Contract intelligence for freelancers
Upload a contract and get a signing verdict, clause rewrites, and a lawyer-ready brief in under 60 seconds. Escrow, milestones, and business intelligence handle everything after.
8.2 Client may terminate this agreement at any time upon 48 hours written notice, without cause, with no obligation to compensate for work in progress beyond milestones formally delivered and accepted.
Hermes · Negotiate First
Kill clause with no payment protection. 48-hour termination with zero compensation for in-progress work exposes you to scope theft. Negotiate a kill fee of at least 50% for work in progress.
71%
of freelancers have experienced late or unpaid work
Source: Freelancers Union
1 in 3
payment disputes trace back to vague scope language in the original contract
Source: Upwork survey
$6,000+
median annual income lost to payment issues per freelancer
Source: Freelancers Union
Why freelancers keep losing
You signed a clause that cost you.
The contract was 12 pages. You skimmed 4. The kill clause was on page 9 — the one that let the client walk away without paying for work in progress.
Contract Preflight →
You finished the work. The invoice sat for 90 days.
No contract clause protects you if the money was never held anywhere. When the client ghosts, your leverage is zero. Escrow reverses this entirely — funds are held before you start.
Payment Escrow →
The scope crept. Your rate didn't move.
Three extra rounds of revision. A second language. 'Just one more thing.' Without a formal change order process, every request is free work dressed as goodwill.
Milestone Tracker →
Contract Preflight
Upload a PDF, DOCX, or paste the text. Hermes reads every clause against your role and deal type — and gives you a full intelligence report, not just a risk score.
Signing verdict
Safe to sign, negotiate first, or do not sign without counsel — grounded in the specific clauses that drive the call.
Risk by category
Risks grouped by payment, IP, termination, liability, and scope — each category rated with a severity level and clause count.
Term-by-term verdict
Every major term classified: deal breaker, negotiate hard, or acceptable as-is. Know where to stand firm.
Redline suggestions
Full clause rewrites — not directions, but actual replacement language ready to paste into the contract.
Counsel brief
A 3–5 paragraph brief written for your lawyer. Summarizes the deal, flags the blockers, lists the redlines. One tap to forward.
Q&A
Ask anything about the contract. "Who owns the IP if I use open source?" "What triggers the late fee?"
Signing decision · Contractor
Do not sign with this termination clause. A 48-hour kill with no kill fee is scope theft waiting to happen.
→ Get these 2 clauses rewritten before signing.
Term-by-term verdict
Termination clause
Deal breakerAcceptance criteria
Negotiate hardIP ownership
AcceptableRedline · Termination clause
HIGHCurrent language
“...may terminate at any time upon 48 hours written notice, with no obligation to compensate...”
Proposed language
“...may terminate with 30 days written notice and shall pay a kill fee equal to 50% of fees for work in progress...”
Why: Protects against scope theft on in-progress work — without this, you work for free on termination.
Northstar Labs
Website redesign · 3 milestones
$8,500
ActiveDiscovery & wireframes
Accepted Jul 3
UI design
In review
Development handoff
Pending delivery
Payment Escrow
Both parties confirm before the contract activates. Your client gets a live project portal showing milestone progress — no Hermes account needed. Scope changes go through formal change orders with counterparty approval.
Two-party confirmation
Neither party can activate the contract unilaterally. Both confirm before funds are held and work starts.
Milestone releases
Break the project into deliverables. Each milestone releases its share of the escrow when marked complete.
Change orders
Every scope change goes through a formal change order. Your client approves via a link — no login required.
Client portal
Your client sees live project status, milestone completion, and change orders. Signed link, no account needed.
Import from contract
Hermes reads your contract analysis and imports deliverables as milestones — with due dates and acceptance criteria.
Invoice generation
Generate a professional invoice from any escrow in one click, pre-filled with milestones and amounts.
Business Intelligence
Know which clients have a history of disputes before they become a problem. Track every upcoming deadline across all active contracts in one place. See monthly revenue broken down by released escrows.
Client health scores
Green, amber, or red — based on dispute history and completion rate. Know who to work with again.
Deadline tracker
Every milestone due date across every active contract. Overdue items surface immediately.
Revenue analytics
Monthly revenue from released escrows, active value held, and average contract size. Your numbers in one view.
Rate card
Your standard services and pricing. Reference it when scoping, or import rates directly when building a contract.
Activity log
Every status change, milestone update, and change order on every contract — timestamped and immutable.
Contract vault
Every past analysis is stored and searchable. Surface any past agreement in seconds.
Active value
$24,500
Released
$41,200
Clients
8
Client health
Northstar Labs
3 completed
Apex Creative
1 disputed
MindfulOS
Active
Upcoming deadlines
UI design delivery
Northstar Labs
API integration docs
MindfulOS
How it works
01
Upload or paste
PDF, DOCX, or paste the contract text. Hermes extracts every clause, party, and obligation.
02
Get the verdict
Signing decision, risk heatmap by category, term-by-term classification, redline suggestions, and counsel brief.
03
Negotiate from a position
Copy the email wording, paste in the proposed clause language, or forward the counsel brief. Hermes writes the words.
04
Activate escrow
Both parties confirm. Funds are held. Your client gets a live portal link — no account needed.
05
Deliver by milestone
Complete milestones one at a time. Each completion releases its share of the escrow. Scope changes go through formal change orders.
06
Payment released
Final milestone triggers final release. All of it is recorded in the activity log. The contract is archived in your vault.
Without Hermes
With Hermes
On the roadmap
E-signatures, Figma and GitHub integrations, and email notifications are in active development. Everything ships to the same platform — no new accounts, no new logins.
E-Signature
Sign agreements within Hermes. Cryptographically timestamped, legally binding. Your counterparty signs from any device — no account required, just a link.
Figma Connect
Link Figma projects to contract milestones. Marking a design delivered closes the milestone and triggers payment — no middle step, no he-said-she-said.
GitHub Connect
Connect your repo to the agreement. Merged PRs, tagged releases, or deploy events automatically satisfy delivery milestones and release payment.
Start today
Upload your next contract and get the signing verdict, the redlines, and the escrow setup — before you sign a word.
AI analysis only. Not legal advice. Consult a qualified lawyer for high-stakes agreements.