The Writer Platform Services Agreement is the master contract for the Enterprise version of the WRITER platform. It is between Writer, Inc. and the party named as customer in an Order Form, and it takes effect on the date the parties enter into an Order Form that incorporates its terms.[1] The Writer Terms of Use are the click-through terms for individuals and for organisations using a free, trial or paid version other than Enterprise.[2] This article compares what the two documents say about the licence grant, restrictions, renewal, fees, data and liability, and lists the documents they incorporate. Section numbers refer to the versions current on 2026-10-13: August 5, 2026 for the Platform Services Agreement and June 5, 2026 for the Terms of Use.
Which document applies
The Terms of Use state that they apply to individuals using the platform and to an organisation acting through a free version, a trial or a paid version “excluding Enterprise versions”, and that the Platform Services Agreement, or a separately executed agreement, governs the Enterprise version.[2] A customer that begins on the self-serve plan and later signs an Enterprise Order Form therefore moves from one contract to another. The Platform Services Agreement says that an Order Form may be an ordering document or an online order, including a trial, and that if the Order Form conflicts with the agreement, the Order Form prevails; purchase-order and vendor-onboarding terms are stated to have no effect.[1]
Both documents have published version histories. The Platform Services Agreement lists four versions, from April 5, 2024 to the current August 5, 2026 version, and the Terms of Use list three, from June 3, 2024 to June 5, 2026.[1][2] The Terms of Use say that if a user continues to use the services after updated terms are posted, the user agrees to them; the updated terms apply on a going-forward basis.[2] The Platform Services Agreement, by contrast, can be amended only in a written document signed by authorised representatives.[1]
A related point for asset managers concerns company email domains. The Terms of Use say that an account created with a company email address may be linked to or added to that organisation’s corporate Writer account, if one exists, and that the organisation’s administrator may then monitor and control it.[2] Self-registered users in an organisation that later becomes an Enterprise customer can therefore appear in the corporate account.
Licence grant and users
Under the Platform Services Agreement, Writer grants the customer and its Authorized Users a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and use the platform during the Subscription Term for the customer’s internal business purposes.[1] The Subscription is defined as access on a per Authorized User basis, and an Authorized User is anyone the customer authorises to access and use the platform under its account.[1] The customer is responsible for the acts and omissions of its Authorized Users, and a Customer Affiliate acquires access rights only by entering into its own Order Form.[1] The Terms of Use contain a comparable grant for use during the subscription term for internal business purposes.[2]
The contract expressly states that the customer’s use is not contingent on the delivery of future features, and that Writer may update the content, functionality and interface of the platform provided the update does not materially decrease functionality during the Subscription Term.[1] The Terms of Use give Writer wider latitude: it may add or remove features, incorporate usage limits or stop offering services, except that for paying customers it will not make a change that materially diminishes functionality.[2]
Restrictions
Section 2.2 of the Platform Services Agreement lists the prohibited activities. The customer may not use the platform in a manner not expressly granted, reproduce or create derivative works, reverse engineer or scrape it, “transfer, frame, mirror, sell, resell, rent, or lease” access to a third party, interfere with its integrity, use it for benchmarking or competitive analysis or to train a competing product, allow Authorized User accounts to be shared or used by more than one individual, or breach the Acceptable Use Policy.[1] The Terms of Use contain a parallel list, with an additional bar on processing protected health information until the user subscribes to Enterprise and has a business associate agreement in place.[2] Writer may suspend or terminate access if it determines the customer is in violation.[1]
Two features are worth noting. First, a breach of Section 2.2 is carved out of the limitation of liability: the exclusion of indirect damages and the cap do not limit liability for payment obligations, a breach of the restrictions, indemnification obligations, infringement of the other party’s intellectual property, or gross negligence, wilful misconduct or fraud.[1] Second, the version reviewed contains no clause giving Writer a general right to audit the customer’s use;[1] the audit right that appears runs the other way, in the Data Processing Agreement, as described below.
The Acceptable Use Policy applies to individuals and businesses using the generative AI platform and its APIs, and says Writer may suspend or terminate an account it believes has violated the policy.[5] The developer documentation separately carries a usage policy for the API, which states that users may not sell, resell or lease the API or the data obtained through it to third parties and are responsible for the security of their API keys.[8]
Fees, renewal and cancellation
The Platform Services Agreement requires payment of undisputed amounts within 30 days of the invoice date, in US dollars by wire transfer unless another method is agreed, and states that payments are non-refundable unless the agreement provides otherwise.[1] Fees exclude taxes, and Writer may suspend or downgrade access with notice for non-payment of past-due invoices.[1] Section 3.4 provides that, unless the Order Form says otherwise, the Subscription renews automatically for periods equal to the original Subscription Term at Writer’s then-current rates, unless terminated or cancelled by either party at least 30 days before the Renewal Date. A customer that cancels during a term may use the platform to the end of the term but has no right to a refund or credit for the remainder.[1]
For purchases through a Reseller, the agreement states that Section 3 (Fees and Payment) and Section 9.1 (Term), and any customer-support obligations the reseller has assumed, are superseded by the terms between the customer and the reseller.[1]
The Terms of Use set out a self-serve equivalent. A paid services plan renews automatically at then-current rates until the user cancels; cancellation is through account settings or by email and takes effect for future charges, with access continuing to the end of the period; payments are non-refundable except as stated; subscriptions may not be transferred, sold or traded; and Writer will give advance notice of fee increases so the user may change or cancel before new charges.[2] Trials and promotions convert to the then-current non-promotional rate unless cancelled first.[2] Services that operate on a consumption basis are bought as prepaid credits under the separate Credit Terms.[2][6]
Data, output and indemnity
Under the Platform Services Agreement, the customer retains ownership of its Customer Materials and owns Output, and Writer assigns to the customer any rights it has in Output.[1] Writer receives a licence to host and process Customer Materials solely to provide and support the platform and states it will not use Customer Materials to train its models.[1] The Terms of Use likewise state that Writer will not use user Materials to train its models, while allowing it to use Materials to provide, maintain and improve the services.[2] Both documents allow Writer to aggregate and de-identify usage metadata for any purpose.[1][2]
The Platform Services Agreement requires a business associate agreement before protected health information is processed, and states that without one Writer has no liability for that information.[1] Writer agrees to defend customer indemnified parties against third-party claims that use of the platform in accordance with the agreement infringes intellectual property, subject to exclusions such as customer materials, modified output, use of Third-Party Services and disabling of content filters.[1] The customer gives a reciprocal defence for claims arising from its materials or its non-compliant use.[1]
The Data Processing Agreement is incorporated and takes precedence over the Platform Services Agreement in a conflict on personal data. It makes Writer a processor, lists the subprocessor page as the notice mechanism, and gives a subscribed customer 14 calendar days to object to a new subprocessor.[4] It allows the customer to request an audit of Writer’s records on 14 days’ notice, at its own expense and no more than once a year (except after a security incident), with an on-site inspection available only where the written responses are insufficient and on 21 days’ notice.[4] The subprocessor page, last updated July 28, 2026, lists infrastructure, analytics, billing and model-hosting providers including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft (Azure), OpenRouter, Snowflake and Stripe.[7]
Service levels and support
The Service Level and Support Agreement forms part of the Platform Services Agreement. It applies only to a deployment hosted, operated and managed by Writer, not to a self-hosted, private cloud or on-premises deployment unless an Order Form says otherwise.[3] Writer commits to commercially reasonable efforts to reach 99.9% monthly availability, excluding beta, trial, proof-of-concept and sandbox versions and listed causes such as maintenance and third-party service failures. Service credits of 5%, 10% or 20% of the monthly portion of annual fees must be requested in writing within five business days after the month ends and are the sole remedy.[3] General support runs Monday to Friday, 5:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, excluding holidays, with target first responses of one hour for a Blocker, two hours for Critical, four hours for Major and eight hours for Minor issues.[3]
Liability, termination and disputes
The Platform Services Agreement excludes loss of use, data, profits and goodwill and indirect damages, and caps each party’s total aggregate liability at the fees paid or payable in the twelve months before the event, subject to the carve-outs described above.[1] The Terms of Use cap Writer’s aggregate liability to the user at one hundred dollars, and provide for informal resolution, mandatory JAMS arbitration (with a 30-day opt-out) and a class action and jury trial waiver.[2] Both documents apply California law; the Platform Services Agreement gives the courts in San Francisco exclusive jurisdiction.[1]
Either party may terminate the Platform Services Agreement and any Order Form for uncured material breach after 30 days’ notice, or for insolvency. On expiry the rights end, fees accrued remain payable, and Writer makes Customer Materials available for export on written request for up to 30 days, after which it may delete them; on written request it destroys them within 90 days.[1]
Out of scope
This article does not reproduce the Business Associate Agreement, which Writer does not publish, nor the individual Order Form, which can override the Platform Services Agreement. It does not cover Writer’s privacy policy, cookie notice or the separate Writer Open Model License, which is discussed in the models article.