Open beta terms
Last updated 19 October 2026
These are the terms for NodeGuard's open beta, written in plain English. They'll be replaced by full terms before NodeGuard leaves beta, and we'll tell you before anything important changes.
1. What the beta is
NodeGuard stores files on many independent machines, including computers that people lend to the network. During the beta we're testing the service with real people. Things will change, features may come and go, and there may be interruptions.
2. Who can take part
You need to be 18 or over. If you sign up for a business, you confirm you're allowed to act for it.
3. If you store files
- Your files are encrypted on your device. Keep your passphrase and recovery key safe: we can't read your files, so we can't recover them for you without them.
- While we're in beta, please keep your own copy of anything you can't afford to lose.
- Don't store or share anything illegal, anything that infringes someone else's rights, or malware. We can switch off share links and suspend accounts that break these terms or that we're told about by the authorities.
- Free and paid plans have the limits shown when you choose them. Prices may change, with at least 30 days' notice for paid plans.
4. If you share space
- Only use a machine and an internet connection you own or have permission to use for this.
- Your machine holds encrypted pieces of other people's data. Don't try to read, change or copy them, or to cheat the checks that prove your machine still holds them.
- Earnings follow the rates shown in NodeGuard Node. During the beta, rates may change; we'll tell you before they do. Part of a new machine's pay may be held back for its first months and released as it proves reliable.
- Machines that repeatedly fail checks, or that we reasonably believe are being used to cheat (for example one person posing as many), can be removed, and unpaid or held-back earnings for them may be withheld.
- Money is paid through Stripe once payouts are switched on, and only once you've given Stripe your details. Storage you earn is added to your NodeGuard account.
- You can stop sharing at any time. Please leave your machine running for a day after you decide to stop, so the network can move its pieces.
5. Invites
Invite bonuses are paid once a friend's machine has shared reliably for 30 days. Inviting yourself, or someone in your own home, doesn't earn a bonus.
6. Our responsibility
We work hard to keep the service running and your data safe, and we'll tell you promptly about anything that affects you. During the beta the service is provided as it is. We aren't liable for indirect losses, and our total liability to you is limited to what you've paid us in the previous 12 months, or £100 if that's more. Nothing here limits liability that the law doesn't allow us to limit.
7. Ending
You can stop using NodeGuard at any time. We can end the beta, or your part in it, with reasonable notice so you can take your files out, or straight away if you've seriously broken these terms.
8. The law
These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. Questions: contact us using the form on our home page.