{"id":13201,"date":"2019-05-10T04:03:17","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T08:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.knownhost.com\/blog\/?p=13201"},"modified":"2026-01-23T10:08:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T15:08:22","slug":"downtime-earns-sla-credits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.knownhost.com\/blog\/downtime-earns-sla-credits\/","title":{"rendered":"How Downtime Earns SLA Credits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated May 12, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every web hosting company offers guarantees – but how they are enforced and how refunds accumulate are different<\/strong>.\u00a0 Understand your Service Level Agreement (SLA) and how downtime can earn you credits (refunds).\u00a0 Don’t forget to ASK FOR REFUNDS<\/strong> – most hosts don’t automatically credit you for downtime.<\/p>\n

Here’s a link to the KnownHost SLA<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 Also, an explanation about how the downtime guarantee works<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

A service-level agreement (SLA) is a contract between a hosting provider and its client. It highlights the solutions on offer and clearly states the service standards that the provider is obligated to meet. Simply put, it is a commitment that defines the level of service a client should expect from a vendor \u2013 indicating the metrics by which service is measured, and the penalties or remedies in case the promised service level isn\u2019t achieved.<\/p>\n

An SLA<\/a> is a vital component of any hosting services contract. In addition to listing expectations<\/strong> of service type and quality, it offers remedies<\/strong> when requirements are not met. The level of service could include anything from customer service requirement to incident response time requirements and performance guarantees to data security and everything in between. The SLA also defines what happens if the level of service is not met, i.e., whether the client gets credits or refunds among other penalties.<\/p>\n

\n

SLA’s Cover<\/h2>\n

Responsiveness<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u2013 the provider amount of time it takes to respond<\/strong> to an outage. It\u2019s also the time it takes them to accept schedules, requests and meet service timelines (like service installation or termination).<\/p>\n

Availability <\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u2013 this can be expressed quantitatively, like 99.XX%.\u00a0 It defines the uptime percentage<\/strong> as well as the downtime limit and the time it takes to restore service.<\/p>\n

Communication Channels<\/strong><\/h3>\n

– the SLA should also include well-defined processes for reporting<\/strong> issues, that is who should be contacted when what happens and through which communication channels\u00a0 \u2013\u00a0 this could be anything from live chatting, email, a phone call to a certified letter.<\/p>\n

Access to Data<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u2013 this is critical especially when a client believes that the terms aren\u2019t being met. The SLA should state categorically the kind of data that one can collect. It should also clarify whether the client can access the provider\u2019s performance data and monitoring systems.<\/p>\n

Reporting Issues<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u2013 in the event the provider doesn\u2019t fulfill everything as stipulated in the SLA, then one needs to know the right channels to follow to report dissatisfaction<\/strong>. The document should, therefore, state how fast the company will respond to the report. Additionally, while the company in question may be tracking the measurements, it should state whether the client needs to show their measurements to earn credits, and how these credits will be issued \u2013 if it\u2019s all at once or spread through a specified amount of time.<\/p>\n

Exceptions<\/strong><\/h3>\n

– exceptions (escape constraints or clauses) highlight situations when the SLA terms don\u2019t apply. This may be exemptions for things like terrorism, fire, flood and so on. A majority of hosting companies won\u2019t offer credits for ISP\/local connection issues, planned maintenance\/scheduled downtime, internal services like MySQL, PHP, Apache etc., Acts of Force Majeure, customer-controlled downtime or interruption of service as a result of unsettled balances or violation of terms and conditions.<\/p>\n

Credits <\/strong><\/h3>\n

These are calculated as a percentage of the Subscription Fee paid by the client for the hosting services for the calendar month in which the downtime happened<\/strong> according to the provider\u2019s schedule. A majority of service providers will limit their maximum exposure on service credits to 15 or 20% of the monthly subscription fee. Others will offer up to 100% credit in a particular month, but no more than 20% yearly. These limits are often meant to protect the supplier from potential losses. However, if they are willing to risk more, it\u2019s usually because they have more confidence in their offerings or sizeable margins to work with.<\/p>\n

Many (if not all) hosting companies won\u2019t issue refunds for downtime; instead, they will offer SLA credits to the ensuing month\u2019s bill.\u00a0 In general, such credits aren\u2019t applicable against any upcoming fee under any other agreement with the company. The SLA\u2019s credit clause is often the only solution to service issues that the client may experience.<\/p>\n

Getting the Most of Credits<\/strong><\/h3>\n

SLA credit is more like an incentive system designed to ensure clients get exceptional performance at all times. It is not meant to grant clients with monthly discounts for bad performance, since credits alone aren\u2019t going to cater to the business needs – it\u2019s essential for one to find the right provider first, before focusing on the SLA credits.<\/p>\n

Working with a well-known company like KnownHost<\/a><\/strong>, (which offers high-end hosting solutions that guarantee an overall 99.9% uptime and a 100% uptime during backups) is an excellent way for companies to ensure that they never suffer a blow due to downtime. The company has incredible infrastructure and systems in place to guarantee stellar services.<\/p>\n

Although KnownHost guarantees the best uptime on the planet, we also understand that downtime may arise due to unavoidable circumstances. That\u2019s why we allow for incredible credits even for the smallest downtime<\/a>, all in a bid to ensure that our clients are always happy.<\/p>\n

In a nutshell, this is an overview of the service level credit that will be generated on a client\u2019s monthly fee due:<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Uptime guarantee (%)<\/strong><\/td>\nSLA credit (%)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
99.90<\/td>\nGuaranteed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
99.80<\/td>\n10<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
99.70<\/td>\n20<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
99.60<\/td>\n30<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
99.50<\/td>\n40<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
99.40<\/td>\n50<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
99.30<\/td>\n60<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
99.20<\/td>\n70<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
99.10<\/td>\n90<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
99.00<\/td>\n100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Best Uptime on the Planet<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Verify uptime at Hyperspin<\/strong><\/a> – and see for yourself how KnownHost servers have averaged the best uptime – over many years of service.<\/p>\n

A majority of web hosts will promise 99.99% uptime, only to take websites offline during backups or other maintenance activities. This often results in losses, poor rankings on search engine pages, and dented reputation for clients\u2019 businesses. But then there\u2019s KnownHost which promises 100% uptime during backups and backs it up. KnownHost uses the most efficient hosting solutions in the industry. Their servers are based on OpenVZ and OpenStack both which allow for optimum performance. All migrations and backups with OpenVZ are accomplished with zero downtime, meaning, no single client will ever suffer due to poor server quality or unavailability of resources.<\/p>\n

Know your SLA.\u00a0 Know your downtime.\u00a0 Get your credits.\u00a0 Host with KnownHost and rest easy knowing you’ve got the best uptime available in the hosting industry<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Updated May 12, 2019 Every web hosting company offers guarantees – but how they are enforced and how refunds accumulate are different.\u00a0 Understand your Service Level Agreement (SLA) and how downtime can earn you credits (refunds).\u00a0 Don’t forget to ASK FOR REFUNDS – most hosts don’t automatically credit you for downtime. Here’s a link to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":157,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1452],"tags":[1327,2270,2256],"class_list":["post-13201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-basics","tag-downtime","tag-refund","tag-sla"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Downtime Earns SLA Credits - KnownHost<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Understand how Service Level Agreement (SLA) can earn you credits. 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