Website design and development agreement template
Pages and scope, client content, design sign-off, launch, warranty and ownership of the site. A sample contract you can read in full, edit in QuoteBill and sign online with a secure link.
Sample — review with a lawyer · Simple electronic signature with an audit trail
Who it is for
For a web designer, developer or agency building a website for a client, when both want the pages, content, design rounds, launch, warranty and ownership settled before work starts.
What it covers
15 clauses, in this order. Each one is in the sample text below, and you can edit, remove or add clauses before you send.
1. Purpose
What the agreement is for: the Designer designs, builds and launches a website for the Client, and each side contributes its part.
2. Scope and pages
A blank where you describe the site, with a set number of pages, the platform it is built on and the browsers it must work in. Features not listed are outside the scope.
3. Content supplied by the Client
The Client delivers texts, images and other content by a set date and confirms it may use them. Late content moves the schedule, and the Designer keeps access details confidential.
4. Design rounds and sign-off
A design concept for the home page and key page types, with a set number of revision rounds included. The Client signs off before development starts.
5. Development and testing
The site is built on a staging address and tested in the agreed browsers and screen sizes. The Client reviews it and reports defects, ideally in one list.
6. Launch and acceptance
The site goes live on the launch date or once the staging site is approved. The Client has a set number of business days to accept it or list defects; silence or business use counts as acceptance.
7. Hosting and third-party services
Hosting, domain, certificates, plugins, fonts and stock images are registered and paid for by the Client. The Designer sets them up but is not responsible for the services themselves.
8. Fees and payment
Fees come from the price schedule, paid in instalments at signing, design sign-off and launch. Extra work is charged at a set rate, and late payment lets the Designer pause the work.
9. Changes
Either side can ask for a change. The Designer states its cost and effect on the schedule, and starts only after the Client approves in writing or electronically.
10. Warranty period
For a set number of months after launch the Designer fixes defects caused by its work free of charge. Changes by others, third-party updates and content errors are not covered.
11. Ownership and licences
When the Client has paid in full, the rights in the design, texts, graphics and code made for the site pass to the Client. Open-source and third-party components keep their own licences.
12. Portfolio and credit
The Designer may show the site in its portfolio, name the Client and place a small credit in the footer, unless the Client objects before launch.
13. Term and termination
The agreement ends after acceptance and the warranty period. Either side can end it after a serious breach that is not put right in time, and work done stays payable.
14. Liability
The Designer works with reasonable care but does not promise rankings, visitors or sales. Each side’s liability is limited to the fees, except for intent, gross negligence, personal injury and cases the law does not allow to be limited.
15. Governing law and disputes
The law you name applies. The sides first try to settle a dispute in good faith, and otherwise the courts you name decide.
A price schedule (items, quantities and prices) is part of this contract. It starts empty, in your currency, and the clauses on fees and payment point to it.
The sample text
The whole sample, as QuoteBill starts it. Text in double square brackets, like [[10]], is a blank to fill in or check, and QuoteBill does not let you send a contract while one is left. The clause text is written in English, Korean, Japanese and German; in other languages a contract starts in English for you to translate.
Read the sample text
Website Design and Development Agreement
Parties: Designer · Client
1. Purpose
This agreement sets out the terms on which the Designer designs, builds and launches a website for the Client, and what each party contributes to the project.
2. Scope and pages
The Designer will design and build the website described below:
[[Describe the services and deliverables]]
The site comprises about [[8]] pages or page templates, is built with [[Platform or technology, e.g. a content management system]] and must display correctly in the current versions of the major browsers on desktop and mobile screens. Features not listed here, such as online shop functions, member areas or integrations with other systems, are outside the scope unless the parties agree on them in writing or in electronic form.
3. Content supplied by the Client
The Client supplies the texts, images, logos, product data and other content for the site by [[Date]] in a usable digital form, and confirms that it has the right to use them. The Designer may use placeholder text and images until the content arrives; late content extends the schedule by the same period. The Designer keeps the Client’s access details and non-public business information confidential and uses them only for the project.
4. Design rounds and sign-off
The Designer presents a design concept for the home page and [[2]] key page types. The fee includes [[2]] rounds of design revisions; further rounds are charged at [[Hourly or per-round rate]]. The Client signs off the design in writing or in electronic form before development starts. Changes to a signed-off design are treated as changes under this agreement.
5. Development and testing
After sign-off the Designer builds the site on a staging address, tests its pages, forms and links in the agreed browsers and on common screen sizes, and makes the site reasonably accessible and fast. The Client reviews the staging site and reports defects in one list where possible, so they can be fixed together.
6. Launch and acceptance
The site goes live on [[Launch date]] or on the day the Client approves the staging site, whichever is later. The Client reviews the live site within [[10]] business days of launch and either accepts it or lists the defects in writing or in electronic form; it is treated as accepted if the Client does not respond within that period or starts using the site for its business. Minor defects that do not prevent normal use do not delay acceptance and are fixed under the warranty.
7. Hosting and third-party services
Hosting, the domain name, SSL certificates, plugins, themes, fonts, stock images and other third-party services are registered in the Client’s name and paid for by the Client, unless the price schedule says otherwise. The Designer advises on suitable services and sets them up, but is not responsible for their availability, price changes or terms. On request the Designer lists the licences of the third-party components used in the site so the Client can renew them.
8. Fees and payment
The Client pays the fees shown in the price schedule of this contract: [[40]]% on signing, [[30]]% on design sign-off and the balance on launch, unless the price schedule says otherwise. Work beyond the scope is charged at [[Hourly rate]] after the Client has approved it. If a payment is more than [[7]] days late, the Designer may pause the work and postpone the launch after notifying the Client.
9. Changes
Either party may ask for changes to the scope, design or schedule. The Designer tells the Client what a change costs and how it affects the schedule, and starts the change only when the Client has approved it in writing or in electronic form.
10. Warranty period
For [[3]] months after launch the Designer corrects defects in the site that are reported during that period and are caused by the Designer’s work, free of charge and within a reasonable time. The warranty does not cover changes made by the Client or third parties, updates to third-party components, browser changes or errors in the content. Ongoing maintenance, updates and content changes after the warranty period are agreed separately.
11. Ownership and licences
When the Client has paid in full, the Designer transfers to the Client the rights in the design, texts, graphics and code written specifically for the site or, where the applicable law does not allow a transfer, grants the Client an exclusive, perpetual licence to use them. Open-source components, third-party components and the Designer’s pre-existing tools, libraries and know-how stay under their own licences, and the Client receives a non-exclusive right to use them as part of the site. The Client remains the owner of the content it supplied.
12. Portfolio and credit
The Designer may show the site in its portfolio, name the Client as a reference and place a small credit line with a link in the site footer, unless the Client objects in writing or in electronic form before launch. Confidential parts of the project are not shown.
13. Term and termination
This agreement starts on the effective date and ends when the site has been accepted and the warranty period has run. Either party may terminate it by notice in writing or in electronic form if the other party seriously breaches it and does not remedy the breach within [[14]] days of being asked to. On termination the Client pays for the work done until then and receives the work in its current state once that payment is made.
14. Liability
The Designer performs the work with reasonable care and skill but does not promise particular search rankings, visitor numbers or sales. Except for intent, gross negligence, personal injury or where the law does not allow a limitation, each party’s total liability under this agreement is limited to the fees paid or payable under it.
15. Governing law and disputes
This agreement is governed by the law stated under Governing law. The parties will first try to settle any dispute in good faith. Otherwise the courts stated under Jurisdiction decide, unless mandatory law provides otherwise.
Payment terms
Each instalment is payable within [[14]] days of receiving the invoice, by bank transfer to the account stated on the invoice.
Governing law
[[Country or state whose law applies]]
Jurisdiction
[[Courts that decide disputes, e.g. the courts of your city]]
How to use it
Choose the template
Press the button to use this template. If you are not signed in, you first sign in or sign up for free and then come straight back to it.
Start a draft
The new-contract page opens with this template marked. Press its card to create a draft. Your company details fill in Party A, and you fill in the blanks, the other party and, where the template has one, the price schedule.
Send it for signature
You sign first, then send each signer a secure link and, by another route, an access code. Signers need no account.
Next steps
Your client opens the link on any device and needs no account. See what the signing looks like on the E-Contracts page, and read which kind of electronic signature is enough for which document.
Already signed? Make the invoice from the signed contract: the parties and the price lines carry over, in full or for a deposit. The guide on turning a quotation into an invoice shows how to review the new draft, its dates and the PDF.
What it is, and what it is not
QuoteBill creates a simple electronic signature with an audit trail. In the EU, the UK, the US and Korea a signature is not denied legal effect only because it is electronic, and in Japan most contracts need no particular form at all. What a simple electronic signature proves in a dispute depends on the evidence behind it, and some documents need another form.
It is not a qualified or advanced electronic signature, and QuoteBill does not verify who the signers are. It records the use of the link and access code you delivered, so anyone who has both can sign. The signature certificate lists every link issued and, for each action by the sender or a signer, its IP address and browser where they could be read.
Some documents need another form. Wills, many real-estate transfers, guarantees and some employment documents must, in some countries, be handwritten, notarised or signed with a qualified signature. The templates are samples, not legal advice: review them with a lawyer.
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