The Zoho Terms of Service are the general agreement between a customer and “the applicable Zoho contracting entity” for “Zoho suite of online business productivity and collaboration software”. The version retrieved on 2026-10-01 shows “Last updated on: 2nd March 2022”.[1] The Agreement has two layers: General Terms, and Service Specific Terms for individual Services. “In the event of a conflict between the General Terms and Service Specific Terms, the Service Specific Terms shall prevail.”[1] The Zoho One Terms of Use are one such layer. They apply “in addition to the General Terms of Service”.[5] The Agreement can be accepted by ticking a box, clicking a button, or “by actually using the Services”.[1] For a licence manager, the Terms set the basic rules for every Zoho product: one person per licence, automatic renewal, and the inactivity and termination rules that affect accounts no one is watching.
Editions
The Terms do not define editions. They describe the Services as “cloud software and applications for businesses, including associated offline and mobile applications”. Customers may use them for personal and business use “or for internal business purpose in the organization that you represent”.[1] The Terms recognize three kinds of access:
- Paid subscriptions, “available under subscription plans of various durations”.[1]
- Free plans. Zoho “may change the price of any Service or charge for use of Services that are currently available free of charge”, and customers are not charged unless they choose a paid plan.[1]
- Free trials and Beta Services. Zoho decides how long a beta lasts and may discontinue it. Trials are provided “as-is … without any warranty, covenant, support or liability”.[1]
Metrics
The Terms use one unit, the user licence held by a user account. A customer that represents an organization should have its users sign up with corporate contact information, preferably corporate email addresses.[1] Administrators “have the right to configure the Services based on your requirements and manage end users in your organization account”.[1] Products then define their own units: employees and flexible users in Zoho One, org and team users in Zoho CRM, and Mail users in Workplace. See Zoho licensing. Catalog row: User license.
Counting / floors
Restrictions on use
The Restrictions on Use section lists what a customer may not do. Three items bear directly on licence counting:
- “transfer the Services or otherwise make it available to any third party”;
- “provide any service based on the Services without prior written permission”;
- “allow user licenses to be shared or used by more than one individual other than by way of reassigning the user license to a new user”.[1]
The third item rules out shared logins, such as one account used by a whole shift. Reassignment is allowed, so a licence can pass from a leaver to a new joiner. Catalog proof: User licences may be reassigned but not shared; No transfer or service provision without permission.
Inactive accounts
“We reserve the right to terminate unpaid user accounts that are inactive for a continuous period of 120 days.” Zoho gives prior notice and a chance to back up data, then deletes it. “Each Service will be considered an independent and separate service for the purpose of calculating the period of inactivity”, so activity in one Service does not keep another active. “In case of accounts with more than one user, if at least one of the users is active, the account will not be considered inactive.”[1] This rule covers unpaid accounts only. Paid licences stay billed whether or not they are used. Catalog proof: Unpaid accounts inactive 120 days may be terminated.
Free trial data
At the end of a free trial, data and customizations “will be permanently lost” unless the customer buys the paid plan, buys upgrades, or exports the data.[1] Catalog proof: Trial data is lost unless purchased or exported.
Virtualization & partitioning
Zoho hosts the Services, so no host or processor rules apply. The Terms instead control where the data is hosted. “The location of the cloud facility from which you are served depends on the mapping of your region/country to the available cloud facilities at the time of your sign-up.” Zoho may migrate an account if the mapping changes. Customers must not mask their IP address at sign-up, and if the actual region differs from the records, Zoho may migrate or close the account.[1]
Cloud / BYOL
Bring-your-own-licence does not arise. Third Party Applications integrated with Zoho may require acceptance of Third Party Terms, and Zoho “may, at any time and in our sole discretion, and without any notice to you, suspend, restrict or disable access to or remove” a Third Party Application.[1] The customer owns its content. Zoho takes a licence to it only “as required for the purpose of providing the Services to you”.[1]
Programs
Subscription and renewal
Subscription plans shorter than a year can be paid only by credit card. “Your subscription will be automatically renewed at the end of each subscription period unless you downgrade your paid subscription plan to a free plan or inform us that you do not wish to renew the subscription.” To stop a renewal, “you must inform us at least seven days prior to the renewal date”. Price increases “will not apply until the expiry of your then current billing cycle”.[1] Taxes such as GST, VAT and sales tax are invoiced on top.[1] See Auto-renewing subscription. Catalog proof: Subscriptions auto-renew; give 7 days notice to stop; Price increases apply from the next billing cycle.
Refunds and downgrades
The Terms link to Zoho’s refund policy, the Customer Satisfaction Policy.[1] Its main rules are:
| Situation | Rule |
|---|---|
| Monthly subscription, first month | Full refund if Zoho cannot resolve the issue; account downgraded to the free plan[3] |
| Annual subscription, first 45 days | Full refund on the same basis[3] |
| Cancellation after an automatic renewal | Full refund up to five business days (monthly) or fifteen days (annual) after the renewal date; no refunds after that[3] |
| Partial downgrade of an annual plan (fewer licences, lower edition, support plan or add-on removed) | Credit as an extension of the subscription for the active licences; value = amount paid minus monthly list price times months used[3] |
| Functionality removed or broken and not fixed | Pro-rated refund for the rest of the contract[3] |
| Termination for Terms violations | No refund[3] |
Removing licences in the middle of an annual term therefore does not return cash. It extends the remaining subscription, and the credit is valued at monthly list price, so annual discounts are lost.[3] Zoho One customers can add or remove licences before the contract ends and “contact our payments team for an appropriate refund”.[4] Catalog proof: Full refund in the first month or 45 days; Annual partial downgrades earn credits, not cash; Refund window after auto-renewal.
Contract changes, suspension and termination
Zoho may modify the Agreement on notice. Significant changes that affect the customer’s rights get “at least 30 days advance notice”. A customer may then terminate within 30 days with a prorated refund of unused prepaid fees.[1] Zoho may suspend an account for suspected illegal activity, “extended periods of inactivity” or requests from authorities. It may terminate a suspended account after thirty days.[1] Termination deletes all data in the user account.[1] Catalog proof: Significant term changes need 30 days notice.
Contracting entity, law and liability
The governing law and jurisdiction “will depend on your billing address if you are a paid customer”.[1] The table of contracting entities lists, for example:
| Customer region | Contracting entity | Governing law |
|---|---|---|
| India and Russian Federation | Zoho Corporation Private Limited | Laws of India, Chennai courts |
| United States, US minor outlying islands, Puerto Rico | Zoho Corporation (US) | State of California, Northern California |
| Canada and listed Caribbean countries | Zoho Canada Corporation | Ontario and federal Canadian law |
| Japan | Zoho Japan Corporation | Laws of Japan |
| Australia, New Zealand and listed territories | Zoho Corporation Pty Limited | Laws of South Australia |
Source: contracting entities table.[2] Zoho’s total liability for a Service is capped at the higher of one thousand dollars or the fees paid in the twelve months before the first event giving rise to liability.[1] Catalog proof: Contracting entity and law follow the billing address.
Out of scope
The Terms of Service contain no audit clause. Audit rights appear only in the Zoho One Terms of Use, for the All Employee Pricing model, and are covered in Zoho One licensing.[5] This article does not cover the Zoho Privacy Policy, the Data Processing Addendum, or content and abuse policies.