SA Tech Contract Benchmarks

Uptime & SLA benchmarks

Uptime percentages compress badly into intuition, so the table converts each common tier into the downtime it actually permits per month — before maintenance windows and force majeure exclusions widen it further. In our drafting practice, standard B2B SaaS lands in the 99.5–99.9% band, while enterprise and regulated-sector deals start at 99.95%.

The remedy matters as much as the number: service credits commonly run at 5–25% of the monthly fee per breach, with credit caps of 50–100% of the monthly fee, and a chronic-failure termination right triggered by three breaches in six months or two consecutive months. Our SLA guide unpacks the full drafting anatomy.

Liability caps

The liability cap is the most-negotiated clause in SA tech contracting. These are the positions we draft from and the ranges we see counterparties accept — the cap multiple is rarely the real fight; the carve-outs are.

Warranty & support norms

These figures are common drafting positions, not guarantees any provider must meet — the severity matrix in particular should always be matched to what the provider's support operation can actually deliver. Response times are typically guaranteed; resolution times are framed as targets.

Commercial terms

The payment and renewal mechanics that recur across SA SaaS, development and licensing work. Enterprise procurement policies override most of these — knowing the default tells you what a departure is worth at the negotiating table.

Note: the 60–90 day B2B auto-renewal window above is market practice, not a statute. It is separate from the statutory CPA expiry-notice (section 14 read with Regulation 5 — a 40–80 business-day notice before a fixed term ends), which applies to natural-person consumers rather than business-to-business subscriptions. See our website terms guide for the consumer position.

Legal-fee benchmarks — the firm's fixed fees

These are MJ Kotze Inc's published fixed fees for bespoke technology-contract drafting, consolidated from the individual guides across this hub. Every fee is quoted upfront before work starts — no hourly estimates.

How to use these numbers

Treat each benchmark as a negotiating anchor, not a rule. If a counterparty proposes a liability cap of three months' fees, or an SLA with no credit mechanism, or net-90 payment terms, the tables above tell you how far from market that position sits — and that distance is your leverage. Equally, holding out for 99.99% uptime from a two-person SaaS startup, or a 24-month warranty on a fixed-fee build, is asking for a number the other side cannot honestly stand behind.

Every deal varies. Sector regulation, deal size, who carries the integration risk, and the bargaining power of the parties all move these ranges — sometimes far outside them, legitimately. The benchmarks are the starting position we draft from, reviewed against what we see counterparties accept; they are not a substitute for reading the specific contract in front of you.

This page is general information about market practice in South African technology contracting, not legal advice. These figures are MJ Kotze Inc drafting benchmarks, last reviewed 1 July 2026, and will change as the market does. For advice on a specific agreement, speak to an attorney.

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