Do I need terms of service for my website or app?

Terms of service, also called terms of use or terms and conditions (see what the difference is), are the contract between your company and the people who use your product. The law rarely forces you to have them. Your risk position usually does.

Is there a legal requirement?

Not a general one. What the law does require depends on what you do:

If you…	What applies
Collect personal information	PIPEDA requires you to make information about your privacy practices readily available (Principle 4.8 of Schedule 1). That’s a privacy policy, not terms of service
Sell to Ontario consumers online	The Consumer Protection Act, 2002 requires specific disclosures before an internet agreement is made, and a copy afterwards, where the consumer’s total potential payment is more than $50 (ss. 37 to 39). See consumer protection rules for online terms
Send marketing emails	CASL consent and content rules apply, whatever your terms say
Publish in an app store	The store’s developer rules apply. Apple’s App Store applies its standard end user licence agreement to your app unless you provide your own

What do terms of service protect?

They are what you rely on when something goes wrong. Typical protections:

• Limits on liability and disclaimers, so a user can’t claim unlimited losses. See limitation of liability clauses.
• Acceptable use rules, and the right to suspend or close accounts that break them. See acceptable use policy.
• Ownership of content: who owns what users upload, and the licence you need to host and display it.
• Payment, renewal and cancellation terms for subscriptions. See subscription and cancellation laws in Canada.
• Governing law and disputes: which province’s law applies. See governing law clause.
• AI features: what users may input, who owns output, and that output may be wrong. See terms for AI products.

Terms of service or a SaaS agreement?

Terms of service fit self-serve products used by the public or small teams. Business customers buying on an invoice usually expect a SaaS agreement with negotiated fees, service levels, security and liability. Many companies have both.

Can I copy another company’s terms?

It’s a poor idea. Their terms describe their product, data flows and risk choices, not yours, and contract text can be protected by copyright under the Copyright Act. A mismatch between your terms, your privacy policy and how the product actually works is also what regulators and customers notice first.

How do I make them binding?

Have users actively accept them, with a checkbox or a clear “by clicking, you agree” statement next to the sign-up button, and keep a record of each acceptance. Section 19 of Ontario’s Electronic Commerce Act, 2000 recognizes contracts formed by clicking. See are clickwrap agreements enforceable in Canada.

What to do next

We draft terms of service and privacy policies written for how your product works, at fixed fees on our fees page. See what a privacy policy and terms of service cost. See the full contract stack for software startups.

This guide is general information about Ontario and Canadian law, not legal advice for your situation. To talk through your launch, book a free 15-minute consult.