Business Contract Templates
Free business templates for founders, company directors, partners, vendors and buyers. Every one includes a guided form, a live preview and instant PDF or Word download.
About business agreements
A business agreement records how a commercial relationship will operate: what each side supplies, how money moves, who decides what, and how the arrangement can be unwound.
Business agreements tend to fail at the edges — deadlock between owners, automatic renewals nobody diarised, and liability caps that turn out to sit above the value of the contract.
Commercial contracts between businesses are largely governed by what the parties wrote down. Courts are far less willing to imply fair terms than they are in consumer contracts, which makes precision here worth the effort.
For suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and resellers
For agents, brokers, affiliates and their principals
For businesses outsourcing functions and their service providers
For LLC members, company directors and corporate secretaries
For startups, founders and early-stage investors
For business partners, founders and shareholders
For businesses engaging service providers and the providers themselves
For business buyers, sellers and their advisers
For software providers and business customers
For parties negotiating a transaction
For IT providers, agencies and the businesses they support
For parties settling a dispute or holding funds in escrow
For software developers, agencies and product owners
For consultants, advisers and their client organisations
For franchisors and prospective franchisees
For companies, advisers and consultants
For businesses, employees and anyone sharing sensitive information
For data controllers and their service providers
For PR consultants, promoters, sponsors and brands
For sponsors, advertisers, publishers and event organisers
For marketing agencies, consultants and their clients
For content creators, influencers and brand marketers
Common mistakes in business agreements
- No exit or deadlock mechanism. Two equal owners who disagree can paralyse a company. Buy-sell provisions, valuation methods and tie-break procedures are far cheaper to agree at the start than to litigate later.
- Auto-renewal with no diary date. Evergreen clauses roll a contract on for another full term if notice is missed. Record the notice deadline the day the contract is signed.
- Liability caps that do not fit. A cap set at the value of one month's fees is meaningless if a failure could cause six figures of loss. Match the cap to realistic exposure and carve out the things that should never be capped.
- Vague termination triggers. Distinguish termination for convenience, termination for material breach with a cure period, and immediate termination on insolvency. Each needs different notice.
- Missing confidentiality survival. Confidentiality obligations should expressly outlive the agreement. If they end with the contract, so does the protection.
- Ignoring assignment and change of control. Without a clause, your counterparty could be acquired by a competitor and the contract goes with it. Require consent for assignment.
Business questions
Does a business contract need to be signed by a director?
It needs to be signed by someone with authority to bind the entity. For a company that is typically a director or an officer with delegated authority; for an LLC, a manager or authorised member. If you are unsure, ask for evidence of authority before relying on the signature.
Are electronic signatures valid for commercial agreements?
Yes. Under the US ESIGN Act and equivalent legislation elsewhere, electronic signatures carry the same legal weight as ink for the vast majority of business contracts. Keep the audit trail showing who signed and when.
What happens if one party breaches?
It depends on how serious the breach is. A material breach normally entitles the other party to terminate and claim damages; a minor breach usually gives a right to damages but not termination. A clear cure period in the contract avoids arguing about which it was.
Should every business agreement be reviewed by a lawyer?
Not every one. Routine, low-value or short-term agreements are commonly handled in-house from a solid template. Anything involving significant money, equity, exclusivity, long-term commitment or unusual liability is worth a review.