Developer Terms

Last updated October 23, 2026

These Developer Terms ("Terms") are a contract between you and Phonetico, a company registered in Minnesota, United States, with operations in the United States, Canada, and Ethiopia ("Phonetico," "we," "us," or "our"). They govern your use of our developer portal, our application programming interfaces, and the products you reach through them, which today include speech-to-text transcription and text-to-speech synthesis ("Developer Services").

Read these Terms with the Developer Data Processing Terms, the Privacy Policy, and the Acceptable Use Policy. By registering a developer account, accepting these Terms in the portal, or calling the API, you agree to all of them. If you are agreeing on behalf of an organization, you confirm that you may bind it, and "you" means that organization.

The contributor Terms of Service do not govern the Developer Services. These Terms do.

1. Developer accounts

1.1 Registration. You must register with accurate information and keep it current. You are responsible for all activity under your account and your API keys.

1.2 Organization accounts and access. If your account is part of an organization, an administrator may be able to grant and remove access, see activity, and manage keys and billing for the account. You are responsible for whom you give access to.

1.3 Acceptance of current terms. Use of the metered API can be conditioned on your acceptance of the current version of these Terms and the Developer Data Processing Terms. If a new version is published, API calls and the portal's Transcribe and Speak can be paused for your account until you accept it. Your settings, billing, and data remain available while calls are paused.

2. The Developer Services

2.1 What we provide. We provide APIs and a developer portal to transcribe audio, synthesize speech, run transcription and speech jobs, transcribe and synthesize in the developer portal (Transcribe and Speak), and read our documentation and SDKs. We identify models by name in the request. We may add, change, deprecate, or withdraw a product, model, language, or feature, and we will use reasonable efforts to give notice of a material change or deprecation.

2.2 Beta features. A feature we mark as beta or preview is provided for evaluation, may change or be withdrawn, and may be less reliable than a generally available feature. We may exclude beta features from any service commitment.

3. API keys and account security

3.1 Keys are credentials. API keys authenticate calls as you and must be kept secret. You are responsible for every call made with your keys, whether or not you authorized it. Do not embed a secret key in client-side code or a public repository.

3.2 Key controls. You can scope a key to specific products, set an expiry, rotate its secret, set a monthly spend cap, and limit the networks it may be used from. These controls are yours to manage, and we are not responsible for loss that proper use of them would have prevented.

3.3 Compromise. If a key is exposed or misused, rotate or revoke it at once and tell us at [email protected]. We may revoke a key or suspend access to protect you, other users, or the Developer Services.

4. Acceptable use

Your use of the Developer Services is subject to the Acceptable Use Policy, which forms part of these Terms.

5. Your data and ownership

5.1 Your inputs and outputs. You keep all rights you hold in the audio, text, and reference material you send to the API ("Inputs") and in the transcripts and synthesized audio we return to you ("Outputs"). As between you and us, you own your Inputs and Outputs, and we claim no ownership of them. You are responsible for your Inputs and for your use of your Outputs.

5.2 Non-exclusivity of outputs. Because of how the models work, other users may send similar Inputs and receive similar Outputs. We may generate and return comparable Outputs to others, and your Outputs are not exclusive to you.

5.3 Training on your data. We process your Inputs and Outputs to provide, secure, and support the Developer Services. We do not use them to train or improve our models unless you turn training on for your account in the developer portal. Training is off by default.

  • What it covers. While training is on, we may use the audio you send for transcription and the transcripts we return, and the text you send for synthesis and the speech we return, from every API key and the developer portal.
  • What it never covers. Reference voice clips and saved voices are never used for training. They are used only to synthesize speech for you, as Section 6 describes.
  • How we use it. We use this data to train, fine-tune, test, and evaluate Phonetico's own speech recognition, speech synthesis, and related language models. We do not sell it, publish it, or license it to others as a dataset, and we do not use it for advertising. Models trained with it may be offered to our customers as part of our services.
  • Only while you keep it. We use your data for training only while the retention you set in the portal keeps it. We keep no copy for training after that.
  • Your confirmation. The data may contain the voices or words of other people. By turning training on, you confirm that you have the right to let us use it for training, including any notice or consent the law requires from the people in it.
  • Turning it off. You can turn training off at any time in the portal, and it takes effect from that moment: nothing from your account is used in further training. Data that has already been used to train a model cannot be removed from that model. Closing your account turns training off.

We record each time you turn training on or off, and the version of the statement you agreed to.

5.4 Retention. You choose in the developer portal how long we keep your transcripts and synthesized speech. The Privacy Policy, Section 8, sets out what is kept, for how long, and what we may keep for abuse monitoring whatever you choose.

5.5 Aggregated data. We may create aggregated and de-identified data and statistics from the operation and use of the Developer Services ("Aggregated Data"), as the Privacy Policy, Section 5.5, describes. Aggregated Data does not include the content of your Inputs or Outputs, and you gain no rights in it.

6. Reference clips and saved voices

The synthesis product can speak in a voice taken from a reference clip you send with a request, or from a voice you save in the developer portal.

6.1 Reference clips. Custom-reference synthesis is available on a key only after you complete the custom-voice rights attestation for that key. By completing it, you attest that:

  • you have the right to use every reference clip you submit through the key for synthesis, through ownership, license, or the speaker's documented consent;
  • the reference transcript you provide reflects the spoken content of the reference audio; and
  • you take full responsibility for downstream use of synthesized audio produced from references you supply.

We keep a fingerprint of each reference clip for abuse detection, as the Privacy Policy, Section 8, describes.

6.2 Saved voices. When you save a voice, you confirm in the portal that the voice in the clip is yours, or that the person who speaks in it has given you explicit, documented consent to record their voice and to have speech synthesized in it through Phonetico for the uses you make of it; that the transcript you save is what is said in the clip; and that you are responsible for the speech you synthesize with the voice and for how it is used. We record your confirmation, the version of its text, the time, your account, and the network you agreed from.

Only your account and its API keys can use a saved voice, and it is not listed to anyone else. You can rename or delete it at any time in Speak. Deleting it deletes the clip, its transcript, and its description, and the record of your confirmation is kept. Closing your account deletes every voice you saved.

6.3 Consent records and misuse. For every voice you clone or save that is not your own, you must keep a record of the speaker's consent for as long as you use the voice, and give it to us on reasonable request. If we receive a credible report that a voice was cloned or saved without the speaker's consent, we may suspend the voice, the key, or the account while we look into it. To report one, email [email protected]. Misuse of these features is a serious breach of these Terms.

7. Fees, billing, and payment

7.1 Prepaid balance. The Developer Services are prepaid. You add funds to a balance, and we deduct from it as you use the API. Funds you add do not expire.

7.2 How usage is charged. Transcription is charged by the length of audio processed, at the rate shown in the portal. Synthesis is charged by the number of characters, at the rate shown, subject to a minimum per-call charge. Each account may receive a number of free transcription minutes each calendar month; transcription uses those before it draws on your balance, they renew monthly in UTC, and unused minutes do not carry over. The rates and any free allowance are shown in the portal and may change for future use.

7.3 Nothing charged when we cannot serve you. A request for a product, model, or language that is unavailable is refused and not charged. If no capacity is available for a call, nothing is charged for it.

7.4 Payment processor. Card payments are handled by our third-party payment processor. We do not store your full card details. Your payment is also subject to the processor's terms.

7.5 Caps and alerts. You can set a monthly spend cap per key and email alerts for a low balance or a monthly spend threshold. These are aids, and you remain responsible for your usage and charges.

7.6 Refunds, disputes, and taxes. Except where the law requires otherwise, amounts spent on usage are non-refundable. Unused prepaid balance may be refundable as we describe in the portal. If you dispute a card charge, we may suspend the account pending resolution. Fees are exclusive of taxes, and you are responsible for any taxes due on your purchase other than taxes on our income.

8. Availability and support

We work to keep the Developer Services available, and the portal shows current service status by product and language. We do not promise uninterrupted or error-free service unless a separate written service-level agreement says so. We provide support through the channels described in the portal, and we are not otherwise obliged to provide support.

9. Confidentiality

Each party may receive non-public information from the other. The receiving party will use it only to exercise its rights and meet its obligations under these Terms, will protect it with reasonable care, and will not disclose it except to people who need it and are bound to keep it confidential. This does not cover information that is public through no fault of the receiving party, was already known to it, is independently developed, or must be disclosed by law.

10. Intellectual property

The Developer Services, including the APIs, the portal, the models, the documentation, the SDKs, and our brand, belong to Phonetico or its licensors. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable right to use the Developer Services to build and run your own application as these Terms allow. You get no other rights. If you give us feedback or suggestions, you grant us a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free right to use them for any purpose without obligation to you.

11. Warranties and disclaimers

Except where the law does not allow it, the Developer Services are provided "as is" and "as available," and we disclaim all warranties, whether express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. Automated transcription and synthesis are probabilistic, can contain errors, and should not be relied on as the sole basis for a decision that has legal or safety consequences without human review.

12. Limitation of liability

Except where the law does not allow it, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, or data. Our total liability for any claim arising out of these Terms or the Developer Services is limited to the greater of (a) the amount you paid us for the Developer Services in the twelve months before the event that gave rise to the claim, and (b) one hundred United States dollars.

13. Indemnification

You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Phonetico and its officers, employees, and agents from any third-party claim, loss, or expense that arises out of your Inputs, your Outputs, your application, your use of the Developer Services, your breach of these Terms or the Acceptable Use Policy, or your infringement of anyone's rights, including a claim that a voice you cloned or saved was used without the right to do so.

14. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate your access if you breach these Terms or the Acceptable Use Policy, if your balance cannot cover your usage, if your account poses a security, legal, or payment risk, or if we are required to by law. You may stop using the Developer Services and close your account at any time. On termination, your right to use the Developer Services ends, your keys stop working, and any refundable balance is handled as described in the portal. Sections that by their nature should continue will continue, including Sections 5, 9, 10, 12, and 13.

15. Changes to these terms

We may change these Terms and the documents that form part of them. If a change is material, we will give notice through the portal or by email, and your continued use after the change takes effect means you accept it, subject to Section 1.3.

16. Governing law, export, and government use

16.1 Governing law. These Terms, and the documents that form part of them, are governed by the laws of the State of Minnesota, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. The courts located in Minnesota have jurisdiction over disputes arising from these Terms. Before bringing a claim, you agree to try in good faith to resolve the dispute with us first by contacting [email protected].

16.2 Export and sanctions. You will comply with applicable export-control and sanctions laws, and you confirm that you are not located in a country or on a list that those laws prohibit us from serving, and will not use the Developer Services in a way those laws forbid.

16.3 Government use. If you are a government user, the Developer Services are commercial products, and your use is subject to these Terms; no greater rights are granted by law.

17. General

  • Assignment. We may assign these Terms, for example as part of a reorganization or sale of our business. You may not assign yours without our consent.
  • Severability and waiver. If a provision is unenforceable, the rest stays in effect, and our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it.
  • Entire agreement. These Terms, with the documents they incorporate, are the whole agreement between you and us about the Developer Services, unless we have signed a separate written agreement with you, which then controls where it conflicts.

18. Contact