Terms of Service

Version 1.0 · effective 28 August 2026

1. Who we are

Niche Wars (the “Service”, at nichewars.com) is operated by “VEZOFT” EOOD, a private limited liability company incorporated in Bulgaria (EU), company No. (EIK) 202823109, with its registered seat in Kardzhali, Bulgaria (“Vezoft”, “we”). Contact: legal@vezoft.com (legal and privacy) or hello@vezoft.com (everything else). Email is our rapid, direct contact channel; we also accept post at the registered address.

2. What the Service is

Niche Wars is an entertainment and community site where independent software products compete, by public backing, to be ranked as alternatives to well-known products in their category. Rankings reflect community backing under the Rules — they are not reviews, benchmarks, endorsements or advice, and they cannot be bought. The Service is provided free of charge.

3. Accounts and eligibility

You need an account only to list a product. Sign-in is via GitHub; your GitHub account must be at least 30 days old. You must be at least 16 and, if you act for a company, authorised to bind it. Keep your GitHub credentials secure — actions taken through your session are yours. We may suspend or close accounts that break these Terms or the Rules. You may close your account at any time by writing to legal@vezoft.com.

4. Your listing

When you list a product you declare facts about it — including team size and money raised, which gate entry under the indie limit in the Rules — and you warrant they are true and stay true. You grant Vezoft a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to display the name, logo, images, video links and text you provide, for operating and promoting the Service. You warrant you hold the rights to everything you submit. We may verify declared facts, correct categorisation, and remove listings that are inaccurate, over the limit, unlawful, or harmful to the game's integrity.

5. The game

The Rules — duels, seasons, shields, ascension, the indie limit, and the fair-play requirements — are part of these Terms. Manipulating backing in any of the ways the Rules prohibit is a material breach. Game mechanics may evolve; changes apply from the next season and never retroactively rewrite a resolved fight.

6. Backing

Backing is free, open to visitors without an account, limited to one back per person per fight, and carries no monetary value. We may discard backs that violate the Rules.

7. Tips

Visitors may send a voluntary tip to a founder. Tips are processed by Stripe and paid directly into the founder's own Stripe account: the founder is the recipient and merchant of record, and the payment contract is between the tipper and the founder. Vezoft is not a party to that payment, never receives or holds the funds, and currently charges no fee (if that changes we will update these Terms first). A tip is a gratuitous payment — it buys no goods, services, ranking effect or other benefit, and never affects any fight or position. Refunds and payment disputes are handled by the recipient founder through Stripe; where a refund is recorded, the displayed tip total is reduced. Founders are responsible for their Stripe account, for complying with Stripe's terms, and for their own taxes on tips received. Some founders link an external tipping page (for example Ko-fi) instead; those sites are their own services under their own terms.

8. Giants and third-party names

The “giants” that anchor each niche are our editorial selection of the product a category is compared against. Their names and logos belong to their owners, are used only to identify what the listed products are alternatives to, and imply no affiliation, sponsorship or endorsement. Figures shown about a giant are published only with a cited source and the date we read it. Any company may ask to be removed as a giant at any time and we will honour the request. Big-dog applications are reviewed by hand; we are never obliged to list anyone.

9. Intellectual property

The Service — its code, design, text and mechanics — belongs to Vezoft. Product names, logos and materials belong to their respective owners. If you believe content on the Service infringes your rights, write to legal@vezoft.com with enough detail to act on; we take infringement notices seriously and act quickly.

10. Acceptable use

Do not: break the fair-play rules; scrape at volumes that burden the Service; probe or disrupt its security; impersonate people or products; submit unlawful, defamatory or infringing content; or use the Service to send spam. We may rate-limit, filter, or block abusive traffic.

11. Disclaimers

The Service is provided “as is” and free of charge. We work to keep facts sourced and the game fair, but we do not warrant uninterrupted availability, error-free operation, or the accuracy of user-declared or third-party figures. Rankings are a game outcome, not a professional assessment.

12. Liability

Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot be excluded by law, including liability for intent or gross negligence, or your statutory rights as an EU consumer. Subject to that, and given the Service is free, Vezoft is liable only for damage caused intentionally or by gross negligence, and is not liable for lost profits, lost data or indirect damage arising from use of a free entertainment service.

13. Changes

We may change the Service and these Terms. Material changes are announced on the site with a new version number and effective date; continued use after the effective date is acceptance. If you do not accept a change, stop using the Service and, if you have an account, close it.

14. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of Bulgaria, excluding conflict-of-laws rules. The courts of Kardzhali, Bulgaria have jurisdiction. EU consumers retain the mandatory right to bring claims in the courts of their country of residence and the protection of the mandatory consumer law of that country, and may also contact their national consumer-protection body (in Bulgaria, the Commission for Consumer Protection).

15. Final provisions

If a provision of these Terms is invalid, the rest stands. These Terms are drafted in English; the English text prevails over any translation. The Terms, together with the Rules and Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and Vezoft for the Service.