Free contract templates: 6 sources and how to pick

A free freelance contract template is fine to use if it covers eight things: scope, timeline, payment terms, late fees, revisions, cancellation, ownership and a liability cap. Pick the closest template to your trade, fill the gaps, and have the client sign it before you start.

The eight clauses a contract has to cover

A template that skips more than two of these gives you false confidence, which is worse than having nothing.

Scope comes first. Write what you deliver in plain words, with numbers: "Logo design, 3 concepts, 2 revision rounds, final files as SVG and PNG." Anything not on the list is extra, and you can quote it separately.

Timeline is next. Give a start date, the dates of any milestones, and the delivery date. Add what happens to those dates when the client is slow to send feedback. Most late projects are late because of the client, and the contract is where you say so.

Payment terms cover the total, the deposit, the schedule and the due date of the final invoice. A deposit before work starts is the cheapest protection you have. If you want the detail, our guide on payment terms, net 30 and deposits goes through the options.

Late fees are the clause people skip. A monthly percentage on overdue balances is common, but some countries and states cap it, so check the rule where your client sits before you copy a number from a template.

A revision policy says how many rounds are included, what counts as a new round, and what an extra round costs. Without it, "one small change" becomes six.

Cancellation, often called a kill fee, says what you keep if the client walks away halfway. We cover wording in kill fees and cancellation clauses.

Ownership says who owns the work and when. The usual safe choice is that rights pass to the client when the final invoice is paid, not when you hand over the files.

Last is a liability cap: a short paragraph limiting what you owe if something goes wrong to the project fee. Have a lawyer read this one if the project is large.

Why the contract matters more than the project size

Small jobs need contracts too. In some places the law now demands one. New York State's Freelance Isn't Free Act covers freelance engagements worth $800 or more (jobs from the same client in the previous 120 days are added together), requires the terms in writing, and sets payment at 30 days unless both sides agree otherwise, according to Seyfarth's legal update on the statewide law. The state labor department says the act took effect on August 28, 2024 and publishes a model contract to help meet the requirements. New York City has had its own version since 2017. If any of your clients are in New York, a template with the wrong or missing terms can put you on the wrong side of the rule.

Outside New York the law is patchier, but the practical point holds. A vague email thread is hard to enforce. A one-document agreement that both sides signed is easy to point at.

The Freelancers Union tracks how common unpaid work is. Its legal resource page counts more than $14 million in unpaid bills reported by its members, which is a reminder that the problem is routine and not rare.

Six places to get a free template

None of these replaces a lawyer on a large or unusual job. Treat each one as a starting draft you edit.

Bonsai's contract library

Bonsai's contract templates page lists about 25 templates, from a general freelance and fixed price agreement to trade specific ones for event photography, branding, copywriting and mobile app development. Read the fine print before you plan around it: the page says additional templates are only available inside Bonsai, and that after a 7-day trial, usage requires a paid plan. Good for finding the closest match to your trade. Less good if you do not want an account.

The Freelancers Union contract creator

The union's contract creator walks you through setting terms and getting paid on time. Membership in the union is free. It is a US group, so it leans toward US law, and you should expect to trim or adapt it if your client is elsewhere.

The New York model contract

The state labor department's model contract is the closest thing to an official template. It is written to meet the act, so it is useful as a checklist even if your clients are not in New York. It is plain and short, which is a point in its favor.

Docracy

Docracy is a library of open legal documents that people have shared and edited, including freelance agreements. The documents vary in age and quality. Check dates, and add anything modern ones carry, such as data protection and tax wording for your country.

LawDepot

LawDepot's independent contractor agreement is a guided questionnaire: you answer questions and it builds the document. That makes it good for a first contract. Check what the download costs and whether a trial auto-renews before you start.

Delivvo's free contract template

Delivvo has a free contract template that anyone can use without an account. It is a template, not legal advice, and you can edit every clause. If you later run your work through Delivvo, contracts sit next to the quote and invoice (more on that below).

How to choose

Do not shop for a template. Shop for the clauses.

Pick the template closest to your trade, then run it against the eight clauses above. Anything missing, write in. Anything that does not apply, delete. A two-page contract the client reads beats a ten-page one they skim.

If you have never sent a contract before, start with the shortest one that has all eight clauses. After you have sent five, you will know which clauses cause arguments in your work and can tighten those.

Cut what does not belong

Templates carry baggage. Before you send one, delete:

• clauses about services you do not offer
• jurisdiction wording from a country you do not work in
• a non-compete that would stop you taking other clients
• unlimited revisions or "until satisfied" wording
• any clause that gives the client ownership before they have paid

Then read it once as the client. If a sentence makes you wince, rewrite it in plain words.

Get it signed before work starts

Send the contract with the quote, not after. A client who has agreed to the price is most willing to sign right then.

An electronic signature is fine for most commercial contracts. The US federal ESIGN Act says a signature or contract in a commercial transaction "may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form," as the law's text on govinfo.gov puts it. Other countries have their own e-signature rules, so check yours with your lawyer or accountant. If the client signs by emailing a photo of a printout, keep the original file, the date and the email together.

Keep one rule: no deposit, no start. Our post on signing a contract electronically without DocuSign shows the workflow step by step.

How Delivvo gets the contract signed and the deposit paid

Delivvo puts the contract in the same link as the quote, so the client signs and pays the deposit in one visit and the contract does not sit in someone's inbox.

Here is the flow:

1. You build the quote from your packages and add-ons in Proposals.
2. You attach a contract. On Business and up you can upload your own contract PDF and place the signature boxes where you want them.
3. On the Pro plan, the client opens one page, picks a package, signs the contract and pays the deposit. Delivvo then creates the client, the project, the contract, the invoice and the payment schedule for you.
4. The signature can be typed or drawn. Delivvo keeps a signing record with a SHA-256 hash, the IP address and the device, plus an archived PDF.
5. The deposit goes straight through your own payment gateway. Delivvo takes 0% of it.

If the client has questions, they ask in the client portal, which needs no password (a one-time code gets them in), so the whole conversation stays attached to the project and not scattered across email threads. Every contract, quote and invoice also carries a verification code. Anyone can enter it on the verify page and see who issued the document, its number, dates and status. That is a small detail, but it settles "did you really send me that" quickly.

Contracts and signatures are unlimited, and there is a Free plan that needs no card. The templates are starting points, so read them against your trade and your country's rules, and check it with your accountant or lawyer where the stakes are high. See the full flow on the contracts and e-signatures page.

This sits inside Delivvo's CRM for service businesses. More on contracts and e-signatures.

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