Service level agreement for a SaaS product

A service level agreement is a promise about uptime and support that a customer will one day measure, and it has to promise what the infrastructure delivers rather than what the sales deck says. The document has to define availability and how it is calculated, list the exclusions, set support tiers with response and resolution times that can be met, provide service credits as the remedy with a claim process, make credits the sole remedy short of persistent failure, and fit with the customer contract it supplements. I draft those agreements for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

SaaS and hosted software providers in England and Wales whose business customers ask for a service level agreement, whether as a schedule to standard terms, a document attached to enterprise contracts, or a published commitment for every customer.

What matters in a service level agreement

Availability and how it is measured

The agreement should state the availability commitment as a percentage per month, define availability as the service being accessible for its core functions from the provider's edge rather than from the customer's desk, say how downtime is measured (the provider's monitoring, in minutes, per month) and what counts as an incident, and state when the measurement period starts. A commitment without a definition is measured by the customer, and the customer's number is always lower.

Exclusions that keep the commitment achievable

Scheduled maintenance within stated windows and with notice, emergency maintenance, failures of the customer's systems, networks or third-party services, denial of service and other attacks, suspension for breach or non-payment, force majeure and beta features should be excluded from downtime, and the agreement should say so, because a commitment that includes the internet is a commitment the provider cannot keep.

Support tiers, priorities and response times

The agreement should define the support channels and hours, the priority levels by impact (service down, major function impaired, minor issue, question), the response time for each as a commitment and the resolution time as a target, escalation, and what the customer must do (report through the channel, provide information, apply workarounds), with the provider's obligation under section 13 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 to act with reasonable care and skill given content by those times.

Service credits and the claim process

Credits should be a percentage of the monthly fee for the affected service, rising by band as availability falls, capped at a stated percentage of the monthly fee, claimed by the customer within a stated period with the provider's monitoring as the record, and applied against future invoices rather than paid in cash. Credits that the customer must claim are credits that are rarely paid, which is the commercial point, and the agreement should say how claims are made so that the customer knows.

Sole remedy and the termination trigger

The agreement should say that service credits are the customer's sole and exclusive remedy for availability and support failures, which against a business is enforceable where reasonable under section 3 of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, and should give the customer a termination right where availability falls below a stated lower threshold in a stated number of months, because a sole remedy with no exit is the clause enterprise customers reject, and a defined exit is what makes the sole remedy reasonable.

Reporting, changes and how the SLA fits the contract

The provider should report availability and support performance monthly or on request, the agreement should say how it is changed (on renewal, or on notice with a right to end the subscription if reduced), and it should state its order of precedence with the customer terms or the master agreement, so that the liability cap and exclusions in the main contract apply to SLA claims and the SLA does not create a parallel regime. Third-party rights are excluded under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.

What it costs

SaaS terms of service, £995. Your standard customer-facing terms. Five working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the saas and technology contracts page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A bespoke contract drafted for how your product is sold, delivered and supported
• Service levels you can meet, with remedies that are proportionate rather than aspirational
• A liability position that is defensible and will survive enterprise procurement
• IP and data provisions that fit together rather than contradicting each other
• A commercial note on where you will get pushback and what is worth conceding
• One round of amendments

What is not included

• Negotiating individual enterprise deals, which I quote separately
• Advice on the law of jurisdictions outside England and Wales
• Technical security certification or audit
• Regulatory advice for regulated sectors such as financial services or health

Questions I am often asked

A customer says we missed the uptime commitment because their office network was down. Do they get credits?

Not if the agreement measures availability from the provider's edge and excludes the customer's networks. The definition and the exclusions decide it, which is why they are drafted before the first claim.

Can service credits be the customer's only remedy?

Against a business, if the term is reasonable, and a defined termination right for persistent failure is what makes it so. The agreement provides both.

What availability percentage should we commit to?

The one your monitoring shows you have delivered over the last year, less a margin. The agreement is drafted around your number, not the market's.

Related guidance and services

• SaaS and technology contracts, £995, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Data protection agreements and privacy terms, £795
• Reviewing a service level agreement and service credits
• SaaS terms of service for a B2B product

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: September 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.