Terms of Service

1. About these Terms and who we are

1.1 These Terms of Service (the “Terms”) are an agreement between you and Mettatonic Corporation, a Delaware corporation registered to do business in California (“Mettatonic”, “we”, “us” or “our”). Our mailing address is 50 W. Manor Dr., #1298, Pacifica, CA 94044.

1.2 Shade of Hue is a brand of Mettatonic Corporation. When these Terms say “Shade of Hue”, they mean the Services Mettatonic offers under that brand.

1.3 These Terms include four sections that apply where relevant: Team Plans and Seats (Section 12), Company Partner programs (Section 13), the Course Content Licence (Section 14) and the Acceptable Use Policy (Section 15). These Terms also include our Privacy Policy, Cookie Notice, Refund & Cancellation Policy and Partner Lab Notice (together, the “Policies”). If a Policy conflicts with these Terms, these Terms control unless the Policy says otherwise.

1.4 By creating an Account, buying a Plan or using the Services, you agree to these Terms. If you use the Services for an organization, you confirm that you have authority to bind that organization, and “you” includes that organization.

2. Definitions

These definitions apply in these Terms and in every Policy.

2.1 “Account” means your user account for the Services.

2.2 “Services” means the websites, apps, courses, labs and related features Mettatonic offers under the Shade of Hue brand on the Surfaces. Partner Labs are not part of the Services.

2.3 “Surfaces” means the following, all operated by Mettatonic: (a) shadeofhue.com, including Shade of Hue Labs, courses and the My Labs billing area, (b) PromptVault (prompts.shadeofhue.com), (c) Astra (astra.shadeofhue.com), (d) QA Voice Coach, (e) Northwind Play Lab (pl.shadeofhue.com), and (f) AI in Testing Daily (daily.testingeducation.org).

2.4 “Partner Lab” means a lab or tool run by a third party that you can reach from the Services. Tokenizer (tokenizer.3thfloor.com) is currently the only Partner Lab. See the Partner Lab Notice.

2.5 “Plan” means a paid subscription to Shade of Hue Labs (Annual): the “Individual Plan”, a “Team Plan” (Section 12) or a Company Partner licence (Section 13).

2.6 “Year 1” means the first 12-month Subscription Term of a Plan.

2.7 “Subscription Term” means the period you have paid for: Year 1, then each monthly or annual renewal period.

2.8 “My Labs” means the account area on shadeofhue.com where you manage your Plan, billing and renewal choice.

2.9 “Course Content” means courses, lessons, videos, text, exercises, templates and other learning materials we provide.

2.10 “User Content” means anything you submit to the Services, including prompts, files, saved or shared prompts in PromptVault, test artifacts in Astra and Voice Data.

2.11 “Voice Data” means recordings of your voice and any transcripts or feedback made from them, for example in QA Voice Coach.

2.12 “AI Features” means features that send your input to an AI model and return a result.

2.13 “Model Router” means the part of the Services that lets you choose among several AI models and sends your input to the provider of the model you choose.

2.14 “AI Provider” means a third-party company whose AI model is available through the Model Router. The Privacy Policy, Section 6, describes AI Providers by category.

2.15 “AI Output” means any result an AI Feature returns to you.

2.16 “Customer” means an organization that buys a Team Plan or a Company Partner licence.

2.17 “Seat” means one named person’s access under a Team Plan or a Company Partner licence.

2.18 “Team Admin” means a person the Customer authorizes to buy, assign and manage Seats.

2.19 “Team Member” means the person assigned to a Seat.

2.20 “Coaching” means live or personal coaching sessions we offer. Coaching is for individuals only.

2.21 “Certificate” means a certificate of completion we issue through Certifier.io, a third-party certificate service.

3. Eligibility and accounts

3.1 You must be old enough to form a binding contract where you live to create an Account.

3.2 You must give accurate Account information and keep it up to date.

3.3 Your Account is personal to you. Do not share your login. You are responsible for activity under your Account.

3.4 Tell us promptly, using the contact details in Section 25, if you think someone has used your Account without your permission.

4. Plans and pricing

4.1 All prices are set in US dollars (USD).

4.2 Individual Plan. Shade of Hue Labs (Annual) for one person costs $240 for Year 1, a 12-month Subscription Term paid up front. Renewal after Year 1 is described in Section 5.

4.3 Wherever we offer the Individual Plan, we show the price this way: “$240 for Year 1, then $20/month or $192/year.”

4.4 Team Plans. Team Plans come in packs of 5, 10 or 20 Seats. Prices, renewal and Seat rules are in Section 12.

4.5 More than 20 Seats. Contact us (Section 25). Larger organizations may buy a Company Partner licence (Section 13).

4.6 Coaching is for individuals only and is not part of a Team Plan.

4.7 Usage limits. Some Labs and AI Features have daily usage limits.

4.8 Local currency. Our payment processor, Stripe, may show you an approximate price in your local currency (Stripe Adaptive Pricing). Any local-currency price on our site is labeled as approximate. The exact amount you will be charged in local currency is shown at checkout before you pay.

4.9 Regional discounts. We may offer a regional discount as a coupon. The coupon works only if your payment card was issued in an eligible country. Vietnam is the first eligible country. We may change or end regional discounts for new purchases at any time.

5. Automatic renewal and reminders

5.1 Year 1. Your Individual Plan starts on the date you pay and lasts 12 months.

5.2 Default renewal. If you have not made a choice by the end of Year 1, your Plan automatically continues at $20/month, month-to-month, until you cancel. You can cancel at any time (Section 6).

5.3 Annual option. You may instead choose to renew at $192/year. Annual renewal applies only if you choose it in My Labs billing. If you choose it, your Plan renews each year at the then-current annual price until you cancel.

5.4 Reminders. We will email you 30 days, 7 days and 1 day before Year 1 ends. Each reminder will state: (a) the date Year 1 ends, (b) that if you do nothing, your Plan continues at $20/month, month-to-month, (c) that you can choose $192/year instead, which saves $48 a year compared with paying monthly, (d) how to cancel, and (e) where to make your choice (My Labs billing).

5.5 Team Plans renew as described in Section 12.4.

5.6 Your choice. You make your renewal choice, or cancel, in My Labs billing.

5.7 Authorization. By buying a Plan, you authorize us, through Stripe, to charge your payment method for Year 1 and, unless you cancel, for each renewal at the price and frequency in this Section 5 or Section 12.4.

5.8 Price changes. We may change renewal prices. We will tell you before a change applies to you, and you may cancel before it takes effect.

5.9 Failed payments. If a renewal payment fails, we may retry the charge and may pause access until payment succeeds.

5.10 Switching between monthly and annual.

• Monthly to annual. If you are on monthly renewal, you can switch to annual at any time in My Labs billing. Your current paid month runs to its end. A full 12-month annual term at $192 starts on your next billing date. We do not prorate, and there is no partial charge or credit.
• Annual to monthly. If you are on annual renewal, a switch to monthly takes effect only at the end of your paid annual term. You cannot switch in the middle of an annual term, and there is no refund for the rest of that term.

6. Cancellation and refunds

6.1 You can cancel at any time in My Labs billing. Cancelling stops future renewals. Your access continues until the end of the Subscription Term you have already paid for.

6.2 If this is your first purchase of Year 1, you may ask for a full refund within 14 days of purchase.

6.3 Renewal payments (monthly or annual) are not refundable, except where the law requires otherwise.

6.4 Our support team may grant refunds or other exceptions at its discretion. An exception does not create a right to the same exception in the future.

6.5 If you live in the EU or the UK, you may have a legal right to withdraw from a purchase of digital content or services within 14 days. See the Refund & Cancellation Policy, Section 8.

6.6 Refunds for Team Plans are covered in the Refund & Cancellation Policy, Section 9.

6.7 Full details are in the Refund & Cancellation Policy. If that Policy conflicts with this Section 6, that Policy controls.

7. Payments

7.1 Stripe processes payments. Stripe’s own terms and privacy policy also apply to payment processing.

7.2 We send receipts by email.

7.3 You are responsible for any bank, card or currency-conversion fees your payment provider charges.

8. User Content and PromptVault

8.1 You own your User Content. As between you and us, you keep any rights you have in your User Content.

8.2 Licence to us. You grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, copy, process, send and display your User Content only as needed to provide, secure and improve the Services. This includes sending it to the AI Provider you choose (Section 9).

8.3 Sharing in PromptVault. If you share a prompt in PromptVault, the people who can see it can view, copy and use it. You can stop sharing at any time, but copies others already made may remain.

8.4 Your responsibilities. You confirm you have the rights needed to submit and share your User Content, and that it follows the Acceptable Use Policy (Section 15).

8.5 Removal. We may remove User Content that breaks these Terms.

9. AI Features and the Model Router

9.1 Some Services include AI Features. Through the Model Router, you can choose among several AI models.

9.2 When you use an AI Feature, your input (for example prompts, files, test artifacts and, where relevant, Voice Data or transcripts) and the AI Output are sent to and processed by the AI Provider of the model you choose. See the Privacy Policy, Section 6.

9.3 AI Output is generated automatically. It may be wrong, incomplete, out of date or similar to output given to others. You are responsible for reviewing AI Output and for how you use it. See Section 15.6.

9.4 AI Output is not professional, legal or other expert advice.

9.5 AI Providers may have their own terms for use of their models.

9.6 As between you and us, and to the extent we have any rights in it, you may use AI Output you receive, subject to these Terms and the AI Provider’s terms.

9.7 We may add, change or remove available models at any time.

10. Partner Labs

10.1 Tokenizer is a Partner Lab run by a third party. The Partner Lab Notice explains which terms and privacy rules apply to it.

10.2 Northwind Play Lab and AI in Testing Daily are part of our Services, not Partner Labs. These Terms and the Policies apply to them in full.

11. Certificates

11.1 We issue Certificates through Certifier.io. A Certificate confirms that you completed specified Course Content. It is not a professional licence or accreditation.

11.2 To issue a Certificate, we share some of your information with Certifier.io. See the Privacy Policy, Section 9.

11.3 We may revoke a Certificate obtained by breaking these Terms.

12. Team Plans and Seats

12.1 Scope. This Section applies when a Customer buys a Team Plan. Each Team Member must also accept these Terms.

12.2 Packs and Year-1 prices. A Team Plan is a pack of named Seats for Year 1 (12 months), paid up front:

12.3 Prices are in USD (Section 4).

12.4 Renewal (Year 2 and later). Unless the Customer cancels or chooses otherwise, a Team Plan renews automatically each year at the Year-1 price for its pack. The Customer may instead choose monthly renewal at the monthly price in Section 12.2, month-to-month. Monthly renewal applies only if the Customer chooses it in the account billing settings. Price changes follow Section 5.8.

12.5 Reminders. Before Year 1 ends, we will email the Team Admin the renewal date, the annual renewal price, the monthly option and how to cancel.

12.6 Named Seats. Each Seat is assigned to one named person. A Seat may not be shared, and no one else may use the login for a Seat. Seats are not transferable, except by a Seat swap under Section 12.7.

12.7 Seat swaps. In each 12-month Subscription Term, the Customer may move a Seat from one person to another up to 20% of the Seats in its pack: 1 swap for 5 Seats, 2 for 10 Seats and 4 for 20 Seats. The new person starts fresh. Course progress, Certificates and User Content of the previous person do not move to the new person.

12.8 Adding Seats or changing packs. Contact us (Section 25) to add Seats or change packs during a term.

12.9 Usage limits. Team Plans have the usage limits in Section 4.7. Trying to get around limits breaks Section 15.4.

12.10 Coaching is not part of a Team Plan (Section 4.6).

12.11 Customer responsibilities. The Customer confirms that each Team Admin has authority to act for it. The Customer is responsible for assigning Seats to the right people, for Team Members following these Terms, and for all fees for its Team Plan. The Customer is responsible for any notice or consent needed to give us Team Members’ names and email addresses.

12.12 What a Team Admin can see. A Team Admin can see who holds each Seat. See the Privacy Policy, Sections 3.7 and 9.3.

12.13 Cancellation. The Customer may cancel future renewal at any time in the account billing settings. Access continues until the end of the paid term. Refunds for Team Plans are in the Refund & Cancellation Policy, Section 9.

12.14 Removing a Team Member. A Team Admin may remove a Team Member from a Seat. Reassigning that Seat counts as a Seat swap.

12.15 Conflicts. If this Section 12 conflicts with another part of these Terms on a Team Plan matter, this Section controls.

13. Company Partner programs

13.1 What it is. Organizations that need more than 20 Seats, or a program for their own people, may buy a Company Partner licence under a separate written agreement or order form (the “Partner Agreement”). Company Partner licences are not sold through self-serve checkout.

13.2 Quotes. Company Partner deals over 20 Seats are quoted. The Partner Agreement sets the number of Seats, the Seat price, the program fee and any program services.

13.3 Annual commitment. A Company Partner licence is a 12-month commitment. Renewals do not include a discount for Year 2 or later.

13.4 Paying the Seat price. The Customer chooses one of two options in the Partner Agreement:

• Monthly: the yearly Seat price divided by 12, charged each month. All 12 monthly payments are owed for the term, even if the Customer stops using Seats before the term ends.
• Upfront: the full year paid at the start of the term, with 10% off the Seat price. The 10% applies to the Seat price only.

13.5 Program fee. The program fee is always paid upfront at the start of the term, under either payment option. It is not discounted.

13.6 Late payment and suspension. The Partner Agreement sets the terms for late payment and for suspending access.

13.7 Seats. Seats under a Company Partner licence are named. Each person using a Seat must accept these Terms.

13.8 Conflicts. If the Partner Agreement conflicts with these Terms, the Partner Agreement controls for that Customer.

14. Course Content Licence

14.1 Scope. This Section sets out how you may use Course Content.

14.2 “Personal use” means use by you, as an individual, for your own learning and professional development, including applying what you learn in your own work.

14.3 Licence. While you have an active Plan or other authorized access, Mettatonic grants you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable and revocable licence to access and view Course Content for personal use.

14.4 Downloads. Where we offer materials for download, you may keep a copy for personal use.

14.5 Using what you learn. You may apply the skills, methods and ideas in the Course Content in your own work, including for an employer or clients.

14.6 Restrictions. You may not, and may not help anyone else to:

• Sell, resell, rent, sublicense or otherwise commercially exploit Course Content
• Copy, publish, post, share or redistribute Course Content outside the Services, except short quotations with attribution where the law allows
• Share your login, or let anyone else use your Account or Seat to access Course Content
• Record, screen-capture, scrape or bulk-download Course Content
• Use Course Content to create a competing course or product
• Use Course Content to train, fine-tune or evaluate AI models
• Remove copyright or other notices

14.7 Team use. On a Team Plan or Company Partner licence, each person may use Course Content only under their own named Seat. The organization may not copy or redistribute Course Content internally, for example on an intranet or internal training system.

14.8 Your notes and coursework. Notes, exercise answers and other work you create in a course are your User Content (Section 8).

14.9 Certificates. You may share your own Certificate. You may not alter it or present it as something it is not.

14.10 Ownership. Mettatonic or its licensors own the Course Content. All rights not expressly granted here are reserved.

14.11 End of access. This licence lasts for your Subscription Term. When your Plan ends, your access to Course Content ends (see the Refund & Cancellation Policy, Section 4).

14.12 Updates. We may update, replace or retire Course Content.

14.13 Breach. If you break this Section, we may suspend or end your access under Section 19.

14.14 Conflicts. On the use of Course Content, this Section controls over other parts of these Terms.

15. Acceptable Use Policy

15.1 Scope. This Section applies to everyone who uses the Services, including all apps and AI Features on every Surface.

15.2 General rules. Use the Services lawfully and for their intended purpose: learning, practicing and applying skills, including in software testing. Respect other users, our staff and third parties. Do not share your login or Seat.

15.3 Prohibited content. Do not submit, generate or share content that:

• Is illegal, or promotes or helps illegal activity
• Infringes anyone’s intellectual property, privacy or other rights
• Is harassing, hateful, threatening, sexually explicit or violent
• Contains malware or malicious code, except safe, clearly labeled test samples where a lab is designed for it
• Includes other people’s personal data, confidential information or trade secrets without permission
• Is deceptive, including impersonating any person or organization

15.4 Security and platform integrity. Do not:

• try to get unauthorized access to the Services, other accounts or our systems
• probe, scan or test the Services for vulnerabilities, except in a lab built for that and within its rules
• reverse engineer, decompile or copy the Services, except where the law allows
• use bots, scrapers or automated tools to access the Services or Course Content, except through features we provide
• get around usage limits, rate limits, Seat limits, Seat swap limits, regional-discount eligibility or other limits
• interfere with or overload the Services or the Model Router

15.5 Using AI Features. When you use an AI Feature, you must also follow the usage policies of the AI Provider whose model you choose. Do not use AI Features to:

• generate content that breaks Section 15.3
• create spam, disinformation or content meant to mislead people about where it came from where disclosure is required
• extract or rebuild our system prompts, other users’ data or AI Providers’ models
• make decisions with legal or similarly significant effects on people without proper human review

Do not enter sensitive personal data (for example health, financial or government ID data), confidential business information or other people’s personal data unless you have the right to share it with the AI Provider you chose. See the Privacy Policy, Section 6.

15.6 Your responsibility for AI Output. AI Output can be wrong, incomplete or biased. Review it before you use, publish or rely on it. This includes AI-generated test plans, test designs, automation code, issue reports and test reports in Astra. Review and test them before using them at work or in any production system. Make sure your use of AI Output follows the law, your employer’s or clients’ rules and third-party rights. Where the law or your context requires it, say that content was made with AI.

15.7 Voice recordings. In QA Voice Coach, record only your own voice. Do not record other people, or include them in a recording, without their consent and any other permission the law requires.

15.8 Sharing in PromptVault. Share only prompts you have the right to share. Do not include personal data, credentials, API keys or confidential information in shared prompts. Do not present someone else’s shared prompt as your own original work where credit is expected.

15.9 Partner Labs. When you use Tokenizer from the Services, you must also follow Tokenizer’s rules (see the Partner Lab Notice).

15.10 Reporting. Report suspected breaches, security issues or harmful AI Output to us using the contact details in Section 25.

15.11 Enforcement. If we believe you broke this Section, we may remove content, limit features, or suspend or end your access under Section 19. Where practical and lawful, we will tell you what we did and why.

16. Our intellectual property and feedback

16.1 The Services, Course Content, software, and the Shade of Hue name and logos belong to Mettatonic or its licensors. These Terms do not transfer them to you.

16.2 If you send us suggestions or feedback, we may use them without any obligation to you.

17. Third-party services

17.1 The Services rely on third-party services, including Stripe, AI Providers, Certifier.io and the other service providers listed in the Privacy Policy, Section 9. We are not responsible for third-party services we do not control, except as the law requires.

18. Changes to the Services and to these Terms

18.1 We may change the Services from time to time.

18.2 We may update these Terms. For material changes, we will give you notice by email or in the Services before the change takes effect. If you do not agree, you may cancel before the change takes effect. Each version of these Terms shows its version number and effective date.

19. Suspension and termination

19.1 We may suspend or end your access if you materially break these Terms or any Policy, if the law requires it, or to protect the Services or other users.

19.2 You may stop using the Services and cancel your Plan at any time (Section 6).

19.3 Sections that by their nature should survive termination (for example Sections 8.1, 14.10, 16, 20, 21 and 22) survive.

20. Disclaimers

20.1 To the extent the law allows, the Services, Course Content and AI Output are provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind.

21. Limitation of liability

21.1 To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue or data.

21.2 Nothing in these Terms limits liability that the law does not allow us to limit.

22. Consumer rights

22.1 If you are a consumer in the EU, the UK or another country whose law gives you rights that cannot be waived, those rights are not affected by these Terms.

23. International users

23.1 We offer the Services from the United States, and they are available internationally. You are responsible for following local laws that apply to you.

23.2 You may not use the Services where US sanctions or export laws prohibit it.

24. General

24.1 These Terms and the Policies are the entire agreement between you and us about the Services, except that a Partner Agreement also applies to a Company Partner Customer (Section 13).

24.2 If any part of these Terms is unenforceable, the rest stays in effect.

24.3 You may not transfer these Terms without our consent. We may transfer them in a merger, reorganization or sale of assets, or to an affiliate.

24.4 If we do not enforce a provision, that is not a waiver.

24.5 We may send notices to the email address on your Account.

25. Contact

25.1 Questions about these Terms: email help@shadeofhue.com or write to Mettatonic Corporation, 50 W. Manor Dr., #1298, Pacifica, CA 94044.