When to use it
- You are a freelancer with a one-off job — a website, a logo, an article series, a spreadsheet model, a batch of edits — and the client agreed to it on a call or by email.
- You want a deposit before you start and the rest on delivery, and you want the client to have agreed to that in writing.
- Your client is a small business or an individual who will not send you their own contract, and a ten-page master services agreement would scare them off.
- No specialized template fits the work. Agreely has dedicated ones for design, development, video editing, translation and more; this is the general-purpose one.
A filled-in example
Tomás, a freelance web developer, agrees to build a five-page site for Hannah’s bakery. The fee is $2,400 with $800 up front by bank transfer; the site has to be live before the bakery’s holiday orders open on November 20.
General Project Agreement
Recorded on Oct 2, 2026
Freelancer: Tomás Herrera
Client: Hannah’s Bakehouse LLC
We agreed that
Project Scope
A five-page website (Home, Menu, About, Holiday Orders, Contact) with a contact form and a mobile layout, built on Squarespace. Includes two rounds of revisions on the full site. Photos and menu text supplied by the client. Domain and hosting costs are paid by the client.
Timeline
Work begins upon receipt of the deposit
Completed and delivered by: Nov 13, 2026
Payment
Total fee: $2,400
Upfront deposit: $800 — due before work begins
Remaining balance due upon final delivery
Payment method: Bank transfer
Additional Terms
Significant changes to the original scope may require a revised fee agreement
Client will provide timely feedback to avoid delays
Freelancer retains the right to display the work in their portfolio unless agreed otherwise
Tomás Herrera · signature and date
Hannah’s Bakehouse LLC · signature and date
What you fill in, and why
The app asks for 8 details in 3 short steps: “Who's involved?”, “Project scope”, “Payment & timeline”. The ones worth a moment’s thought:
- What will be delivered?
- This box is the contract. Everything the client can later point to as “included” has to be in here: the number of pages or items, the format they arrive in, how many revision rounds, and what the client supplies. The agreement adds that significant changes to the original scope may need a revised fee — which only helps if the original scope is written down.
- Common mistake: “Website for the bakery.” A one-line description means every later request is arguably in scope. List the pieces and the revision rounds, and name what is not included.
- Upfront Deposit
- The agreement says work begins once the deposit arrives, so the deposit is also your start signal. Many freelancers ask for a quarter to a half of the total; what matters is that the client signed off on the number. The app will not accept a deposit larger than the total fee.
- Common mistake: Starting work because the client said the deposit is “on its way”. The timeline in the agreement only runs from receipt.
- Project Deadline
- The date you deliver by. Set it with your client’s feedback time in mind — the agreement asks the client to give timely feedback to avoid delays, but a deadline that leaves no room for two revision rounds will be missed by both of you. It has to be after the agreement date.
- Total Project Fee
- The full price, deposit included. The balance — total minus deposit — is due on final delivery, so the client knows at signing exactly what the last invoice will be.
Before you can save, the app checks: Project deadline must be after the agreement date. Deposit cannot exceed the total project fee.
What the signed record shows — and what it doesn’t
It shows
- What you agreed to deliver, in the words you both signed.
- The deadline, the total fee, the deposit and how payment would be made.
- That work starts on receipt of the deposit and the balance is due on final delivery.
- That significant scope changes may need a revised fee, and that you may show the work in your portfolio unless you agreed otherwise.
- Who signed and when, on the certificate page of the PDF.
It doesn’t show
- That the work was delivered or accepted. Keep the delivery email or the link you sent.
- Who owns the finished work. The template says nothing about transferring rights, so ownership follows the default rules unless you add something.
- Changes agreed afterwards. A new piece of scope agreed in a chat is not part of what was signed.
When this isn’t enough
- The client needs to own what you make — the code, the designs, the copy — outright. This agreement does not transfer ownership. Under U.S. copyright law, work made by an independent contractor generally belongs to its creator unless there is a signed written assignment, or the work falls into specific categories covered by a written work-for-hire agreement. Agree on ownership explicitly and get it in writing. U.S. Copyright Office — Works made for hire (Circular 9)
- The work is ongoing rather than a single deliverable — a set number of hours every month, or open-ended support. A retainer, with a monthly fee and a defined amount of work per month, fits that better than one project with one deadline.
- The client controls when, where and how you work, much like an employee. Whether you are an independent contractor is decided by the actual relationship, not by what the agreement calls you. IRS — Independent contractor or employee?
- The project is large enough that confidentiality, liability limits or payment milestones really matter. Those are not in this template, and adding them through the notes field only goes so far.
How signing works
- You fill in the template in the Agreely app and sign it first.
- You send the other person one link — by text, WhatsApp, email, anything.
- They read the same document in their browser, type or draw their signature, and both of you get the identical signed PDF.
Signatures are captured under the U.S. ESIGN Act and UETA, with a certificate page recording who signed, when, and from which device.
Questions people ask
The client wants to add something halfway through. What now?
The agreement already says that significant changes to the original scope may need a revised fee. The cleanest way to handle it is a short second agreement for the addition, with its own fee and date, so the original stays exactly as signed and nobody argues later about which version applies.
Can I keep the work in my portfolio?
By default, yes — the template says the freelancer may display the work in their portfolio unless agreed otherwise. If the client needs it kept private, for example until a launch date, write that in the notes.
Should I use this or one of the specialized freelance templates?
If there is a template for your kind of work — graphic design, web or app development, video editing, translation, content creation — it asks the questions that work tends to go wrong on, such as revision rounds or the language pair. This one is for everything else, and for projects that mix several kinds of work.
What if the client never pays the balance?
The signed agreement shows what was agreed and when it was due, which is what you will need in any follow-up — a reminder, a demand letter or small claims court. How to pursue unpaid invoices depends on your state; the agreement is the evidence, not the collection process.
My client is a company. Who should sign?
Someone with the authority to agree to the spend — usually the owner or the person who commissioned the work. Put the business name in the client field and send the link to that person.