Terms of Service

Last updated: October 13, 2026

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using AlgoArena ("the Platform"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree to these Terms, you may not access or use the Platform. We may update these Terms at any time; your continued use of the Platform constitutes acceptance of any changes.

2. Description of Service

AlgoArena is a competitive programming, classroom, and assessment platform that includes:

Real-time 1v1 coding battles (ranked and unranked)
Practice problems and interview preparation
Ranked Elo-based matchmaking and leaderboards
Puzzle Rush, daily challenges, streaks, quests, and achievements
Tournaments and Arena Credits (virtual currency)
AI-powered code analysis, AI chat tutor, and AI mock interviews
Classroom Mode for live, interactive CS education, including the host debrief
Online Assessment (OA) mode for technical hiring, including candidate invitations, explain videos, and company and institution administration
Builder workspace for creating software with AI agents and direct code control
Community features: friends, challenge links, social leaderboards
Free and premium subscription tiers, including company and institution plans

3. User Accounts

3.1 Account Creation

You must create an account to use most features. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information during registration and to keep it up to date.

3.2 Account Security

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity under your account. Notify us immediately of any unauthorized use.

3.3 Age Requirements

You must be at least 13 years old to use the Platform. If you are under 18, you represent that you have your parent or guardian's permission. Educators using Classroom Mode with students under 13 are responsible for obtaining appropriate parental consent and complying with applicable laws in their jurisdiction.

3.4 Guest Classroom Access

Students joining a classroom quiz may participate without creating a full account, using anonymous (guest) authentication and a display name chosen by the student or teacher. Guest access is session-scoped and is governed by these Terms and our Privacy Policy.

4. User Conduct

You agree NOT to:

Use the Platform for any illegal or unauthorized purpose
Violate any laws in your jurisdiction
Cheat or use unauthorized tools during battles, assessments, or quizzes
Harass, abuse, threaten, or harm other users
Share your account credentials with others
Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Platform or to other accounts
Interfere with or disrupt the Platform's servers or networks
Upload or transmit viruses or malicious code
Collect or harvest personal information of other users
Use bots, scripts, or automated tools to access the Platform
Reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble any part of the Platform
Create multiple accounts to manipulate rankings or matchmaking
Re-publish or resell Platform content, questions, or AI-generated outputs without our consent

5. Fair Play and Anti-Cheat

5.1 Anti-Cheat Measures and Data Collection

During all coding activities (including battles, practice, puzzles, interviews, classroom quizzes, and online assessments), we implement monitoring and data collection such as:

Keystroke timing and typing-pattern analysis
Periodic code snapshots
Window focus and tab-switch detection
UI-level copy-paste prevention
Typing burst detection
Test-run frequency and pattern analysis

By using the coding environment, you explicitly consent to this detailed monitoring and data collection. This data is linked to your account and may be used for anti-cheat detection, platform improvement, and research. See our Privacy Policy for complete details.

We also apply automated fair-play rules to ranked play: a win solved implausibly fast, or ranked gains beyond a daily limit, may earn reduced or no ranked Elo. These are automatic safeguards, not accusations, and never reduce your existing rating.

For online assessments only, the administering company may additionally enable webcam proctoring (off by default). Where enabled, and only after you grant camera access, the assessment captures periodic still-image snapshots for that company to review manually. We do not perform facial recognition or automated face analysis on these images.

5.2 Prohibited Behavior

The following is strictly prohibited:

Using external code, notes, or resources during battles or assessments where disallowed
Copying and pasting code from external sources
Using outside AI assistants (for example, ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, or Cursor outside our own tools) during battles or ranked competition, or during an assessment where the administering company has disabled AI assistance. Note that AI-native assessments may expressly permit in-platform AI (such as Rena) and outside resources, as configured by the administering company for each assessment.
Maintaining multiple accounts to manipulate rankings, matchmaking, or referrals
Collaborating with others during solo battles or assessments
Deliberately losing matches to manipulate ranked Elo
Using automated tools, bots, or scripted input

5.3 Violations and Penalties

Violations may result in:

Immediate match forfeit and automatic loss
Ranked Elo penalty or reset
Temporary suspension (typically 3 to 30 days)
Permanent account termination
Removal from competitive features and tournaments
Loss of subscription benefits and Arena Credits without refund
Notification to the administering company or institution for assessment or classroom integrity violations

6. Third-Party Services and APIs

The Platform relies on the third-party services below. Where you use one of them directly, such as signing in with Google or GitHub or paying through Stripe, that service's own terms and privacy policy also apply to you. Our agreements with the other providers, including AWS's terms for the AI models on Amazon Bedrock, are between those providers and AlgoArena:

Firebase / Google Cloud: authentication (including anonymous guest sign-in), Firestore, Cloud Functions, Cloud Storage, and Cloud Messaging.
Stripe: payment processing for subscriptions.
SendGrid (Twilio): transactional and marketing email delivery.
OpenAI: Whisper speech-to-text (audio and OA explain-video transcription).
Amazon Polly (AWS): text-to-speech for the AI interviewer.
Serper (Google Search): web search tool for AI features.
Google Cloud Vision: automated image moderation.
OneCompiler (via RapidAPI): code execution engine (replaces earlier Judge0 integration).
GitHub OAuth: optional sign-in and linking.
Redis: realtime matchmaking and Puzzle Rush queues.
Vercel: hosting and analytics.
Mixpanel: product analytics and session recordings, only when Analytics is on.
AWS (Amazon Web Services): Amazon Bedrock, which runs the AI models behind AI features, and Rekognition for image moderation.
WorkOS: enterprise single sign-on (SAML/OIDC) for individually configured assessment partners.
Cloudflare Turnstile: bot and CAPTCHA verification on sign-up and other flows.
Sightengine: additional automated image moderation.
Cal.com: optional scheduling for demos and meetings.

Your code submissions may be processed by these providers. The AI models we use run on Amazon Bedrock and come from developers such as Anthropic, DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, MiniMax, Z.AI, OpenAI, xAI, Alibaba, Mistral AI, Meta, Google, and Amazon. AWS states that it does not share your prompts or outputs with those developers and that they are not used to train models. OpenAI states that audio we send it for transcription is not used to train its models. We are not responsible for their actions, policies, or practices beyond our own use.

7. Intellectual Property

7.1 Platform Content

The Platform and its original content, features, and functionality are owned by AlgoArena and are protected by international copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws.

7.2 User Content and Code Submissions

You retain ownership of the code you submit. By submitting content to the Platform, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual license to use, reproduce, modify, analyze, and display your content for the purpose of operating and improving the Platform, including:

Running your code through our code-execution vendor (OneCompiler via RapidAPI)
Analyzing your code with AI models (e.g., Claude, DeepSeek, Kimi, Qwen) served via Amazon Bedrock for feedback and grading
Storing your code and keystroke patterns for anti-cheat and research
Using accepted submissions, timing, and replay data to power async ghost races (replay and final-solution details may be shown to another user after they attempt or race that ghost)
Displaying your code in battle comparisons, leaderboards, and classroom and OA debriefs visible to the relevant host or company administrator
Using anonymized coding patterns for platform improvements

7.3 Problem Sources

Problems are authored and maintained by AlgoArena. Some problems may be inspired by common competitive programming patterns and concepts. We do not intend to copy or republish third-party problem statements; where a specific third-party source is referenced or credited, we do so where available and as appropriate. If you believe content on the Platform infringes your rights, contact us at contact@algoarena.net, and we will review and address the issue.

8. Classroom Mode

Classroom Mode lets an educator host live quizzes and review a post-session debrief containing the roster, per-question responses, submitted code, and scoring. When you use Classroom Mode:

The host is responsible for the classroom session they run, including the questions used and any display names collected from students.
Each session's data (roster, submissions, code, answers, timing) is visible only to the host of that session and to the student for their own submissions.
Educators using Classroom Mode with students under 13 are responsible for obtaining appropriate parental consent and complying with applicable laws (for example, COPPA and FERPA in the United States).
Hosts may export a session report as CSV or PDF and may delete a session from the debrief page at any time.
Students agree that their display name, answers, and submitted code for a given session are shared with the session host for grading and feedback.
Classroom questions may include algorithms, coding, or drawing prompts. Drawing submissions may be sent to an AI grader if the host enables auto-grading.

9. Tournaments and Arena Credits

9.1 Nature of Credits

Arena Credits and similar in-platform balances are a virtual currency. They have no cash value, cannot be redeemed for money, and are not transferable outside the Platform. Arena Credits are a limited, revocable license to use in-Platform features.

9.2 Tournaments

Tournaments may have buy-ins paid in Arena Credits and prize pools distributed as Arena Credits to top finishers. Tournament rules, brackets, and scheduling are posted with each tournament and may be modified for operational reasons. We reserve the right to forfeit Arena Credits earned or held in connection with cheating, abuse, or violations of these Terms.

9.3 No Real-Money Gambling

The Platform is not a real-money gaming or gambling service. You may not engage in any real-money exchange related to Arena Credits, match outcomes, or tournament results, except through official AlgoArena subscription purchases handled by Stripe.

10. Referral Program

AlgoArena may offer a referral program under which existing users earn time-limited platform benefits after a threshold of eligible referrals. Referrals must be genuine new users; self-referrals, referrals from the same IP address, and other forms of abuse are prohibited and will be rejected. We may change, suspend, or terminate the referral program at any time.

11. Premium Subscriptions

11.1 Subscription Terms

Premium subscriptions (including individual, company, and institution plans) provide access to additional features. Subscriptions are billed on a recurring basis (monthly or annually) until canceled. Team and institution plans may be administered on your behalf by your employer, school, or organization.

11.2 Payment

All payments are processed securely through Stripe. You authorize us to charge your payment method for all subscription fees. All fees are non-refundable except as required by law.

11.3 Cancellation

You may cancel your subscription at any time through your account settings. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period.

11.4 Price Changes

We reserve the right to modify subscription pricing. Price changes will be communicated in advance and will apply to subsequent billing periods.

12. Termination

We may terminate or suspend your account and access to the Platform immediately, without prior notice or liability, for any reason, including:

Breach of these Terms
Violation of fair-play rules
Fraudulent activity or payment chargebacks
Harassment of other users
Legal requirements

Upon termination, your right to use the Platform will immediately cease. We are not liable for any loss or damage resulting from termination, including the forfeiture of Arena Credits or unused subscription time.

You may permanently delete your own account from account settings. Once you confirm that deletion, it takes effect immediately and cannot be undone; there is no grace period or account-restoration process. Records described as retained in the Privacy Policy remain subject to those retention terms.

13. Disclaimers

THE PLATFORM IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO:

Warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement
Warranties that the Platform will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free
Warranties regarding the accuracy or reliability of content, including AI-generated content

14. Limitation of Liability

IN NO EVENT SHALL ALGOARENA, ITS DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, USE, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, RESULTING FROM YOUR ACCESS TO OR USE OF OR INABILITY TO ACCESS OR USE THE PLATFORM.

15. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless AlgoArena and its affiliates from any claims, damages, obligations, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses arising from your use of the Platform or violation of these Terms.

16. Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the United States, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. Any disputes arising from these Terms or your use of the Platform shall be resolved in the courts of competent jurisdiction.

17. Changes to Terms

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. We will provide notice of material changes by posting the new Terms on this page with an updated "Last updated" date. Your continued use of the Platform after changes constitutes acceptance of the modified Terms.

18. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision will be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that these Terms will otherwise remain in full force and effect.

19. Contact Information

If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us:

Email: contact@algoarena.net

Website: https://algoarena.net

By creating an account, joining a classroom quiz, or otherwise using AlgoArena, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy.

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