Domain & Hosting Terms

Every qualifying website package from Neel Networks includes a complimentary 1-year domain registration and web hosting on our server. This is included at no additional cost as part of your website project fee. Here is exactly what you receive:

• 1 domain name registration for 1 year — standard extensions only: .com, .net, .org, or .in. The domain is registered in your name and belongs to you.
• Shared web hosting for 1 year on our managed server — suitable for small to medium business websites, blogs, portfolios, and standard eCommerce stores.
• Full initial setup and configuration — DNS pointing, CMS installation (WordPress, or as applicable), security essentials, performance configuration, and staging environment setup where applicable.
• SSL certificate (Let's Encrypt or equivalent) — installed and configured so your website loads on HTTPS from day one.
• Basic email configuration — setting up your domain-based email (e.g., yourname@yourdomain.com) using the hosting email service, if part of your plan.
• Technical support for hosting and domain-level issues during the first year — within our standard support response times.

The following are not part of the free domain and hosting offer and will be quoted and charged separately if required:

• Premium domain names — high-demand or auction-priced domains that cost more than standard registration rates
• Country-specific or specialty extensions not listed above — e.g., .co.uk, .com.au, .io, .ai, .store, .tech, .agency, .design, .shop, and similar premium extensions
• Multiple domains — the free offer covers one (1) domain only per qualifying project
• Google Workspace / professional email hosting — Gmail for your domain (G Suite) is a paid Google service billed separately
• VPS or Dedicated Server hosting — the free offer is on shared hosting only; higher-tier hosting is available at separate pricing
• Domain privacy protection / WHOIS masking — may be available at additional cost depending on the registrar
• CDN services (Cloudflare Pro, Cloudflare Argo, etc.) beyond the free tier
• High-volume transactional email services (SendGrid, Mailgun, Amazon SES) for bulk email sending
• Year 2 and beyond — renewal of both domain and hosting after the first free year is the client's responsibility and is billed at current rates

This is one of the most important things to understand. Your domain is yours — always. Neel Networks does not own, sell, lease, or hold any claim over domains registered for clients. Here is how ownership works in practice:

• Registered in your name. When we register your domain, we use your name and business details as the registrant. You are the legal owner from day one.
• Managed under our account for convenience. During the active service period, the domain sits within our registrar account for centralised DNS and hosting management. This is standard industry practice — similar to how a CA manages your accounts without owning your money.
• Transferable at any time. You can request the domain to be transferred to your own registrar account at any time. We will provide the EPP/Auth code and all required transfer details within 5 business days of your written request.
• No lock-in. We do not lock domains or withhold them from clients. If you decide to move to another agency or manage your hosting independently, your domain goes with you.
• Dispute resolution. In the rare event of any dispute over domain ownership, our records — including your project agreement, payment records, and registration date — will serve as proof of client ownership.

The free domain and hosting offer is valid for exactly 12 months from the date of domain registration. After the first year, renewal is the client's responsibility.

How our renewal process works:

If a client becomes unresponsive:

If a client does not respond to renewal reminders and the domain and hosting expire, Neel Networks reserves the right to allow the services to lapse. We will not continue paying for a client's domain or hosting indefinitely. After expiry, if the domain is not renewed within the registrar's grace period, it may become available to the public for registration by anyone.

You are free to move your domain and/or hosting to another provider at any time. We will always cooperate fully with transfers. Here is how it works:

Standard transfer (more than 60 days before renewal):

Late transfer request (within 60 days of renewal date):

If you request a transfer with less than 60 days remaining before your domain's renewal date, the following applies — this is standard practice across the domain registration industry:

• The domain and hosting must first be renewed for an additional 12 months through Neel Networks before the transfer can be processed
• The renewal fee must be paid in full before we release the EPP code or begin the transfer process
• This protects against domain expiry during the transfer process — a risk that can result in permanent domain loss if the transfer is not completed before expiry

Not all hosting is the same. Understanding the difference helps you make the right choice for your website as it grows. Here is a plain-language explanation of the three main types:

Which hosting does Neel Networks use for the free offer?

The free 1-year hosting included with your website package is shared hosting on our managed server. This is perfectly adequate for the vast majority of business websites, portfolio sites, WordPress sites, and standard WooCommerce stores.

When should you upgrade?

When your website is hosted on Neel Networks' server, the following are included within your service arrangement:

• Server uptime monitoring — we monitor server availability and respond to downtime alerts. Our target is 99.5%+ uptime. See Section 11 for our uptime policy.
• Server-level security — firewalls, malware scanning at server level, DDoS mitigation, and regular server patching managed by our hosting infrastructure team.
• Regular server backups — scheduled backups of all hosted websites. Backup frequency and retention period depend on your hosting plan.
• PHP and server software updates — we maintain and update server-level software (PHP versions, MySQL, web server software) in coordination with your website's compatibility requirements.
• DNS management — we manage your DNS records (A records, CNAME, MX, TXT, etc.) and make changes on request within 1 business day.
• SSL certificate management — we install, configure, and renew your SSL certificate.
• Technical support for hosting issues — server-level errors, hosting configuration problems, and email delivery issues are handled by our team within standard response times.
• Migration assistance — if you choose to move to a different host, we provide your full backup, database export, and migration support.

While Neel Networks manages the server infrastructure, the following are the client's responsibility — whether or not you have backend access to the website:

• Content accuracy and legality — you are solely responsible for all content published on your website. Illegal content, copyright-infringing material, spam, or anything that violates applicable law is your responsibility and may result in immediate suspension.
• Plugin and theme management — if you have WordPress admin access and install plugins or themes yourself, you are responsible for keeping them updated and for any conflicts or security vulnerabilities they introduce. See our Credential Handover Disclaimer.
• Password security — you are responsible for maintaining strong passwords on your WordPress admin, hosting cPanel, and email accounts. Credential exposure leading to hacking is not covered by our hosting service.
• Email usage policy compliance — you may not use hosting email accounts to send unsolicited bulk email (spam). Doing so can result in your domain's email being blacklisted and your hosting being suspended.
• Bandwidth and storage overuse — shared hosting plans have resource limits. Sustained overuse of CPU, RAM, or disk space may require upgrading to a higher-tier hosting plan at additional cost.
• Keeping contact details current — renewal reminders and critical hosting alerts are sent to your registered email. Keeping this updated is your responsibility.
• Your own independent backup — while we maintain server backups, we strongly recommend that you maintain an independent copy of your website files and database in a separate secure location. Server backups are for disaster recovery — not a substitute for your own backups.

The free 1-year hosting includes basic shared hosting email — allowing you to create email accounts at your domain (e.g., info@yourdomain.com). Here is what you need to know:

What basic email hosting covers:

• Creation of domain-based email accounts (number of accounts depends on hosting plan)
• Webmail access via browser (Roundcube or equivalent)
• IMAP/POP3/SMTP configuration for use with email clients (Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird)
• Basic spam filtering at server level

Limitations of basic email hosting:

• Not suitable for high-volume sending — shared hosting email is not designed for sending newsletters, bulk campaigns, or transactional emails at volume. Use services like Mailchimp, SendGrid, or Mailgun for that purpose.
• Storage limits apply — each email account has a storage quota. Mailboxes that exceed their quota will stop receiving new mail.
• Deliverability is not guaranteed — emails from shared hosting servers occasionally trigger spam filters at recipient email providers. This is a limitation of shared hosting and is outside our control.
• No Google or Microsoft integration — basic hosting email is not Google Workspace (Gmail) or Microsoft 365. If you require these, they must be purchased separately from Google or Microsoft.

Every website hosted by Neel Networks is secured with an SSL certificate, ensuring all traffic between your website and visitors is encrypted (HTTPS). Here is what you need to know:

• Free SSL included — we install a Let's Encrypt SSL certificate on all hosted websites at no charge. This is renewed automatically every 90 days.
• SSL covers your main domain and www subdomain by default. Additional subdomains may require separate SSL certificates.
• Wildcard SSL (covering all subdomains) is available as a paid upgrade if required.
• EV SSL certificates (green address bar, organisation validation) are available at additional cost for clients in regulated industries like finance, healthcare, or legal.
• SSL does not make your website "unbreakable" — it encrypts traffic between the browser and server. It does not protect against hacking, malware, or vulnerabilities in your website's code or plugins.

Neel Networks makes every reasonable effort to ensure your website is available 24/7. However, no hosting provider in the world can guarantee 100% uptime. Here is our policy:

Our uptime target:

We target a minimum of 99.5% uptime per month on our shared hosting infrastructure. This equates to a maximum of approximately 3.6 hours of downtime per month. In practice, planned and unplanned downtime is typically far less than this.

Causes of downtime that are within our control:

• Server hardware failures — we respond immediately to restore service
• Planned maintenance windows — scheduled during low-traffic hours (typically 2–5 AM IST) and communicated in advance
• Server software updates — applied during maintenance windows

Causes of downtime that are outside our control:

• Upstream network provider outages
• DDoS attacks targeting the server
• Natural disasters, power outages, or force majeure events affecting data centres
• Downtime caused by the client's own plugins, code, or database overload
• Third-party service outages (payment gateways, APIs, CDNs)

Neel Networks reserves the right to suspend or terminate hosting services under the following circumstances:

• Non-payment of renewal fees — hosting not renewed by the expiry date will be suspended. The website will go offline immediately upon expiry. A 7-day grace period applies before files are deleted.
• Illegal content — hosting any content that is illegal under Indian law or international law, including but not limited to: pirated software/media, adult content without proper age verification, content that promotes violence or terrorism, or content that defames individuals.
• Spam or abuse — using hosting email accounts or the server to send unsolicited bulk emails, phishing emails, or any form of spam. This may also affect your domain's email reputation permanently.
• Resource abuse — sustained use of server resources (CPU, RAM, bandwidth, database connections) at levels that affect other clients on the shared server — without upgrading to a suitable plan.
• Security threats — if your website is compromised and is actively serving malware, participating in botnet activity, or attacking other servers, we may suspend it immediately without prior notice to protect other clients and the server infrastructure.
• Violation of these terms — any material breach of these Domain & Hosting Terms or our Terms of Service.

Process for suspension:

Except in cases of immediate security threats, we will provide at least 48 hours written notice via email before suspending hosting — giving you the opportunity to resolve the issue. For security threats, suspension may be immediate, followed by an email notification explaining the reason.

After a suspension is resolved (payment made, offending content removed, etc.), hosting is restored within 4 business hours.

Neel Networks shall not be held liable for any loss, damage, data loss, revenue loss, or business interruption arising from:

• Server downtime caused by circumstances outside our control — including upstream provider outages, DDoS attacks, natural disasters, power failures, or force majeure events
• Domain expiry caused by the client's failure to respond to renewal reminders or failure to maintain an updated contact email address
• Data loss arising from server failures — while we maintain backups, these are best-effort and no hosting provider guarantees zero data loss in all circumstances. Clients should maintain their own independent backups.
• Email deliverability issues — whether emails reach their recipients depends on many factors outside our control including recipient spam filters, domain reputation, and email client settings
• Third-party service failures — payment gateways, APIs, CDNs, Google services, or any other external service your website depends on
• Security incidents caused by the client's own actions — weak passwords, sharing credentials, installing vulnerable plugins, or failure to apply recommended updates
• Technical issues arising after transfer — once a domain or hosting is transferred away from Neel Networks, we bear no responsibility for what happens thereafter
• Loss of domain caused by expired registration that was not renewed — once a domain enters the redemption period and then becomes available for public registration, recovery is not guaranteed

Liability cap: In all cases where Neel Networks is found liable for a hosting-related issue arising from our own negligence or error, our total liability is limited to the amount paid by the client for hosting in the 6 months preceding the claim.

These Domain & Hosting Terms are governed by the laws of India. Any disputes arising from domain registration, hosting services, or the terms of this document shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

Neel Networks reserves the right to update these terms at any time. The current version will always be available at neelnetworks.com/domain-and-hosting-terms. Material changes will be communicated to active clients at least 14 days before taking effect.