Support Policy

1. Scope and Purpose

This Support Policy describes how Crate.io provides Support Services to Customers under an applicable Master Subscription Agreement (MSA) or Master Hosted Services Agreement (MHSA), as applicable. This Support Policy does not modify or replace any contractual obligations set forth in the MSA, MHSA, applicable Order Forms, or any Cloud Service Level Agreement (SLA). 

Crate.io offers support plans for CrateDB Enterprise and CrateDB Cloud as specified in the applicable Order Form. These plans provide access to a support channel staffed by experienced engineers and may include Basic, Premium, or Non-Production support, depending on the subscription (each a “Support Plan”)

2. Contacting Crate.io Support

Crate.io Support is available to Customers with an active support entitlement under an applicable Order Form. 

Support is provided through written support tickets submitted via the Crate.io support portal  (https://support.cratedb.com) or by email to support@crate.io. Emails sent to support@crate.io  automatically create a support ticket in the support portal. Support ticket is considered opened once it has been received through one of these channels.

To facilitate efficient handling of Support tickets, Customers are encouraged to provide relevant information at the time a Support ticket is submitted, including, where applicable:

• the Customer name and identification of the affected environment;

• the version of the Software in use (for on-premises deployments) or the relevant service URL (for Cloud services);

• a description of the issue experienced and, where reasonably possible, steps to reproduce the issue;

• the Customer’s initial assessment of the severity level and the rationale for such assessment.

Absence of such information may limit Crate.io’s ability to investigate or respond efficiently.

Support Services are provided primarily in written form. Where deemed appropriate by Crate.io, support engineers may propose a video or voice call to facilitate troubleshooting or clarification. Crate.io is not obligated to provide call-based support.

The primary language for support requests is English. Support in other languages is provided on a best-effort basis and subject to staff availability.

3. Types of Support Requests and Severity Levels

Support requests are classified into severity levels for internal prioritization purposes only: 

• S1 – Blocker A complete loss of service or critical production issue where the Customer’s business operations are severely impacted and no reasonable workaround exists.

• S2 – Incident A significant degradation of service or loss of key functionality where operations can continue in a restricted manner or a workaround exists, but the Customer’s business operations are materially impacted.

• S3 – Impediment Issues affecting non-critical functionality, including reproducible software defects with limited operational impact, configuration questions, or requests for assistance with supported usage.

• S4 – Question (Out of Scope / Informational) General questions, feature requests, advisory inquiries, or requests that do not relate to supported use of the Software. S4 requests do not constitute contractual Support Services and are handled at Crate.io’s discretion.

Response Times

For the purposes of this Support Policy, response time means the elapsed time between the submission of a Support ticket and the initial written acknowledgement by a Crate.io support engineer during Business Hours.

“Business Days” are Monday through Friday, excluding national public holidays applicable in the country where Crate.io entity (signing the Order Form) is located. 

“Business Hours” are 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM local time in Central European Time / Central European Summer Time (CET/CEST) unless otherwise expressly agreed in an applicable Order Form.

The following table describes indicative response time targets based on the applicable Support Plan and severity level. These targets are not service level agreements and do not constitute guarantees of resolution or availability.

4. Working Time and Progress Updates

After the initial response, Crate.io Support will use commercially reasonable efforts to work on each Support ticket during Business Hours, based on the applicable severity level. There is no guaranteed resolution time.

For Severity Level S1 (Blocker) incidents, Crate.io prioritizes support efforts to address critical production issues with a severe impact on the customer’s operations.

• Under the Basic Support plan, Crate.io will use commercially reasonable efforts to work continuously on S1 incidents during standard Business Hours and will provide regular status updates while the issue remains open.

• Under the Premium Support plan, Crate.io will prioritize S1 incidents with extended coverage and increased availability, which may include work outside standard Business Hours, depending on the circumstances. Status updates will be provided more frequently as appropriate.

For all other severity levels, work and progress updates will be provided as reasonably appropriate based on the nature of the request. 

Any extension of Business Hours or additional support coverage under this Support Policy may be agreed on a case-by-case basis subject to additional fees and must be expressly set out in an applicable Order Form. For inquiries, please contact us at https://cratedb.com/contact.

5. Scope of Support and Exclusions

Support Services include reasonable assistance with troubleshooting issues related to the Crate.io Software, reproducible Software defects, clarification of documented behavior, and guidance on supported configuration and usage scenarios.

Support Services do not include, without limitation:

• installation, deployment, or system administration services;

• development or debugging of Customer applications;

• performance analysis of Customer applications or infrastructure, unless directly caused by a reproducible Software defect;

• issues caused by configuration, capacity planning, or environmental factors;

• issues caused by third-party software, hardware, networks, or services;

• issues resulting from customizations or integrations not provided or expressly approved by Crate.io;

• feature requests or usability enhancements.

Additionally, Crate.io shall have no obligation to provide support for:

• Any third-party or other software installed alongside CrateDB on the same or adjacent systems, including interfaces not supported by Crate.io.

• Issues resulting from the Customer’s negligence, abuse, misapplication, or use of the Software other than as specified in the Documentation, in the Order Form, or due to causes beyond Crate.io’s reasonable control.

6. Customer Responsibilities

Customers are responsible for providing first-line support to their own users and for cooperating with Crate.io by providing relevant information, logs, access, queries and error messages and any additional context necessary to investigate support requests including making necessary changes to their code or queries. If sufficient information or access is not provided, Crate.io may be unable to resolve the issue and shall not be responsible for delays or limitations in support. 

7. Software Updates

Crate.io may provide patches, maintenance releases, and updates for supported versions of the Software. Minor and major versions may include breaking changes as documented in the applicable release notes. Customers are solely responsible for planning, testing, and deploying such updates in their on-premises environments and for ensuring continued compatibility with their applications.

For CrateDB Cloud services, availability commitments and maintenance windows, are governed exclusively by the applicable Cloud SLA and the Master Hosted Services Agreement, and not by this Support Policy.

8. End of Support

Crate.io provides regular support for major and minor versions of the Software for a period of one (1) year from their initial release, unless otherwise defined in the Order Form. Support timelines are indicative and may be modified at Crate.io’s discretion.

Customers with a valid subscription may continue to submit Support tickets for versions that have reached end of mainstream support; however, Crate.io makes no commitment regarding response times, availability, resolution, or fixes for such versions. Any fixes or corrections will be provided, if at all, only for supported versions of the Software and may require the Customer to upgrade.

Crate.io shall have no obligation to provide Support Services for issues arising from the use of unsupported or discontinued versions of the Software, consistent with the exclusions and limitations set forth in the applicable MSA and this Support Policy.

9. Versioning and Governing Terms

This Support Policy is versioned and effective as of the Effective Date stated above. It supersedes any prior support policies or support terms previously published by Crate.io.

This Support Policy forms part of, and is incorporated by reference into, the MSA or the MHSA, as applicable. In the event of any conflict, the applicable MSA or MHSA shall prevail.

END OF SUPPORT POLICY