Terms of Service

Last updated: July 10, 2026 · Version 1.1

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of Payload.ai, including our website, dashboards, agent integrations, MCP tools, recommendation service, advertiser tools, and related services (the “Service”). By using Payload, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use Payload.

1. Description of Service

Payload helps AI coding agents find relevant developer tools while they build. A builder installs or connects Payload, prompts their agent like normal, and the agent may receive relevant recommendations when they fit the build. When a recommendation gets used, Payload may receive payment from the advertiser and share revenue with the builder.

Payload does not guarantee that any recommendation will be shown, used, accepted, compatible with your project, or available in your region.

2. Applicability

These Terms apply to:

Builders, who install or connect Payload to an AI coding agent and may earn revenue share.
Advertisers, who pay Payload to recommend relevant products where they fit a builder's project.
Visitors, who access the Payload website, FAQ, legal pages, or other public pages.

3. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter a binding contract. If you use Payload on a work machine, managed device, employer account, or client project, you are responsible for making sure you are allowed to install or connect third-party agent tools.

Each natural person may maintain only one builder earning account unless Payload gives written permission otherwise.

4. Accounts and Security

You are responsible for keeping your account credentials, API keys, tokens, MCP URLs, and installation links secure. You may not sell, transfer, rent, or share an earning account without our written permission.

Tell us promptly if you believe your account or token has been compromised.

5. Builder Earnings Program

5.1 Earnings Accrual

Builders can earn when their AI coding agent gets and uses a relevant Payload recommendation during genuine coding work. The current builder share is 50% of the eligible revenue Payload receives from the advertiser for that recommendation.

5.2 Qualifying Usage

Usage qualifies only if all of the following are true:

Payload is properly installed or connected and authenticated where required.
The recommendation is relevant to a real build or development task.
The recommendation is actually used by the agent or builder in the project workflow.
The activity comes from genuine, human-initiated coding work.
The activity is not excluded by fraud systems, caps, billing rules, advertiser rules, or these Terms.

5.3 Prohibited Artificial Activity

You may not use scripts, bots, loops, farms, artificial prompts, fake projects, multi-account setups, or any other method designed to manufacture recommendations, usage, revenue, or payouts.

5.4 Balances and Payouts

Balances shown in the dashboard are estimates until reconciled. Payouts may require Stripe onboarding, tax forms, identity checks, fraud review, country support, minimum thresholds, and other requirements. You are responsible for taxes, fees, and accurate payout information.

5.5 Holds, Adjustments, and Forfeiture

We may delay, hold, reduce, reverse, or deny earnings if we believe activity is fraudulent, ineligible, mistaken, refunded, disputed, abusive, or in violation of these Terms. If an account is terminated for abuse, unpaid earnings tied to that abuse may be forfeited.

6. Advertisers

Advertisers pay Payload to recommend their products where relevant. Current pricing, campaign settings, budget controls, billing rules, and delivery terms may be shown in the advertiser portal or agreed separately.

Advertisers are responsible for the accuracy, legality, and safety of their product claims, landing pages, trademarks, logos, offers, and campaign materials. We may reject, pause, edit, or remove campaigns that we believe are misleading, low quality, unsafe, illegal, or harmful to builders.

Amounts paid for valid recommendation usage are generally non-refundable. If we determine that usage was not delivered as intended, was affected by fraud, or was billed in error, we may issue credits, refunds, or adjustments at our discretion.

7. Recommendation Quality

Payload tries to recommend services that are relevant to the agent's stated need, such as auth, storage, database, payments, hosting, analytics, APIs, or similar developer tools. Recommendations are not professional advice, security advice, legal advice, or a guarantee that a third-party service is right for your project.

You are responsible for reviewing third-party tools, their terms, their pricing, their security, their privacy practices, and whether they fit your use case.

8. Privacy

Our Privacy Policy explains what we collect and what we do not collect. Payload is designed so we do not collect your source code, files, chat history, or raw prompts. Your agent may send a short summary of what it needs, such as auth, storage, database, payments, or hosting, so Payload can recommend a relevant service.

9. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

Generate fake recommendations, fake usage, fake earnings, or fake campaign activity
Tamper with, spoof, replay, forge, or manipulate Payload telemetry or event data
Create or operate multiple accounts to bypass limits
Coordinate with others to farm earnings or drain advertiser budgets
Reverse engineer, scrape, overload, attack, or interfere with the Service
Use Payload to recommend, promote, or build illegal, harmful, deceptive, infringing, or abusive products
Use Payload in violation of any law, regulation, third-party terms, employer policy, or platform rule that applies to you

10. Fraud Prevention and Enforcement

We use automated systems and human review to detect fraud, abuse, suspicious patterns, ineligible activity, advertiser manipulation, payout abuse, and account networks. We do not publish exact thresholds because doing so would help abusive users avoid detection.

If we believe an account, campaign, recommendation, or payout is suspicious, we may investigate, pause activity, require verification, block an account, withhold earnings, reverse charges, issue credits, or terminate access.

11. Third-Party Services

Payload may recommend or link to third-party products. We do not control those products and are not responsible for their availability, performance, pricing, security, privacy practices, support, or terms. Your use of a third-party service is between you and that provider.

12. Ownership

Payload, our website, software, dashboards, logos, trademarks, and related materials are owned by Payload or our licensors. These Terms do not give you ownership of Payload intellectual property.

Advertisers retain ownership of their names, logos, and campaign materials, but grant Payload permission to use them to operate, display, test, report on, and promote campaigns.

13. Changes to the Service

We may change, suspend, or discontinue any part of Payload at any time. We may also change revenue share rules, eligibility rules, payout thresholds, fraud controls, advertiser pricing, supported agents, or supported integrations. Changes generally apply going forward unless required for fraud, billing correction, legal compliance, or security.

14. Termination

You may stop using Payload at any time. We may suspend or terminate access if you violate these Terms, create risk for Payload or others, fail verification, engage in fraud, or if we are required to do so by law or platform rules.

Sections that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including sections about earnings adjustments, acceptable use, privacy, ownership, disclaimers, limits of liability, indemnity, governing law, and disputes.

15. Disclaimers

Payload is provided “as is” and “as available.” To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, availability, accuracy, and reliability.

We do not guarantee any earnings, campaign performance, recommendation quality, service availability, payout timing, or compatibility with any AI agent, editor, terminal, MCP client, operating system, or third-party platform.

16. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Payload and its affiliates, officers, employees, contractors, and agents will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost revenue, lost data, lost goodwill, business interruption, or third-party service failures.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability for any claim related to the Service is limited to the greater of US $100 or the amount you paid directly to Payload in the 12 months before the claim. This limit does not apply where prohibited by law.

17. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold Payload harmless from claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses arising from your use of Payload, your campaigns, your violation of these Terms, your violation of law, your infringement of third-party rights, or your misuse of the Service.

18. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, USA, without regard to conflict-of-law rules, except where mandatory consumer protection laws in your jurisdiction require otherwise.

19. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If changes are material, we will update the date above and may provide notice through the website, dashboard, email, or product experience. Continued use of Payload after changes take effect means you accept the updated Terms.

20. Contact

Questions? Email support@payload.ai.