Cloud Service Agreement

A plain language, highly structured agreement for buying and selling cloud services and SaaS. Use instead of an MSA or SaaS sales contract.

Human readable, legal approved

Common Paper agreements help you get on the same page, faster.

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Industry-standard terms

Written by a committee of experienced attorneys so you can start negotiations on the same, reasonable terms every time.

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Easy to negotiate

Highly-structured format makes dealing with commonly negotiated terms faster and simpler for both parties.

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Free and open source

You shouldn’t need to start a new agreement from square one each time. Our CSA is available for anyone to use and modify.

Using this agreement

The Common Paper CSA consists of a Cover Page, plus the Standard Terms that are hosted online and incorporated by reference. Creating and executing an agreement is easy:

Customize your agreement terms in the Cover Page

Use this document to describe the terms of the products and services being sold in the Order Form section, plus the legal details of the agreement in the Key Terms section.

Send for signature

Once both parties have agreed on the terms, send the Cover Page for signature.

Getting started with Common Paper

How was this agreement created?

The Common Paper CSA was created by a committee of dozens of attorneys representing technology vendors, procurement teams, boutique firms, and Big Law.

I see this agreement is hosted online. Does that mean it will change?

Version 1 of this agreement will remain unchanged and hosted at commonpaper.com/standards/cloud-service-agreement/1.0. Over time, we will create new versions to accommodate changes to the law and additional use cases. We expect future changes to occur infrequently, and they will be posted as a new version. However, any new versions will not change agreements that incorporate prior versions.

How do I use this agreement?

To execute an agreement using the Common Paper CSA, first download a copy of the Cover Page in your preferred format. Then fill out the business terms of your agreement, like fees and subscription period, and the legal terms like the governing law of your contract. Finally, sign your Cover Page with your counterparty via the signing process of your choice. The Cover Page incorporates the Standard Terms by reference, completing the executed agreement.

Do I have to incorporate the Standard Terms by reference?

You can also download the full version of the agreement here and include the Standard Terms in the agreement itself.

Can I leave something out of the Cover Page?

Yes, some concepts in the Cover Page are optional, like whether your agreement includes SLAs. When you download the Cover Page, you’ll see notes explaining which fields are optional. If you omit a definition from the Cover Page, the meaning will default to “none” or “not applicable” when the capitalized word is used in the Standard Terms.

Can I customize the Cover Page?

Yes, you can feel free to change the Cover Page any way you like. Many companies decide to add their company branding or logo and edit some of the text. The only thing you are required to keep is the license information and link to the Standard Terms.

Can I customize the Standard Terms?

All modifications to the Standard Terms should be made by addendum on the Cover Page. Incorporating the Standard Terms by reference from the Common Paper website gives both sides assurance that all key details and modifications are explicitly called out in the Cover Page.

What license is this agreement released under?

Common Paper agreements are free to use and modify under CC BY 4.0.

Available formats

This agreement is free to use or modify under CC BY 4.0. The agreement is available in the following formats.

Configuration guide

Set up this agreement by answering a few questions.

Standard Terms

 Full text:
Standard CSA posted at commonpaper.com/standards/cloud-service-agreement/1.0/

Optional info sheet
With Common Paper SLA included Without Common Paper SLA

Cover Page

Cover Page +
Standard Terms