--- title: "Referral Programme Terms" description: "The terms for the Silly Development referral programme: what referrers earn in account credit, when it is paid, and the fair use rules." url: "https://sillydev.co.uk/referral-terms" updated: "2026-10-28" --- Last updated 28 October 2026 # Referral Programme Terms These terms apply only if you choose to join our referral programme, from the Referrals page of your account. They add to our Terms of Service, which still apply. Joining is optional, and nobody you refer has to accept anything. ## How it works When you join, you get a referral link and a code. If someone who does not yet have an account signs up through your link, or types your code when they sign up, their account is linked to yours as a referred account. A referral is only recorded at sign-up; an existing account cannot be referred later, and you cannot refer yourself. The person you refer gets nothing extra and pays nothing extra. They can remove your code from the signup form before they sign up. ## What you can earn You earn account credit, as described in the "Account credit" section of our Terms of Service, for what a referred account does. The amounts in force are shown on your Referrals page and may be changed for the future at any time; a reward is worth what was shown when it was earned. - A fixed reward when a referred account makes its first server, its first MariaDB database and its first PostgreSQL database. Each is earned once per referred account, for that first one only, even if it is deleted. - A share of what a referred account actually pays each month for paid servers and databases, rounded as shown on your Referrals page. It is worked out on the amount actually received: discounts and free months earn nothing, a refund reduces it (if we keep only a few pence of a refunded payment, that is what it is worked out on), and anything they pay with their own account credit earns nothing. A payment for several months in advance earns one share per month, each on its own timetable. ## When a reward becomes credit A reward for a server or database is held until it has stayed up, and not been suspended, for seven days. It is then pending for five days more before it becomes credit. A monthly reward is pending for five days from when the payment is received. A reward that has not yet become credit is cancelled if the server or database it was for is deleted or suspended, if the payment it was for is refunded in full or disputed, or if the referral is removed. A reward that has already become credit is taken back if its payment is later disputed or found not to qualify. ## Fair use The programme is for referring real people who want to use the service. You may not refer yourself through another account, make accounts or servers only to earn rewards, pay with someone else's card, or share your link with spam, misleading claims or in breach of the rules of the place you share it. You may not suggest that you speak for Silly Development. We may refuse, cancel or take back any reward, remove a referral, change your code, or remove you from the programme, if we reasonably believe these terms or our Acceptable Use Policy have been broken. Taking back credit can leave your balance below zero. ## Credit has no cash value Credit earned through the programme is account credit like any other. It can only be spent on your own bills, has no cash value, cannot be paid out or transferred, and ends if your account is closed. Rewards are given at our discretion as a thank-you; they are not payment for a service, and you are not our agent, employee or partner. ## Leaving, and changes to the programme You can leave at any time from your Referrals page. Your link and code stop working and you earn nothing from new activity; rewards already on their way still become credit, and your credit stays yours to spend. We may change these terms, the rewards or the waiting times, or pause or end the programme, at any time. A change applies from when it is made and does not reduce a reward already earned. If we change these terms, we will ask you to accept the new version on your Referrals page. If we end the programme, rewards already on their way still become credit unless they are cancelled under these terms. ## Your data How we handle the information the programme uses is described in our Privacy Policy, under "If you use referrals or account credit".