SaaS and software agreement lawyers for tech companies

A software license grants the right to install and use a copy of software, often on the customer’s own systems. A SaaS agreement grants access to software the vendor hosts, so it also has to cover uptime, data handling, security and support. Many companies need both, depending on how each product is delivered.

Often, yes. If your software processes personal data on behalf of customers, many customers, and many privacy laws, expect a data processing agreement covering how that data is handled, secured, shared with subprocessors and returned or deleted. The DPA should match your actual practices and your main agreement.

Many software companies use both. Click-through terms suit self-serve and smaller accounts where negotiation is impractical, while enterprise customers usually expect a negotiable MSA with order forms. The key is keeping both versions consistent, so the company is not managing conflicting commitments across its customer base.

Start with what happens to your data, what the vendor’s liability cap actually covers, how renewals and price increases work, and how you can exit and retrieve your data. For AI tools, also check whether your inputs can be used to train the vendor’s models. Those terms usually matter more than the headline price.

It depends on the agreement and the other side. A focused review of one vendor contract can move quickly, while building a full set of subscription terms, a DPA and an SLA from scratch takes longer. Timing and scope are agreed at the outset so the work lines up with your deal schedule.