Is this freelance contract template free to use?

Yes — copy it, fill in the bracketed fields, and adapt it to your job. It's a general plain-English starting point, not legal advice; for anything high-stakes, have a lawyer review it for your jurisdiction.

What does a simple freelance contract need?

The parties and project, the scope (included and excluded), the price and payment schedule with due dates, IP transferring on final payment, a revision limit, a termination/kill-fee clause, and a liability cap. This template covers all seven.

Free freelance contract template

A simple, plain-English contract you can copy, fill in, and send. It covers the seven things that actually protect your pay and your scope — no legalese, no 20 pages.

Heads up: this is a general starting point, not legal advice. Fill in the [brackets], adapt it to your job, and for anything high-stakes have a lawyer review it for your country.

FREELANCE SERVICES AGREEMENT

This Agreement is made on [date] between:
- [Your name / business] ("Contractor"), and
- [Client name / business] ("Client").

1. THE WORK
The Contractor will provide: [short description of the project / deliverables].

2. SCOPE
Included: [what's in — list the deliverables].
Not included: [what's explicitly out of scope].
Anything outside this scope is a new request, quoted separately.

3. PRICE & PAYMENT
Total fee: [amount].
Schedule: [e.g. 50% deposit before work begins, 50% on delivery].
Payment terms: due within [15] days of each invoice.
Late payments accrue a fee of [1.5%] per month on the overdue balance.

4. OWNERSHIP (IP)
Ownership of the final work transfers to the Client upon receipt of
final payment — not before. Until then, all rights remain with the Contractor.

5. REVISIONS
Includes [2] rounds of revisions per deliverable. Further revisions
are billed at [hourly rate].

6. TERMINATION
Either party may end this Agreement with [7] days' written notice.
On termination, the Client pays for all work completed to date plus a
cancellation fee of [amount or %].

7. LIABILITY
The Contractor's total liability under this Agreement is limited to the
total fees paid by the Client under it.

8. SIGNATURES
Contractor: ______________________  Date: __________
Client:     ______________________  Date: __________

Been sent the client's contract instead? Paste it into our free contract red-flag checker → and it flags the risky clauses — IP on signature, Net-60, unlimited revisions — in plain English before you sign.

How to use it

Copy the template, replace every [bracket] with your specifics, and delete anything that doesn't apply. Keep it to one page — a short, fair agreement gets signed; a scary one gets stalled. The four clauses that matter most are payment timing (§3), IP on final payment (§4), a revision cap (§5), and a kill fee (§6). Get those right and you've covered where most freelancers get burned.

Or have a skill handle the whole contract

The Claude Code Freelancer Pack includes /redline — paste any contract and get the risky clauses flagged before you sign — plus 6 more skills for the rest of the admin grind.

See the Freelancer Pack — $27

This template is provided as-is for general informational purposes and is not legal advice. Laws vary by country and situation. For significant or high-value work, have a qualified lawyer review your contract.