Service level agreement template
A service level agreement, or SLA, turns "we'll keep it running" into numbers: how much uptime the customer can expect, how fast support responds, and what the customer gets back when those targets are missed. This one is written for software, hosting, managed IT and support providers. Read it below, set your targets, then send it with your main contract.
Updated November 5, 2026 · 3 min read
The contract
Gray blanks are yours to fill in before you send. Each signer fills in the blanks in their color.
- You, before sending
- Customer
- Provider (you)
Service Level Agreement
This Service Level Agreement (the "SLA") is made on SLA date between Provider legal name (the "Provider") and Customer legal name (the "Customer"). It forms part of the agreement between them dated Main agreement date (the "Main Agreement"), which applies to everything this SLA does not cover.
1. Covered services
This SLA applies to: Covered services (the "Services").
2. Availability
The Provider will make the Services available at least Monthly uptime target of the time in each calendar month. Availability is measured by How availability is measured, and equals the total minutes in the month minus Downtime, divided by the total minutes in the month.
"Downtime" means minutes during which the Services are unavailable to the Customer, as confirmed by the Provider's monitoring or reasonably shown by the Customer, other than Excluded Time.
3. Excluded time
"Excluded Time" means unavailability caused by:
- scheduled maintenance announced at least Hours of maintenance notice hours in advance, up to Maintenance hours per month hours a month;
- emergency maintenance needed to address a security threat;
- the Customer's equipment, software, internet connection or actions, or anyone using the Customer's accounts;
- failures of third-party services the Provider does not control, other than its own hosting providers; and
- events beyond the Provider's reasonable control, such as natural disasters, widespread internet failures or government action.
4. Support
Support is available Support hours and time zone through Support channels. The Customer will give each request a priority using these definitions, and the Provider may change the priority if the request plainly fits another level:
- Priority 1, critical: the Services are down or unusable for all users. First response within Priority 1 response time, with updates every Priority 1 update interval until resolved.
- Priority 2, high: a major feature is failing or many users are affected, with no workaround. First response within Priority 2 response time.
- Priority 3, normal: a feature is impaired but a workaround exists. First response within Priority 3 response time.
- Priority 4, low: a question, minor issue or feature request. First response within Priority 4 response time.
The Provider will work on a Priority 1 issue continuously until it is resolved or a workaround is in place, and will keep the Customer's named contact informed.
5. Service credits
If availability in a month falls below the target in section 2, the Customer is entitled to a credit against its next invoice, as a percentage of that month's fees for the affected Services:
- Tier 1, monthly availability from Tier 1 availability range: a credit of Tier 1 credit of the monthly fee;
- Tier 2, monthly availability from Tier 2 availability range: a credit of Tier 2 credit of the monthly fee; and
- Tier 3, monthly availability below Tier 3 threshold: a credit of Tier 3 credit of the monthly fee.
Total credits for a month will not exceed Credit cap of that month's fees. Credits have no cash value and apply only to future invoices, unless the Main Agreement ends, in which case unused credits are refunded.
6. Claiming credits
To receive a credit, the Customer must ask for it in writing within Days to claim a credit days after the end of the month, listing the dates and times of the Downtime. The Provider will confirm the credit or explain its decision within Days to answer a claim days. Service credits are the Customer's only remedy for a missed availability target, except as section 7 provides.
7. Repeated failures
If availability falls below Repeated failure level in Months that count as repeated or more months within any 12-month period, the Customer may end the Main Agreement for the affected Services by written notice within 30 days of the last such month, and receive a refund of any fees prepaid for the period after termination.
8. Reporting and reviews
The Provider will send the Customer a monthly report showing availability, Downtime incidents and support requests by priority, and the parties will review performance Review frequency. The Provider will send a written incident summary within Incident summary days business days after any Priority 1 incident.
9. Changes
The Provider may improve the targets in this SLA at any time. Any change that lowers them requires the Customer's written agreement.
10. Contacts
Customer's named contact for incidents: Customer incident contact Phone: Customer incident phone
Email: Customer incident email. Electronic signatures on this SLA count as original signatures.
For the Customer
For the Provider
Opens it in SignMaster as a template you can edit and send.
A starting point, not legal advice. Have a lawyer review it for your state and situation.
On this page
What an SLA does
An SLA sets measurable targets and a remedy for missing them, usually service credits off the next invoice. It gives the customer a straight answer to "how reliable is this?" and gives the provider a predictable cost when things go wrong. Most SLAs sit alongside a master services agreement or a subscription agreement, which carries the rest of the legal terms.
The numbers should be ones you already hit. Promise 99.99% availability on infrastructure that delivers 99.9% and you'll be paying credits every month.
What uptime percentages really allow
| Uptime target | Downtime allowed per month |
|---|---|
| 99% | 7 hours 12 minutes |
| 99.5% | 3 hours 36 minutes |
| 99.9% | 43 minutes 12 seconds |
| 99.95% | 21 minutes 36 seconds |
| 99.99% | 4 minutes 19 seconds |
What the template covers
- Covered services: exactly what the SLA applies to.
- Availability: the monthly uptime target, how it's measured, and the formula.
- Excluded time: scheduled maintenance with notice and a monthly limit, emergency security work, customer-caused problems, third-party outages and events beyond your control.
- Support priorities: four levels, from a full outage to a question, each with a first-response target and update interval for the worst.
- Service credits: three tiers as a percentage of the monthly fee, a cap, and a deadline to claim them.
- Repeated failures: the customer's right to leave if availability misses a set level too often.
- Reporting and reviews: monthly reports, regular reviews and a written summary after every critical incident.
Mistakes to avoid
- Leaving measurement vague. Say how availability is measured, by which monitoring and from where, or each side will quote its own number.
- Promising fix times you don't control. Commit to response times and updates; promise resolution only for problems fully in your hands.
- Uncapped credits. Cap total credits at a share of the monthly fee, and make them the customer's main remedy for downtime.
- Fuzzy priority levels. Define each one with an example, such as "Priority 1: the service is down for all users", so a cosmetic bug isn't filed as an emergency.
- Never revisiting it. Review the targets once a year against real performance and adjust them.
Automatic credits or claimed credits
This template asks customers to claim credits within a set number of days, listing the dates and times affected. If your monitoring is good enough to apply credits automatically, cover section 6 with White-out from the editor's Markup tools and type your own wording in a Text box; customers notice.
How to send it with SignMaster
- 1
Open the template
Choose Use this template above. It opens with the customer signing first and you second.
- 2
Set your numbers
Fill the gray blanks: covered services, uptime target, measurement, maintenance limits, support hours and channels, response times for each priority, credit tiers and the cap.
- 3
Send it with the main contract
Combine it with your MSA or subscription agreement template in one envelope, so the customer signs both together; roles with the same name merge.
- 4
Route it to the right people
Many customers want IT and procurement to sign. Add both, and choose whether they sign at the same time or one after the other.
- 5
Keep the signed version handy
When someone asks what was promised, open the signed PDF; its certificate of completion shows who signed which version and when.
Updating SLAs across your customers
When you extend support hours or add a priority level, send the new SLA to every customer with bulk send: one row per customer with their legal name, the main agreement's date and their covered services, so each copy names its own contract. On Crew and Company, a webhook can tell your billing or CRM system each time a customer signs.
Questions? Answers.
What's a good uptime target for an SLA?
One you consistently beat. Many business software providers commit to 99.9% a month; 99.99% usually needs redundant infrastructure. Look at a year of your monitoring data first.
What are service credits?
A discount on the next invoice when a target is missed, usually a percentage of the monthly fee that grows with the size of the miss, up to a cap.
Is an SLA a separate contract?
It can be signed on its own, but it usually forms part of a master services or subscription agreement. This template says the main agreement applies to anything the SLA doesn't cover.
What's the difference between response time and resolution time?
Response time is how quickly support acknowledges an issue and starts work. Resolution time is how long until it's fixed. This template commits to response times and update intervals.