Freelance Contract Terms: 10 Clauses That Protect You

A freelance contract is not paperwork for its own sake. Each clause answers a question that otherwise gets answered in the middle of a disagreement: what exactly am I delivering, when do I get paid, what happens if we stop, and who owns the result?

The ten clauses

1. Parties and services. Who is contracting with whom, and a specific description of the work and deliverables. The scope is your first defence against scope creep.
2. Timeline. Start date, milestones and delivery date, and what happens if the client delays feedback or materials.
3. Fees and payment terms. Total or rate, deposit, schedule, due dates and currency. See freelance payment terms.
4. Revisions. The number of included rounds and what counts as one. See revision limits.
5. Change requests. Work outside the scope is quoted and approved in writing before it starts.
6. Cancellation. What is owed if either side ends the project — commonly the deposit is non-refundable and work already delivered remains payable.
7. Ownership and portfolio rights. Often: ownership of the final work passes on full payment, and the freelancer may show it in a portfolio unless agreed otherwise.
8. Confidentiality. Each side keeps the other's non-public information private.
9. Liability. A reasonable limit on what you can be liable for. This is a clause where a lawyer's review is especially useful.
10. Governing law and disputes. Which country's law applies and how disagreements are handled. It matters more with international clients.

Get it signed before you start

A contract only protects you if it exists before the work does. Send it with the quotation, get it signed, and start on the deposit. Working on a verbal yes leaves you with a memory of what was agreed instead of a document. The free freelance contract template covers these clauses in your country's format and downloads as a PDF. In DealInSec, the accepted quotation becomes the agreement, and your client signs online through a link without creating an account.

What an electronic signature is and isn't

Electronic signatures are recognised in many countries, but the legal effect depends on the country and the document. In DealInSec the agreement records electronic acceptance with an audit record — who signed, when and with which signature. It is not a certified digital signature, and it is not legal advice; for high-value or unusual work, have a lawyer review the terms.

Before you send: a quick check

• Is every deliverable listed, and is there something excluded?
• Is there a revision limit and a change process?
• Are the deposit, schedule and due dates written down?
• Does the cancellation clause say what is owed?
• Do the quotation, agreement and invoice agree with each other?

Frequently asked questions