plebos.

Terms of Service

Last updated: 12 June 2026

plebos is a creator-owned, federated publishing and newsletter platform. These Terms govern your use of plebos. By creating an account or using the service, you agree to them. If you do not agree, please do not use plebos.

1. The service

plebos lets writers publish posts, send email newsletters to subscribers who have opted in, connect a custom domain, and (optionally) charge readers for paid subscriptions. The self-hostable plebos core will be published as open source under the MIT license, free to run on your own infrastructure. These Terms govern the hosted service operated at plebos.com.

2. Your account

You must provide accurate information and are responsible for activity under your account and for keeping your credentials secure. You must be old enough to form a binding contract in your jurisdiction. One person or organization may operate one or more publications.

3. Your content is yours

You retain all ownership of the content you publish. You grant plebos only the limited license needed to host, display, deliver by email, and federate your content as you direct (for example, to send your newsletter or serve your posts to readers and to other federated servers). You can export your content, your subscriber list, and your custom domain at any time, and you can take them with you if you leave — this is a core, non-negotiable promise of the platform.

4. Payments (writer-owned)

Paid subscriptions are processed through your own Stripe account, which you connect to plebos. For paid subscriptions, you are the merchant of record: you receive subscriber payments directly into your Stripe account, you set your prices, and you are responsible for fulfilling your subscriptions and for handling your subscribers' refunds, disputes, and tax obligations. plebos does not take custody of your subscribers' funds.

plebos charges a platform fee on hosted accounts — either a small declining percentage of patronage or a flat plebos Sustaining subscription fee, as described on our pricing page. Third-party payment processing fees (e.g. Stripe's) are set by the processor and are separate from plebos's fee.

5. Acceptable use

You agree not to use plebos to:

We may suspend or remove content or accounts that violate these Terms or that threaten the safety, legality, or deliverability of the platform for others.

6. Open source

The self-hostable plebos core will be licensed under the MIT license. Your rights under that license — including the right to run, study, modify, and self-host that core — are independent of these Terms and are not limited by them. The hosted service operated at plebos.com (its multi-tenant orchestration and operator tooling) is not part of that open-source core.

7. Termination and the exit

You may stop using plebos and close your account at any time. If you leave, you keep your content, your subscriber list, your custom domain, and your federated identity — nothing about leaving is ever withheld or charged for. We may suspend or terminate accounts that materially breach these Terms; where practical we will give notice and an opportunity to export.

8. Disclaimers and liability

The hosted service is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind to the extent permitted by law. plebos is not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, and our total liability is limited to the fees you paid us in the twelve months before the claim. Nothing here limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

9. Changes

We may update these Terms; we will post the updated version here and update the date above. Material changes will be communicated to account holders. Continued use after a change means you accept the updated Terms.

10. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Email [email protected], or see our contact page.