F5’s contract documents for software and services are the Platform Terms of Use, the Maintenance Terms and Conditions and the Product Warranty, together with product documentation and the order. The Platform Terms are described as governing “the use of F5 Products” and are a contract between the customer and the F5 entity for its region, unless a signed agreement exists, in which case the signed agreement governs.[1] The document was last updated on 2026-07-01, and the web address F5 formerly used for the end user licence agreement now delivers this document.[1]
Licence scope and restrictions
The grant and its limits are in section 2 and section 4 of the Platform Terms.[1]
- Grant: a limited, revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable licence to install and use software in object code form during the subscription term, for internal business purposes; software is subscription or perpetual per the order.
- Prohibited acts: copying beyond one archival copy, modifying, renting or lending, acting as a service bureau or managed service provider, reverse engineering except as required by law for interoperability, removing notices, disassembling hardware, competitive analysis and circumventing reporting or copy-protection mechanisms. Breach of these restrictions is a material breach.
- Compliance with documentation: use must follow documentation limits such as number of protected applications, licensed devices, instances, users and bandwidth. F5 or an authorised third party may require licence management or reporting tools and may disable software that does not comply.
- Versions: use may be limited to certain versions, for example a “version plus” licence limited to a number of major updates.
- Security updates: the customer must deploy security updates without undue delay.
- Non-transferability: appliance software cannot move to other hardware or to a virtualised environment unless documentation or a separate agreement allows it.
- Open source and third-party code: portions of F5 products contain open source licensed under its own licences, and the customer must comply with them; third-party software embedded in products is excluded from the defined term F5 Products and has its own terms.
- SDKs: the SDK licence allows reproduction and distribution of the object code only as integrated in a mobile application, bars incorporating open source software into those apps, and requires recipient agreements.
Notably, the Platform Terms prohibit use of F5 products for “competitive analysis” and treat threat data derived from products as F5’s confidential information, with a separate licence to use licensed threat data.[1]
Usage verification and excess use
Section 5.2.5 is the closest the Platform Terms come to an audit clause. On written request from F5 the customer must certify in writing compliance with the applicable usage metrics, for example by providing evidence of the number of user accounts monitored or software instances deployed, and give reasonable access to usage records and internal logs solely to validate compliance.[1] If use exceeds the metrics the parties may work together to reduce it; if the customer cannot or will not comply it must execute an order for additional quantities promptly on request and is liable for fees associated with excess usage.[1] There are no separate audit frequency, notice-period or cost-shifting provisions in the Platform Terms; the Cloud Licensing Program addendum for partners does have them (F5 bears audit cost unless underpayment exceeds 5% of fees for the month).[2] The products themselves may transmit information such as hardware serial number, appliance part number and information for determining fees, with opt-out possible depending on product or tier.[1] Software with a key that permits use before an order exists is payable once used.[1]
Evaluations, lab and free use
An Evaluation lasts 30 days unless agreed otherwise, is provided as is without support or updates, can be ended by F5 or its partner on five days’ notice, and requires certification of removal within ten days of a written request.[1] Software designated non-production, non-commercial, lab or development may be used for testing and development but “may not manage or protect data traffic or applications in the ordinary course of your business”.[1] Free services and preview, beta or early-access offerings are as-is and may be withdrawn.[1] The program row is Evaluation licence.
Fees, term and termination
Invoices are payable net 30, fees are non-refundable, late payments bear the lesser of 1.5% a month or the legal maximum, and billing disputes must be raised within 30 days of the invoice.[1] Purchases through an authorised distribution partner follow the Platform Terms except for pricing, payment, term and taxes, which are negotiated with the partner.[1] Either party may terminate for uncured material breach on 30 days’ notice. On expiry or termination of a subscription term the licence ends, the customer stops all instances in its private network and in any cloud provider environment and destroys copies.[1] Neither party may assign the Terms without consent, except that F5 may assign to an affiliate or in a reorganisation, merger or sale of the relevant business line.[1] Disputes are settled under ICC arbitration, with governing law and seat depending on the F5 entity: Washington and Seattle for F5, Inc., Ireland and Dublin for F5 Networks Ltd., and Singapore for F5 Networks Singapore Pte Ltd.[1] The Platform Terms are F5 confidential information.[1]
Maintenance and support
The Maintenance Terms bind customers who access F5 support services in any way, and apply to products “properly registered and entitled” and subject to payment of support fees.[3] Key terms:[3]
- Start: coverage starts on the earlier of 90 days after shipment from F5’s manufacturing facilities or the date the product is activated with F5; with no record of licence activation, service starts on the ship date and no service extensions apply.
- Renewal: support renews automatically for one-year terms on submission of a purchase order for renewal unless either party gives written notice of termination at least 30 days before the end of a term; renewals are at F5’s then-current rate, and the service price is calculated as a percentage of total list prices appropriate to the level of service (Standard or Premium).
- Entitlements: telephone support, free updated versions that F5 makes generally available to customers with current maintenance, repair or replace of failed products through RMA, remote troubleshooting on customer request, and the online Ask F5 service. Options, upgrades and future products sold separately are excluded, as are hardware upgrades needed for compatibility.
- Exclusions: F5 may decline service where the product was altered, not installed or maintained per instructions, misused, or operated outside environmental specifications, and disclaims support for applications that have not undergone F5’s feature-set approval and QA process.
- Version support: F5 may limit or terminate development support, including error correction, for a version one year after release of a subsequent version, even if the customer runs an older one.
- Recertification and lapse: maintenance on products bought from sources other than an F5 VAR or F5 (for example used or auction purchases), or lapsed for more than 180 days, requires inspection and a separately purchased recertification fee; renewing within 180 of lapse incurs a Lapsed Service fee plus pro-rated maintenance for the lapsed period.
- Transfer: support entitlements are not transferable between products or customers, cannot move from one product to another except for an RMA replacement, and do not follow product title transfers without F5’s written consent and a recertification fee.
- Expedited RMA: four-hour RMA and four-hour RMA with technician are upgrade options in limited availability areas, with notification duties for location or configuration changes.
- Liability: F5’s liability is limited to the service fees paid in the twelve months before the claim, and F5 disclaims implied warranties.
The Platform Terms add that updates may be used only on products for which the customer has bought maintenance and support and only during the licence term, and that, unless the documentation says otherwise, maintenance and support for software must be bought separately.[1] For subscription programmes, pricing includes Premium Support unless stated otherwise.[4] The program row is F5 maintenance and support.
Premium Plus
F5’s Premium Plus data sheet (footer 06.2025) describes an add-on in two options, 10x5 and 24x7. It provides a designated Strategic Account Engineer and Service Delivery Manager, severity 1 response within 30 minutes by phone, a priority phone queue, weekly status calls and quarterly reviews, and proactive services such as system health checks and end-of-life risk assessments.[5] The catalog row is F5 Premium Plus 10x5 and 24x7.
Product warranty
F5 warrants for 90 days from shipment that software media are free of defects and that software substantially conforms to its published specifications, and that hardware will be free from defects in material and workmanship for one year from shipment; the remedy is repair or replacement at F5’s option.[6] The warranty extends only to the original customer, says the product is not for resale, and repeats that F5 may limit or terminate support for a version one year after release of a subsequent version.[6] The Platform Terms refer hardware purchases to the Product Warranty and disclaim warranties for software provided by a cloud provider and not obtained from F5.[1]
Out of scope
This article does not cover F5 support policy pages that load only in a browser session, my.f5.com knowledge-base articles that require a login, consulting services agreements, the Unity+ Partner Agreement, or privacy statements per product.