Contract review for freelancers
Read the contract.Get paid for the work.
Pay-when-paid traps. IP-assignment overreach. Indemnification clauses that turn a $3,000 project into a $30,000 liability. Redline catches them in seconds.
The traps clients quietly insert
The clauses that turna profitable gig into a loss.
Net-60, Net-90, or unspecified
You finish in two weeks. The client pays in three months. Cash flow shifts onto you. In CA, NY, and IL, freelance protection laws now default to 30-day payment if the contract is silent — the Splashlight $528K NY settlement (Feb 2026) is the warning shot. Redline flags whether your contract beats or fails the floor.
Payment contingent on a third-party event
Payment is tied to the client receiving funding, getting publication approval, or hitting a milestone they don't control. If the funding round delays, so does your check. The clause shifts the client's business risk onto your ledger.
Scope creep without a change-order clause
The #1 freelance pain point. The contract defines deliverables loosely, has no procedure for additional work, and the client keeps adding 'just one more thing.' Redline flags missing change-order language so you can put a price on every revision before it happens.
Broad, uncapped indemnification
You agree to cover the client's legal fees if anyone sues them over your work. A blog post about a competitor turns into a defamation suit, and the client's $80K in legal bills lands on your invoice. Negotiate for mutual indemnification capped at fees paid.
IP assignment that sweeps your toolkit
Most freelance work doesn't legally qualify as 'work for hire' under the Copyright Act's nine statutory categories — so clients add belt-and-suspenders assignment language. The real trap is when that language assigns your pre-existing tools, templates, and libraries to the client too. Always negotiate a license-back.
Kill fees smaller than your sunk cost
Client cancels mid-project. The contract caps your kill fee at 25% of the engagement. You've already done 70% of the work. Industry norms are tiered — 25/50/75% by stage. A flat low cap is the trap.
Exclusivity disguised as 'non-compete'
Post-engagement non-competes for contractors are unenforceable in CA, MN, ND, and OK, and weakening fast everywhere else after the FTC abandoned its federal rule. The realer trap is 'exclusivity during engagement' (you can't take competing work while on retainer) and broad non-solicit clauses on the client's customer list — both still enforceable.
Auto-renewal in retainers
Monthly retainers often auto-renew unless you give 30 or 60 days' notice. Pair that with a 12-month minimum-engagement clause and a single missed-window means another year locked in. Redline flags retainer renewal language the way it flags consumer auto-renewals.
Where Redline fits
Before kickoff. Before invoicing.
New client
Scan the MSA before signing. Send a list of redlines back. The clients who balk at standard pushback are the ones who would have shorted you anyway.
Each new SOW
An MSA covers the relationship; the SOW covers the project. Re-scan each SOW — clients sometimes alter scope, IP, or kill-fee terms one project at a time.
Renewal or change order
Year-two terms often shift. Re-scan the renewal letter or change order before initialing. The deltas Redline flags are usually the things the client is hoping you won't notice.
Deep dive
The payment-terms guide for freelancers.
A walkthrough of net-payment language, late fees, acceleration clauses, and the exact words to negotiate. With ready-to-send email scripts.
Read the payment-terms guide →Questions
Freelance contract questions, answered.
Should I have a lawyer review every freelance contract?+
For five-figure deals or anything with broad indemnification, yes. For most $500–$5,000 client engagements, lawyer review costs more than the project margin. Redline lets you spot the high-risk clauses yourself, so you only escalate the ones that warrant it.
What clauses does Redline flag in freelance agreements?+
Net-60/90 payment terms (and whether they violate state freelance protection laws), payment contingent on third-party events, missing change-order language, uncapped indemnification, IP assignment that sweeps your pre-existing tools, kill fees smaller than typical industry tiers, exclusivity and non-solicit clauses, retainer auto-renewal traps, and venue / arbitration provisions.
Do freelance protection laws actually apply to me?+
If you're in California, New York, or Illinois, probably yes. CA's Freelance Worker Protection Act (effective Jan 1, 2025) covers contracts of $250 or more. NY's Freelance Isn't Free Act went statewide on Aug 28, 2024 for contracts of $800 or more. IL's Freelance Worker Protection Act took effect July 1, 2024 for contracts of $500 or more in 120 days. All three default to 30-day payment if the contract doesn't specify, and all three offer double damages for late or missing payment. Los Angeles also has its own ordinance.
Can I scan a Statement of Work or Master Services Agreement?+
Yes. Redline auto-detects MSAs, SOWs, NDAs, and one-page engagement letters and runs the same scan on each. For ongoing client relationships, scan the MSA once and re-scan each new SOW to catch changes the client snuck in.
What about retainer agreements?+
Yes. Pay particular attention to scope-creep language, automatic renewal of the retainer, and minimum-engagement clauses that lock you into months you don't want.
Is my client contract private?+
Text extraction runs on your device. The extracted text is sent over HTTPS to a third-party AI provider that does not retain it for training. We don't store your contracts on our servers. See the privacy policy for details.
How much does it cost?+
$1 per scan on the Pack tier (5 scans for $9.99). Plus is $29.99/year for 30 scans — a fit for freelancers who sign a few contracts a month. Pro is $89.99/year unlimited.