Free Web Design Contract Template. Fill & Sign Online
A web design contract exists to answer one question before it becomes an argument: when is this finished? Without a written scope and a revision cap, a fixed-price site becomes an unpaid retainer, and the designer discovers it around week nine.
It also settles the two things clients assume and designers assume differently: who owns the code, and who pays for hosting, domains, stock images and plugin licences.
Self-signing is free, local & private, never uploaded. Sending for signature needs a free account (just your email).
Clauses that keep the project from running forever
- Deliverables: page count, which templates, which breakpoints. "A website" is not a scope; "five unique page templates, responsive at three breakpoints" is.
- Revision rounds: a specific number, with an hourly rate for anything beyond it. This single line is the difference between a profitable project and a loss.
- Payment milestones: deposit up front, a payment at design sign-off, the balance before launch. Never take the last payment after the site is live and out of your control.
- Client responsibilities: copy, images and logins, with a deadline. Most late projects are late because content never arrived.
- Ownership: the client owns the final site; you keep your underlying framework and reusable components. Say it, because the default is unclear.
- Third-party costs: hosting, domains, fonts, stock photos, plugin licences. State whether these are inside the fee or billed on.
- Launch and support: what counts as a bug you fix free, for how long, and where paid maintenance begins.
Mistakes that turn a fixed price into free work
- No revision limit. "Unlimited revisions" sounds generous in the pitch and costs you the entire margin by round six.
- Starting work on a verbal yes. The deposit is not really about money: it is the moment the client becomes committed.
- Leaving ownership unwritten. Clients often assume they bought everything including your reusable component library.
- No kill fee. If the client walks away at 70% complete, the contract should already say what you are owed.
Common questions
Should I charge a deposit?
Yes — commonly 30–50% before any work starts. It filters out clients who were never going to proceed, and it means an abandoned project does not cost you the whole month.
Who owns the website when it's done?
Whatever the contract says. The usual arrangement: the client owns the finished site and its content, you keep ownership of any framework or component library you brought with you and licence it to them. If you say nothing, expect a disagreement later.
What if the client keeps adding features?
That is what the change-order clause is for. New feature, new written estimate, signed before it is built. FairSign lets you send that as a short signature request rather than renegotiating the whole contract.
This page is general information for small businesses, not legal advice. For your specific situation, talk to a licensed attorney in your state.