Free Service Agreement
Template
A clear, general-purpose contract between a service provider and a client — covering scope of services, term and auto-renewal, fees and payment, IP ownership, confidentiality, liability, and termination. Works for a one-time project or an ongoing, recurring service. Download and send in minutes.
- No signup required
- Free forever
- Reviewed June 2026
- Covers all U.S. states
Branding (optional)
1 — Provider
2 — Client
3 — Services
4 — Term & Renewal
5 — Payment
6 — Legal
PDF: choose "Save as PDF" in the dialog that opens.
Service Agreement
Date: enter date above
1. Parties
This Service Agreement is entered into as of enter date above between Provider name ("Provider"), and Client name ("Client").
2. Services
Service type: General Services
Description: describe the services above
3. Term & Renewal
Engagement: One-time / Project-based
Term: Begins start date and ends on end date or upon completion and acceptance of the Services, whichever is earlier.
4. Fees & Payment
Fee structure: Fixed Project Fee | Currency: USD ($)
Fee: USD ($) amount
Deposit: 25% due on signing, applied to the final invoice. Work commences on receipt of deposit.
Payment: Invoices due within Net 30 of issue date. Late amounts accrue interest at 1.5%/month after a 7-day grace period. Provider may suspend Services after 14 days of non-payment without waiving any rights.
5–9. Standard Clauses
Intellectual property (WFH + §204 assignment on full payment) · Warranties & reasonable care and skill · Confidentiality & data privacy (CCPA/CPRA + 2026 state laws) · Independent contractor status + non-solicitation (no non-compete) · Optional AI tools disclosure (USCO Part 2 2025; Thaler v. Vidal 2026) · Mutual indemnification & limitation of liability (12-month fee cap, no consequential damages)
10. Termination & Governing Law
Either party may terminate with 30 days notice, or for cause after a 10-day cure period. Governed by the laws of governing state. Provider is an independent contractor. This Agreement is the entire agreement between the parties.
Provider
Signature
Print name: _______________
Date: _________________
Client
Signature
Print name: _______________
Date: _________________
Template preview
Parties
1. Parties
This Service Agreement ("Agreement") is entered into as of [Date] between [Provider Name], trading as [Business Name], [Address] ("Provider"), and [Client Name / Company], Attn: [Client Contact Name], [Client Address] ("Client"). The Provider agrees to perform, and the Client agrees to pay for, the services described below on the terms of this Agreement.
Services
2. Services
Service type: [e.g. General Services / Maintenance & Repair / IT & Technical Support]
Description: [e.g. Monthly cleaning of a 2,500 sq ft office, or design and build of a 5-page marketing website, or weekly IT support up to 10 hours.]
Provider will perform the Services with reasonable skill and care. Any work beyond the description above is out of scope and requires a written change or a new exhibit signed by both parties. For repeat engagements that share the same legal terms across many projects, consider a professional services agreement with a separate Statement of Work per project.
Term & Renewal
3. Term & Renewal
Engagement: [One-time / Project-based] or [Ongoing / Recurring].
One-time: The term begins on [Start Date] and ends on [End Date] or upon completion and acceptance of the Services.
Ongoing: The term begins on [Start Date] for an initial term ending [Initial Term End]. If auto-renewal is selected, the Agreement renews [month-to-month / annually] unless either party gives [14 / 30 / 60 days] written notice of non-renewal before the end of the then-current term. Some states regulate evergreen clauses in consumer and small-business contracts, so keep the non-renewal notice window clear and reasonable.
Payment
4. Fees & Payment
Fee structure: [Fixed Project Fee / Recurring Monthly / Recurring Annual / Hourly Rate]
Fee: [Currency] [Amount].
Deposit: [e.g. 25%] due on signing and applied to the final invoice. Work commences on receipt of the deposit.
Payment: Invoices due within [Net 7 / Net 14 / Net 30] of the invoice date. Amounts unpaid after the due date accrue interest at 1.5%/month after a 7-day grace period. Provider may suspend Services after 14 days of non-payment without waiving any right to payment or termination. Pre-approved expenses are reimbursed at cost.
Download the full template — includes IP ownership (WFH + assignment), warranties & reasonable care, confidentiality & data privacy, independent contractor status, an optional AI tools clause, mutual indemnification, and a 12-month liability cap.
Download the full template — free
Fill in your details above and download a ready-to-send contract.
What's included in this template
How to use this template
Describe the services in plain language — and decide one-time or ongoing
The single most common reason service disputes happen is a vague scope. Write what the Provider will actually do in concrete terms: what's delivered, how often, and any clear limits (for example "weekly IT support up to 10 hours per month; anything beyond is billed separately"). Then choose the engagement type. A one-time engagement ends when the work is completed and accepted. An ongoing engagement runs for an initial term and, if you turn on auto-renewal, continues until someone gives notice — which is ideal for recurring services like maintenance, cleaning, or managed support.
Set the auto-renewal and notice terms deliberately
Auto-renewal ("evergreen") terms keep an ongoing service running without re-signing every period, but they cut both ways: a client who forgets can be locked into another term, and a provider who wants to exit still has to give notice. Pick a renewal cadence (month-to-month is the most flexible; annual gives the provider more revenue certainty) and a non-renewal notice window — 30 days is common. A handful of U.S. states regulate evergreen clauses in consumer and small-business contracts, requiring clear disclosure and a reasonable cancellation window, so keep the language plain. If you prefer certainty over convenience, leave auto-renewal off and simply issue a new term when the current one ends.
Pin down ownership, payment, and the liability cap before work starts
Under U.S. copyright law the creator owns the work by default — paying for it does not transfer ownership without a written assignment. This template uses a payment-conditional assignment, so any deliverables transfer to the client only after full payment, while the provider keeps its pre-existing tools and methods (Background IP). On payment, set a deposit and clear due dates with late interest. And read the limitation-of-liability clause: it caps each party's exposure at the fees paid in the prior 12 months and excludes consequential damages, with carve-outs for confidentiality breaches, IP infringement, indemnification, and gross negligence or fraud — so a provider charging modest fees isn't exposed to unlimited claims.
Both parties sign — and the client sends any deposit — before work begins
A signature plus a deposit turns a verbal understanding into a binding engagement and protects the provider's allocated time. Don't begin work until both the signed agreement and any deposit are received. Use Bonsai to collect the signature and deposit in one workflow and bill recurring invoices automatically, or PandaDoc if you need reusable templates and an approval pipeline for higher-volume work.
Frequently asked questions
- A service agreement is a legally binding contract between a service provider and a client that sets out what services will be provided, for how long, at what price, who owns the resulting work, and how either party can end the arrangement. It is the most general type of services contract — the same document works for a one-time project (a website build, a repair, a single audit) or an ongoing relationship (monthly maintenance, recurring support, a managed service). A written service agreement matters because, without one, scope is undefined, intellectual property ownership defaults to the provider, payment timing is unenforceable, and liability is uncapped.
- They sit on a spectrum from general to specialized. A service agreement is the broad, all-purpose contract for one provider serving one client. A professional services agreement (PSA) is a service agreement tailored to expert or licensed work — consulting, engineering, accounting, agency work — so it adds a standard-of-care clause and professional-liability (E&O) expectations. A master service agreement (MSA) is an umbrella version used when the same parties run many projects: the MSA fixes the legal terms once and each project is described in a separate Statement of Work. If you have a single defined engagement or a simple recurring service, the general service agreement on this page is the right starting point; reach for a PSA or MSA only when the work is professional in nature or genuinely repeats.
- Only if you choose that option. For one-time projects the agreement simply ends when the services are completed and accepted. For ongoing or recurring services you can make the term "evergreen" — it renews automatically (month-to-month or for successive one-year terms) until one party gives written notice of non-renewal before the current term ends. This template lets you turn auto-renewal on or off and set the notice period (commonly 30 days). Auto-renewal is convenient for both sides, but a few U.S. states regulate evergreen clauses in consumer and small-business contracts, so the non-renewal notice window should be clear and reasonable. If you prefer certainty, leave auto-renewal off and re-sign or issue a new term when the time comes.
- Ownership depends entirely on the contract. Under U.S. copyright law the creator (the provider) owns the work by default — paying for it does not transfer ownership. Ownership passes to the client only when the contract (a) designates the deliverables as a "work made for hire" under 17 U.S.C. §101, or (b) includes an explicit written assignment under 17 U.S.C. §204. This template uses both, with a payment-conditional assignment: IP transfers to the client only after receipt of full payment. The provider keeps its pre-existing tools, templates, and methodologies (Background IP) and grants the client a license to use them as embedded in the deliverables.
- Yes. Most service agreements let either party terminate for convenience with written notice (commonly 14–60 days) and terminate for cause — material breach or non-payment — immediately after a short cure period. On termination, the client pays for services performed and pre-approved expenses incurred up to that date; for a fixed-fee project terminated without cause, the provider is typically also paid a kill fee. Clauses that protect ongoing interests — IP ownership, confidentiality, payment for delivered work, indemnification, and limitation of liability — survive termination and remain binding after the agreement ends.
- Increasingly, yes — if the provider uses generative AI to produce deliverables. Two issues arise. First, ownership: the U.S. Copyright Office (Part 2 guidance, January 2025) and the Supreme Court's refusal to hear Thaler v. Vidal (cert. denied March 2026) confirm that purely AI-generated material is not protected by copyright, which can weaken the client's exclusive rights. Second, confidentiality: feeding a client's confidential information into a public AI tool can itself be a disclosure. This template includes an optional AI tools clause requiring the provider to disclose AI use on request, warrant meaningful human authorship of deliverables, and refrain from inputting confidential information into external AI tools without written consent.
Bonsai is built for service businesses — send the agreement, collect a signature and deposit, and automate recurring invoices for ongoing clients.