Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Askesis.io website and services (collectively, the "Service"), operated by Askesis.io ("we", "us", or "our"). By creating an account or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.

These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Any disputes will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

1. Eligibility

You must be at least 16 years of age to use the Service. By using the Service, you represent and warrant that you meet this requirement and that you have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms. If you are using the Service on behalf of an organisation, you represent that you have authority to bind that organisation to these Terms.

2. Your Account

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorised use of your account at [email protected].

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms, engage in fraudulent activity, or are inactive for an extended period, with reasonable notice where practicable.

3. Membership and Payments

3.1 Free Tier

A free tier is available that provides access to selected lessons, the daily Stoic quote, blog articles, and the Stoic library. No payment is required for the free tier.

3.2 Paid Membership

A paid membership ("Member") provides access to all courses, lessons, practice tools, the encrypted Stoic journal, and progress tracking. Membership is available on a monthly or annual subscription basis. Prices are displayed on the Membership page and are inclusive of applicable VAT.

3.3 Billing

Subscriptions are billed in advance on a recurring basis (monthly or annually) via Stripe. By providing payment details, you authorise us to charge the applicable subscription fee to your payment method on each renewal date. All payments are non-refundable except as described in Section 3.5.

3.4 Cancellation

You may cancel your membership at any time from your account dashboard. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period; you will retain access to Member content until that date. We do not provide pro-rata refunds for partial billing periods.

3.5 Refunds

If you are a consumer in the UK or EU, you have a statutory right to cancel within 14 days of your first subscription payment (the "cooling-off period"), provided you have not accessed Member-only content. To exercise this right, contact us at [email protected] within 14 days of your initial payment. Refunds will be processed within 14 days of a valid cancellation request.

4. Intellectual Property

All content on the Service — including courses, lessons, articles, practice tools, design, and software — is owned by or licensed to Askesis.io and is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. You are granted a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to access and use the content for your personal, non-commercial use only.

You may not reproduce, distribute, modify, create derivative works from, publicly display, or commercially exploit any content from the Service without our prior written consent. Quotations from ancient Stoic texts (Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Seneca) are in the public domain; our original commentary, course structure, and editorial content are not.

5. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

• Use the Service for any unlawful purpose or in violation of any applicable laws or regulations.
• Attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the Service, its servers, or related systems.
• Scrape, crawl, or systematically extract content from the Service without our written permission.
• Share your account credentials with others or allow others to access Member content through your account.
• Upload or transmit any content that is harmful, offensive, defamatory, or infringes the rights of others.
• Interfere with or disrupt the integrity or performance of the Service.
• Attempt to reverse-engineer or decompile any software used in the Service.

6. User-Generated Content

Journal entries are encrypted end-to-end and are inaccessible to us. Any other content you submit (such as feedback or support requests) grants us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use that content for the purpose of operating and improving the Service. You retain ownership of any content you submit.

7. Disclaimers

The Service provides educational content about Stoic philosophy for informational and personal development purposes only. Nothing on the Service constitutes professional advice — whether medical, psychological, legal, financial, or otherwise. You should seek qualified professional advice before making decisions in those areas.

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free of viruses or other harmful components.

8. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Askesis.io shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of or inability to use the Service, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Our total aggregate liability to you for any claims arising from these Terms or your use of the Service shall not exceed the total amount you paid to us in the 12 months preceding the claim. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, fraud, or any other liability that cannot be excluded under applicable law.

9. Third-Party Links and Services

The Service may contain links to third-party websites or services. These links are provided for your convenience only. We have no control over the content of those sites and accept no responsibility for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them. Your use of third-party services is governed by those services' own terms and privacy policies.

10. Changes to the Service and Terms

We reserve the right to modify or discontinue the Service (or any part of it) at any time, with reasonable notice where practicable. We will not reduce the core functionality of a paid membership during an active billing period without offering a pro-rata refund.

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by email or by posting a notice on the Service. Continued use of the Service after the effective date of updated Terms constitutes your acceptance of the changes.

11. Termination

You may stop using the Service and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access if you breach these Terms, with immediate effect for serious breaches or with 30 days' notice for other reasons. Upon termination, your right to access the Service ceases. Provisions that by their nature should survive termination (including intellectual property, disclaimers, and limitation of liability) shall do so.

12. Governing Law and Disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Any dispute arising from or in connection with these Terms shall first be attempted to be resolved through good-faith negotiation. If unresolved, disputes shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales, except where mandatory consumer protection laws in your country of residence provide otherwise.

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us at: