Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) constitute a legally binding agreement between you (“Customer,” “you,” or “your”) and Heurista LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Development Institute LLC (“Heurista,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) governing your access to and use of the Heurista platform, including all related services, applications, and websites (collectively, the “Service”).

By creating an account, accessing, or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Service.

You must be at least 18 years of age to use the Service. By using the Service, you represent and warrant that you are at least 18 years old and have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms. If you are using the Service on behalf of an organization, you represent and warrant that you have the authority to bind that organization to these Terms, and “you” and “your” will refer to that organization.

To use the Service, you must create an account by providing accurate, complete, and current information. You may register using an email address and password or through a supported third-party authentication provider (Google, Microsoft, or GitHub). You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activities that occur under your account.

You agree to immediately notify us at legal@heurista.com if you become aware of any unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security. We are not liable for any loss arising from unauthorized use of your account.

Heurista is an AI-augmented research platform that supports qualitative and quantitative analysis workflows. The platform is used by researchers, evaluators, and organizations across various sectors. The Service includes, but is not limited to:

• Survey design and deployment
• Qualitative data coding and thematic analysis
• AI-powered analysis, summarization, and report generation
• Text-to-speech capabilities in 90+ languages
• Evidence matrices and cross-case analysis
• Document upload and analysis
• Data export in multiple formats (CSV, PDF, Excel)
• Team collaboration and shared workspaces
• Hue, an AI research assistant

Features available to you depend on your subscription plan. We reserve the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service at any time with reasonable notice.

4.1 Plans and Pricing

The Service is offered under the following subscription tiers: Free, Starter ($99/month), Professional ($249/month), Team ($199/seat/month), and Enterprise (custom pricing). Current pricing and feature details are available on our Pricing page. Prices are subject to change with 30 days' prior notice.

4.2 Billing Cycles

Paid subscriptions are billed either monthly or annually, at your election. Annual billing provides a discounted rate compared to monthly billing. Billing begins on the date you subscribe to a paid plan and recurs on the same date each billing period.

4.3 Auto-Renewal

All paid subscriptions automatically renew at the end of each billing period unless you cancel before the renewal date. You will be charged the then-current rate for your plan at the time of renewal.

4.4 Cancellation

You may cancel your subscription at any time through your account settings. Upon cancellation, your paid features will remain active through the end of your current billing period. After that period, your account will revert to the Free tier. No prorated refunds are provided for partial billing periods.

4.5 Refund Policy

Subscription fees are generally non-refundable. We may, at our sole discretion, issue refunds or credits on a case-by-case basis. Contact billing@heurista.com for refund requests.

4.6 Payment Processing

All payments are processed by Stripe, Inc. (“Stripe”). Your payment card information is transmitted directly to Stripe and is never stored on Heurista's servers. Your use of Stripe is subject to Stripe's Terms of Service.

New accounts receive a 14-day trial of the Professional plan at no cost. No credit card is required to start the trial. At the end of the trial period, if you have not subscribed to a paid plan, your account will automatically downgrade to the Free tier. No charges will be incurred unless you affirmatively select a paid plan.

We reserve the right to modify or discontinue the free trial offer at any time without notice. Only one free trial is available per individual or organization.

For detailed information about how AI is used in the Service, see our AI Transparency & Disclosure.

6.1 Ownership of Inputs

You retain all rights, title, and interest in and to the data, text, files, and other content you upload to or create within the Service (“Inputs”). Heurista does not claim ownership of your Inputs.

6.2 Ownership of Outputs

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, you own the AI-generated analyses, codes, themes, summaries, reports, and other content produced by the Service based on your Inputs (“Outputs”). You are free to use, modify, publish, and distribute your Outputs for any lawful purpose. Heurista makes no representation or warranty regarding the copyrightability or intellectual property status of AI-generated Outputs under applicable law. The availability and scope of intellectual property protection for AI-generated content may vary by jurisdiction and is subject to evolving legal standards.

6.3 No Warranty of Accuracy

AI Outputs may contain inaccuracies, biases, hallucinations, or errors. We do not warrant that any Output is accurate, complete, reliable, current, or fit for any particular purpose. You are solely responsible for evaluating and verifying all Outputs before use.

6.4 Not Professional Advice

Outputs do not constitute and must not be relied upon as professional, legal, medical, clinical, policy, or regulatory advice. AI-generated analysis is intended to augment — not replace — the judgment of qualified professionals. The principle is “AI proposes, you decide.”

6.5 Human Oversight Required

You agree that all Outputs will be reviewed by qualified professionals before being used to inform decisions that may affect individuals, populations, programs, or policies. You acknowledge that AI-assisted analysis is a starting point for professional review, not an endpoint.

6.6 High-Stakes Use Cases

If you intend to use AI-generated outputs to inform decisions that may materially affect the welfare, rights, safety, or access to services of individuals or populations — including but not limited to humanitarian programming, protection assessments, resource allocation, or policy recommendations — you must independently verify all AI-generated findings through non-AI methods before relying on them. The Service is not designed, intended, or warranted for use as the primary basis for decisions affecting the health, safety, welfare, legal rights, or liberty of any individual.

6.7 Similarity of Outputs

Due to the nature of AI, Outputs generated for different customers using similar Inputs may be similar or identical. Other customers' rights to their independently generated Outputs are not affected by your rights to your Outputs.

6.8 Third-Party Impact Acknowledgment

You acknowledge that AI-generated outputs may be used in decisions affecting individuals who are not parties to these Terms. You are solely responsible for verifying AI-generated findings before applying them to decisions that affect the rights, welfare, or access to services of any individual or population.

Your use of the Service is subject to our Acceptable Use Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference. Violation of the Acceptable Use Policy may result in immediate suspension or termination of your account.

The Service, including all software, algorithms, interfaces, designs, documentation, and branding (excluding your Inputs and Outputs), is owned by Heurista LLC and is protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret, and other intellectual property laws. These Terms do not grant you any rights to our trademarks, service marks, or logos.

You retain full ownership of your Inputs and Outputs as described in Sections 6.1 and 6.2. You grant us a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide license to process your Inputs solely for the purpose of providing the Service to you.

Our collection, use, and protection of your personal information is governed by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference.

The Service integrates with and relies upon the following third-party services, each governed by their own terms and privacy policies:

• Anthropic (Claude API) — AI analysis and generation
• Stripe — Payment processing
• Microsoft (Edge TTS) — Text-to-speech services
• Resend — Transactional email delivery
• KoboToolbox — Optional survey data integration

We are not responsible for the availability, accuracy, or practices of these third-party services. Your use of third-party services through Heurista is subject to those services' respective terms. We may update, add, or remove third-party integrations at any time.

Heurista provides tools for research data collection and analysis. You are solely responsible for ensuring that your use of the Service complies with all applicable research ethics standards and regulations, including but not limited to:

• Obtaining all required Institutional Review Board (IRB) or ethics committee approvals before collecting data through the Service
• Securing informed consent from research participants in accordance with applicable law and institutional requirements
• Complying with all applicable data protection regulations (including GDPR, HIPAA, and local equivalents) as they apply to your research
• Anonymizing or de-identifying personal data before uploading it to the Service when required by your ethics approval, institutional policy, or applicable law
• Maintaining appropriate data retention and disposal practices for research data

Heurista does not review, approve, or assume responsibility for the ethical compliance of your research. Providing tools that facilitate research does not constitute endorsement of any particular research design, methodology, or data handling practice.

We treat all customer research data as confidential. We will not access, use, disclose, or sell your Inputs or Outputs except as necessary to provide the Service, comply with applicable law, or enforce these Terms.

Your data is not used to train, fine-tune, or improve AI models. AI processing of your Inputs is performed using commercially restricted data retention configurations where available from our AI providers, meaning your data is not retained by the underlying AI service after processing.

We use commercially reasonable efforts to maintain the availability of the Service. However, we do not guarantee uninterrupted, error-free, or secure access to the Service. The Service may be temporarily unavailable due to scheduled maintenance, updates, or circumstances beyond our control.

We will make reasonable efforts to provide advance notice of planned maintenance windows. No service level agreement (SLA) is provided unless you are on an Enterprise plan with a separately executed SLA.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, in no event will Heurista, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, or agents be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including but not limited to loss of profits, data, use, goodwill, or other intangible losses, arising out of or in connection with your use of the Service, regardless of the theory of liability.

Without limiting the foregoing, we specifically disclaim liability for any decisions made, actions taken, or outcomes resulting from reliance on AI-generated Outputs, including but not limited to research conclusions, policy recommendations, clinical decisions, or program evaluations derived from or informed by such Outputs.

Our aggregate liability for all claims arising out of or related to these Terms or the Service will not exceed the total amount of fees paid by you to Heurista in the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or five hundred dollars ($500) for customers on the Free tier, whichever is greater.

The limitations in this section do not apply to Heurista's obligations under applicable data protection law, including but not limited to GDPR Articles 82-83, or to claims arising from Heurista's gross negligence or willful misconduct.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Heurista, its affiliates, and their respective officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to:

• Your Inputs or any content you upload to the Service
• Your use of Outputs, including any decisions made or actions taken based on AI-generated content
• Your violation of these Terms or any applicable law or regulation
• Your failure to comply with applicable research ethics requirements, including failure to obtain required IRB approvals or informed consent
• Your infringement of any third party's rights

16.2 Indemnification by Heurista

Heurista will indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Customer from any third-party claim that Customer's authorized use of the Service or its AI-generated Outputs infringes a valid patent, copyright, or trademark, provided Customer promptly notifies Heurista, grants sole control of the defense, and provides reasonable cooperation. If the Service is found to infringe, Heurista may: (a) obtain a license for continued use; (b) modify the Service to be non-infringing; or (c) terminate the affected Service and refund prepaid fees for the unused subscription term. This section states Heurista's entire liability for intellectual property infringement.

16.3 Limitation on Customer Indemnification

The customer's indemnification obligation under Section 16.1 does not apply to the extent that the claim arises from Heurista's breach of its security obligations, its negligence, or its willful misconduct.

17.1 Termination by You

You may terminate your account at any time by contacting us or through your account settings. Upon termination, we will refund a pro-rata portion of any prepaid subscription fees for the unused portion of your current billing period.

17.2 Termination by Us

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time, with or without cause, upon reasonable notice. We may terminate immediately, without notice, if you materially breach these Terms, violate the Acceptable Use Policy, or engage in activity that threatens the security or integrity of the Service or other users' data. If we terminate your account for any reason, we will refund a pro-rata portion of any prepaid subscription fees for the unused portion of your current billing period.

17.3 Cure Period for AUP Violations

For non-severe violations of the Acceptable Use Policy, we will provide written notice of the violation and a thirty (30) day cure period before taking enforcement action. Immediate termination without cure period is reserved for violations involving illegal activity, deliberate security breaches, or research fraud.

17.4 Effect of Termination

Upon termination, you will have a ninety (90) day window to export your data from the Service. Export formats include CSV, JSON (with full relational structure including codebook hierarchies, code-response mappings, and audit trails), PDF, and Excel. A read-only export-only access mode will be provided for terminated accounts during the export period. After the 90-day export window, we will delete your Inputs, Outputs, and account data from our systems, except as required by law or as necessary for legitimate business purposes (such as fraud prevention or compliance with legal obligations). Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including Sections 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, and 20) will survive.

18.1 Governing Law

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the District of Columbia, United States, without regard to its conflict of laws principles.

18.2 Informal Resolution

Before filing any formal legal proceeding, you agree to attempt to resolve any dispute informally by contacting us at legal@heurista.com. We will attempt to resolve the dispute informally within sixty (60) days. If the dispute is not resolved within that period, either party may proceed with formal legal action.

18.3 Exclusive Jurisdiction

Any legal action or proceeding arising under these Terms will be brought exclusively in the federal or state courts located in the District of Columbia, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of such courts.

18.4 Binding Arbitration

Any dispute not resolved through informal resolution shall be resolved by binding arbitration administered by JAMS under its Streamlined Arbitration Rules. Arbitration shall take place in Washington, D.C., or by videoconference at the claimant's election. The arbitrator's award shall be final and binding. Either party may seek injunctive relief in any court of competent jurisdiction. Small claims court actions are excluded from this arbitration requirement. You may opt out of this arbitration provision by notifying legal@heurista.com within 30 days of account creation.

18.5 Class Action Waiver

You and Heurista each waive the right to participate in a class action, collective action, representative action, or private attorney general action.

18.6 EU Consumer Protection

If you are a consumer resident in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or Switzerland, nothing in these Terms shall deprive you of the protection afforded by the mandatory provisions of the law of your country of habitual residence.

We may modify these Terms at any time. For material changes, we will provide at least thirty (30) days' advance notice via email to the address associated with your account or through a prominent notice within the Service. Non-material changes (such as typographical corrections or formatting) may be made without advance notice.

Your continued use of the Service after the effective date of any modification constitutes your acceptance of the modified Terms. If you do not agree to the modified Terms, you must stop using the Service and may terminate your account as described in Section 17.1.

Entire Agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, Acceptable Use Policy, Data Processing Agreement (where applicable), and AI Transparency & Disclosure, constitute the entire agreement between you and Heurista regarding the Service and supersede all prior agreements and understandings.

Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be modified to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

Waiver. Our failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not constitute a waiver of that right or provision.

Assignment. You may not assign or transfer these Terms or your rights under them without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms without restriction.

Force Majeure. We will not be liable for any failure or delay in performing our obligations under these Terms if such failure or delay results from circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including but not limited to natural disasters, acts of government, internet disruptions, or third-party service failures. If a force majeure event continues for more than thirty (30) consecutive days, either party may terminate the affected services upon written notice, and Customer shall be entitled to a pro-rata refund of prepaid fees for the period of non-performance.

If you believe content on the Service infringes your copyright, send a notice to our designated agent at legal@heurista.com containing: (a) identification of the copyrighted work; (b) identification of the allegedly infringing material and its location; (c) your contact information; (d) a statement of good faith belief that the use is not authorized; (e) a statement under penalty of perjury that the information is accurate and you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner. We will respond to valid DMCA notices in accordance with applicable law.

Repeat Infringer Policy. In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Heurista will terminate the accounts of users who are repeat infringers of copyright in appropriate circumstances.

Counter-Notification. If you believe your content was wrongly removed, you may submit a counter-notification to legal@heurista.com containing the information required under 17 U.S.C. § 512(g).

For questions about these Terms, please contact us: