, and similar taxes, except for taxes on our net income.

Late payment

If a payment fails or is overdue, we may suspend your access after providing reasonable notice. Repeated non-payment may result in termination. Unpaid amounts may accrue interest at the lesser of 1.5% per month or the maximum permitted by law.

You agree not to use the Service to:

• Do anything illegal or that violates a third party's rights;
• Upload, distribute, or facilitate the distribution of malicious code, viruses, or any code that could damage, disrupt, or compromise the Service or its users;
• Send unsolicited bulk communications (“spam”) through the Service;
• Infringe copyright, trademark, trade secret, or other intellectual property rights;
• Harass, threaten, defame, impersonate, or harm others, or upload content that is obscene, hateful, or that incites violence;
• Reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code from the Service, except to the extent permitted by applicable law;
• Probe, scan, or test the Service's vulnerability without our written permission, or circumvent any rate-limiting or security feature;
• Use the Service to compete with us, including to develop a competing product or benchmark performance for publication, without our written consent;
• Use the Service to train machine-learning models, except for AI features we explicitly enable for that purpose within your own workspace.

We may investigate suspected violations and take action including warning, suspension, or termination. We are not obligated to monitor your use of the Service, but we may do so when we have reason to believe a violation is occurring.

Ownership

You retain all rights, title, and interest in the content you upload, create, or otherwise submit to the Service (“Customer Data”), including courses, assessments, learner records, and uploaded files. We do not claim ownership of Customer Data.

Our use of Customer Data

You grant us a limited, non-exclusive licence to host, process, transmit, display, and otherwise use Customer Data solely to provide and improve the Service for you, to comply with legal obligations, and to enforce these Terms. We do not sell Customer Data, and we do not use Customer Data to train models that benefit other customers.

Data security

We implement administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect Customer Data from unauthorised access, loss, or disclosure. Specific security measures are described in our Security page. No system is perfectly secure; we cannot guarantee that Customer Data will never be accessed by unauthorised parties.

Data location and processing

Customer Data is stored and processed in a Dedicated Azure server.

Data on termination

For 30 days after termination or expiry of your subscription, you may request an export of Customer Data in a commonly used format. After 30 days, we may delete Customer Data from our active systems; backups are retained per our retention policy and then deleted in the ordinary course.

The Service, including its software, design, branding, content we author, and any feedback or improvements you provide, is owned by us or our licensors and is protected by intellectual property laws. Subject to your compliance with these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the Service during your subscription term.

This licence does not include the right to copy, modify, resell, sublicense, or create derivative works of the Service. Our trademarks may not be used without our prior written consent.

The Service includes features that use artificial intelligence to generate content, analyse data, and assist with course creation (“AI Features”). AI Features may produce inaccurate, incomplete, or otherwise undesirable output. You are responsible for reviewing AI-generated content before publishing or relying on it.

Inputs and outputs. You retain ownership of the inputs you submit to AI Features and the outputs they generate for you, subject to third-party rights and applicable law. You are responsible for ensuring your inputs do not infringe any third-party rights.

Training. We do not use Customer Data, including inputs to AI Features, to train foundational models for the benefit of other customers. We may use anonymised, aggregated usage data to improve service quality.

Third-party AI providers. Some AI Features are powered by third-party model providers. By using AI Features, you authorise us to transmit your inputs to these providers as necessary to deliver the feature. Their terms apply to that processing in addition to ours.

The Service includes a marketplace of courses produced by third-party providers (“Marketplace Courses”). We act as a platform that makes Marketplace Courses available; we do not author or warrant Marketplace Course content.

Course providers are responsible for the accuracy, legality, and quality of their content. If a Marketplace Course infringes a third-party right, contains illegal content, or violates these Terms, please report it to us using the contact information below and we will investigate.

Your access to a Marketplace Course is governed by the licensing terms stated at the time you accessed it (free, paid, or included in your subscription). We may remove a Marketplace Course from the Service at any time without prior notice.

The Service may integrate with or link to third-party services such as identity providers, video conferencing, payment processors, and HR systems. We are not responsible for those services or their content. Your use of them is governed by their own terms.

We aim to make the Service available 24/7. We may take the Service offline for maintenance, upgrades, or to address security or operational issues; we will provide reasonable advance notice for planned maintenance where practical.

Support is provided according to the level included in your plan. Contact details and response-time targets are published on our pricing page.

Except as expressly stated in these Terms, the Service is provided “as is” and “as available”. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, accuracy, and uninterrupted operation. We do not warrant that the Service will meet your requirements, be error-free, or produce specific learning outcomes.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, neither party will be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, data, or business opportunity, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold us harmless from any claim or demand brought by a third party arising out of: (a) your use of the Service in violation of these Terms; (b) Customer Data you submit; or (c) your violation of any third-party right, including intellectual property or privacy rights.

We will defend you against any third-party claim alleging that the Service, as provided by us and used in accordance with these Terms, infringes that party's intellectual property rights, and we will pay damages finally awarded against you, subject to your prompt notice and reasonable cooperation. This obligation does not apply where the claim arises from Customer Data, Marketplace Courses, modifications to the Service not made by us, or your combination of the Service with anything not provided by us.

By you. You may cancel your subscription at any time through your account settings or by contacting us. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period.

By us. We may suspend or terminate your access if: (a) you breach these Terms and do not cure within 30 days of written notice; (b) you fail to pay amounts due; (c) we reasonably believe your use poses a security, legal, or operational risk; or (d) we are required to do so by law. We may suspend or terminate immediately for material violations of the Acceptable Use section.

Effect of termination. On termination, your right to access the Service ends, but sections that by their nature should survive termination (including ownership, warranty disclaimers, liability limits, indemnities, and dispute resolution) will continue to apply.

We may change the Service at any time, including by adding, removing, or modifying features. If we make a material adverse change to a feature of a paid plan, we will provide reasonable notice.

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify you by email or through the Service at least 30 days before they take effect. Continued use after the effective date of revised Terms means you accept them. If you do not agree, you may terminate your subscription before the effective date.

Entire agreement. These Terms, together with any plan-specific or separately negotiated agreements, are the entire agreement between you and us concerning the Service, and supersede all prior agreements on this subject.

Severability. If any provision is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions stay in effect.

No waiver. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of our right to enforce it later.

Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our written consent. We may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of substantially all of our assets.

Force majeure. Neither party is liable for failure or delay caused by events beyond reasonable control, including natural disasters, war, civil unrest, governmental action, labour disputes, or failure of the public internet.

Independent contractors. Nothing in these Terms creates a partnership, joint venture, employment, or agency relationship between us.

Questions or notices regarding these Terms should be sent to: