Legal

Terms of service

The terms on which you use Costline — kept short and readable on purpose.

Last updated 5 July 2026

1.The agreement

These terms govern your use of Costline, a costing product operated by Qelo, a South African software studio (“Costline”, “we”, “us”, “our”). By using the service you agree to them. If you’re accepting on behalf of an organisation, you confirm you’re authorised to bind that organisation.

Your specific plan — scope, term and price — is agreed separately with us. Where that agreement and these terms differ, the agreement we sign with you takes precedence.

2.Accounts and access

You’re responsible for the accounts in your organisation and for keeping login credentials secure. Costline uses a role model — owner, manager, foreman and viewer — and you decide who holds which role. Owners are responsible for managing their organisation’s members and access.

You agree to give accurate information when setting up, and to keep it current. You’re responsible for the activity that happens under your organisation’s accounts.

3.Your data is yours

The operational data you put into Costline — your cost centres, rates, activities, materials and logs — remains yours. We process it to provide the service, as described in our privacy policy.

You can export your data, and we’ll return and delete it on request when you leave, subject to the retention terms in the privacy policy. We do not sell your data or use your cost data to train machine-learning models.

4.Historical integrity

Costline is built so that recorded costs are not retroactively changed when rates or prices are updated later. Each log stores the amount resolved on its work date, and rate changes are added as new dated versions rather than overwrites.

You acknowledge that this behaviour is intentional and central to the product: corrections are made through new, dated records rather than by silently altering history. You’re responsible for the accuracy of what you enter at the time you enter it.

5.Acceptable use

You agree not to:

  • Use Costline unlawfully, or to store information you have no right to hold.
  • Attempt to access another organisation’s data or circumvent tenant isolation and access controls.
  • Probe, disrupt or overload the service, or interfere with its security.
  • Resell or provide the service to third parties except as agreed with us.

We may suspend access where necessary to protect the service or other customers, and will act reasonably and let you know when we do.

6.Fees and term

Costline is provided on an annual plan scoped to your operation, as set out in the agreement we reach with you. Fees are payable as described there. Unless that agreement says otherwise, plans continue until cancelled in line with its terms.

We’ll always tell you a price before you commit — we don’t add surprise per-seat charges within an agreed plan.

7.Availability and support

We work to keep Costline reliable and available, and we onboard and support you personally. That said, the service is provided on a commercially reasonable-efforts basis and may occasionally be unavailable for maintenance or reasons beyond our control.

8.Warranties and liability

Costline is provided “as is”. To the extent permitted by law, we don’t make implied warranties beyond those that cannot lawfully be excluded. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited under South African law, including under the Consumer Protection Act where it applies.

To the extent permitted by law, our total liability arising from the service is limited to the fees you paid for it in the twelve months before the event giving rise to the claim, and we’re not liable for indirect or consequential loss. Because your data is yours and exportable, you’re responsible for keeping your own copies where that matters to you.

9.Termination

You may stop using Costline in line with your plan. We may end or suspend the service for material breach of these terms, giving you reasonable notice and a chance to put things right where appropriate.

On termination, we’ll make your data available for export and then delete it as described in the privacy policy.

10.Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa, and the South African courts have jurisdiction over any dispute — without limiting any rights you have under mandatory consumer-protection law.

11.Changes to these terms

We may update these terms as the product develops. When we make a material change we’ll update the date above and, where appropriate, let you know. Continuing to use Costline after a change means you accept the updated terms.

Questions about this document? Email hello@costline.co.za.