Terms and Conditions

Effective date: October 10, 2026

Welcome to Zab Notes. By accessing or using our website and application at zabnotes.com ("the Service"), you agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions ("Terms"). If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Service.

1. Acceptance of Terms

You accept these Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, by ticking the box when you create your account. We record which version you accepted and when. By creating an account or using the Service, you confirm that you are at least 13 years of age and agree to comply with these Terms. If you are between 13 and 18, you may use the Service only with the involvement and consent of a parent or guardian, who must be the one to agree to these Terms and to make any purchase on your behalf. Purchasing a paid plan requires you to be 18 or older.

2. Account Registration

• You must provide a valid email address you control and create a password to register
• You must confirm your email address by following the link we send you. Until you do, the account cannot be used, and your free trial starts on the day you confirm
• An account that is not confirmed within 7 days of sign-up is deleted automatically
• You can change your sign-in email in Account & Security. The change takes effect when you open the link we send to the new address, and we notify the old one
• You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account credentials, including, if you turn on two-step sign-in, your authenticator app and your recovery codes
• You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account
• You must notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your account
• We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms

3. Your Content

You own your content. All notes, drawings, mind maps, kanban boards, calendar events, and other content you create using the Service remain your intellectual property. We do not claim any ownership rights over your content.

By using the Service, you grant us a limited license to store, process, and display your content solely for the purpose of providing the Service. This license ends when you delete your content or your account.

4. Encryption & Recovery

All of your content in Zab Notes is encrypted on your device before it reaches us, using keys derived from your password. Your password is never transmitted to or stored on our servers. We hold only ciphertext and your account key in wrapped form.

This has a consequence you must understand before relying on the Service:

• We cannot recover your content, and no password reset restores it. No support request, administrative access, or legal demand can produce readable content, because we hold no key that can decrypt it.
• At sign-up you are shown a recovery key of 24 words, once. It is the only way back into your account if you forget your password. Record it and store it somewhere safe and separate.
• If you lose both your password and your recovery words, your content is permanently and irreversibly lost. This is a design property of the Service, not a fault, and it is not a basis for a refund or a claim against us.

You are solely responsible for safeguarding your password and recovery key. We strongly recommend keeping your own exports as an independent backup — see section 8.

5. Acceptable Use

You agree not to use the Service to:

• Violate any applicable laws or regulations
• Store or distribute malware, viruses, or harmful code
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service or other users' accounts
• Interfere with or disrupt the Service's infrastructure
• Use automated tools to scrape, crawl, or overload the Service
• Store or distribute content that infringes on intellectual property rights
• Use the Service for any illegal, harmful, or abusive purpose

6. Third-Party Integrations

The Service may integrate with third-party services. Your use of third-party services is subject to their respective terms and privacy policies. We are not responsible for third-party services.

7. Service Availability

The Service is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. We make no guarantees regarding uninterrupted operation, data availability, or compatibility with all devices. We may modify, suspend, or discontinue the Service. If we ever discontinue it, we will give at least 30 days' notice by email so you can export your content (section 8).

8. Data Export & Portability

You may export any note at any time as HTML, Markdown or PDF. File → Offline Folder… mirrors your entire library to a folder on your own computer — every note as both .html and .md, every board, mind map, drawing and chart as .json, plus a single _library.json containing everything — written in readable form, decrypted on your device as it is saved.

We strongly encourage you to maintain your own backups, particularly given that we cannot recover your content for you (section 4).

Notes you delete go to Trash, where you can restore them for 30 days. After that they are deleted permanently.

9. Plans, Billing & Refunds

Paid plans are not switched on yet, and no one is being charged. Until they are, accounts keep working after the free trial. The terms below apply from the day paid plans open. We will never charge you without your agreement at checkout.

Plans

• Monthly subscription — $10 a month. Every feature and every update while you are subscribed. It renews automatically each month until you cancel.
• Perpetual license — $100, paid once. A license to use version Z1 of Zab Notes for as long as you like, with security and bug fixes for that version, for as long as the Service operates (section 7). When a new version is released, license holders are offered an upgrade to it for $10. Upgrading is optional: if you do not upgrade, you keep the version you bought and its features keep working; features introduced in later versions are not included.
• Custom edition — from $1,000. A copy of Zab Notes duplicated and customized for you, under your own name and domain, quoted individually and governed by a separate written agreement. A custom edition includes full service of your application for as long as Zabulan LLC operates; if Zabulan LLC ever stops operating it, we will hand your data over to you in an open format. Where that agreement and these Terms differ, the agreement applies.

Free trial

The monthly plan starts with 30 days free, counted from the day you confirm your email address. You add a payment card when you choose the plan; it is first charged when the trial ends, unless you cancel before then, in which case you are never charged. One free trial per person. The perpetual license is paid when you buy it; the refund window below lets you try it.

Payment

Payments are processed by Stripe. Card details go directly to Stripe and never reach our servers. Prices are in US dollars; any sales tax or VAT the law requires is shown at checkout before you pay. If a monthly payment fails, Stripe tries again and you keep access meanwhile; if it still cannot be collected, the subscription ends.

Cancelling

Cancel at any time from Plan & billing in the app (Account & Security). Cancelling stops future charges, and you keep access until the end of the period you have paid for.

Refunds

Within 30 days of a purchase — your first subscription payment, the perpetual license, or an upgrade — we refund it in full on request; contact contact@zabulan.com. After 30 days, payments are not refundable. Later monthly payments are not refundable: cancelling stops the next one. Refunds for a custom edition are set in its agreement. Nothing here limits a refund right the law gives you.

Price changes

We email subscribers at least 30 days before a new price applies to them, so there is time to cancel first. A perpetual license you have bought is never re-priced; upgrade prices apply to future versions only.

When a plan ends

If a free trial ends without a plan, a subscription ends, or a license is refunded, the app stops opening for editing, but your content is kept for at least 90 days so you can export it (section 8) or choose a plan. You can delete your account yourself at any time.

10. Limitation of Liability

• The Service is provided without warranties of any kind, express or implied
• We shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages
• We shall not be liable for data loss caused by the loss of your password and recovery key, service interruptions, or technical failures
• Our total liability shall not exceed the amount you paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Zabulan LLC, its operators, and affiliates from any claims, damages, or expenses arising from your use of the Service or violation of these Terms.

12. Termination

• You may delete your account at any time from Account & Security (the avatar menu in the app). Deletion is immediate and permanent: your content, uploaded files and account record are removed from our active systems, and we cannot restore them. Encrypted copies in our backups age out within about six months
• Accounts whose email address is never confirmed are deleted after 7 days (section 2)
• We may suspend or terminate your account for violation of these Terms
• Upon termination, your right to use the Service ceases immediately

13. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms or the Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes are posted on these pages with a new effective date. When we make a change, we ask you to review and accept the new version before you continue using the app. If you do not accept it, you may stop using the Service and delete your account; your content stays untouched until you decide.

14. Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Ohio, United States. Any disputes shall be resolved through good-faith negotiation before pursuing formal proceedings.

15. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full force and effect.

16. Contact

Questions about these Terms:
contact@zabulan.com