Service Level Agreement Guide

An SLA defines the performance standards a service provider must meet and the remedies if they fail. Whether you're buying or selling services, understanding SLA terms protects your business. Use the uptime calculator to understand what common SLA percentages really mean in minutes of downtime.

Uptime SLA Calculator

Select an uptime percentage:

Core SLA Metrics Explained

Uptime / Availability
Percentage of time the service is operational and accessible
e.g. 99.9% = 8.7 hrs downtime/year
RTO (Recovery Time Objective)
Maximum acceptable time to restore service after an outage
e.g. RTO ≤ 4 hours for critical systems
RPO (Recovery Point Objective)
Maximum acceptable data loss in time — how old can a backup be?
e.g. RPO = 1 hour (max 1 hr of data lost)
MTTR (Mean Time to Repair)
Average time taken to repair a failed component or service
Target MTTR ≤ 2 hours per incident
MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures)
Average time between service failures — reliability indicator
MTBF > 720 hours = reliable service
Response Time
How quickly the provider acknowledges a support ticket or incident
P1 (Critical) ≤ 15 min acknowledgment

SLA Components Reference

SLA ComponentWhat to DefineCommon Terms
ScopeWhich services, systems, or components are coveredList specific services; exclude scheduled maintenance windows
Uptime GuaranteeMinimum availability percentage and measurement window99.9% (monthly rolling); exclude maintenance windows
Incident Priority LevelsP1–P4 definitions based on business impactP1: Complete outage. P2: Major degradation. P3: Partial. P4: Minor
Response Time by PriorityTime to acknowledge each priority levelP1: 15 min. P2: 1 hr. P3: 4 hrs. P4: 1 business day
Resolution Time by PriorityMaximum time to resolve each incident typeP1: 4 hrs. P2: 8 hrs. P3: 24 hrs. P4: 72 hrs
Service Credits (Remedies)Compensation for SLA breaches — percentage of monthly fee99.5–99.9%: 10% credit. 99–99.5%: 25% credit. <99%: 50% credit
Measurement MethodHow uptime is measured and reportedAutomated monitoring; third-party verification; monthly report
ExclusionsEvents not counting against uptime SLAScheduled maintenance, customer-caused outages, force majeure
Escalation PathWho to contact at each severity levelTier 1 support → Account manager → VP Engineering → C-Suite
Reporting & ReviewHow often SLA performance is reported and reviewedMonthly SLA report; quarterly business review

Service Credit Structure Example

Monthly Uptime AchievedService CreditAnnual Equivalent
≥ 99.9%None (SLA met)≤ 8.7 hours downtime
99.5% – 99.9%10% of monthly fee≤ 43.8 hours downtime
99.0% – 99.5%25% of monthly fee≤ 87.6 hours downtime
95.0% – 99.0%50% of monthly fee≤ 438 hours downtime
< 95.0%100% of monthly fee + right to terminate> 438 hours downtime