RunwayDue turns a client agreement into a billing schedule: every payment the contract owes you becomes a dated instalment, and once the contract is signed those instalments count as committed revenue in your forecast. An instalment becomes an invoice only when someone presses Bill it, so no invoice leaves a contract without a person checking it first.
Three ways a contract starts
From an accepted proposal. Accepting a proposal creates nothing by itself; an accepted one offers Create the contract. Pick how it bills, when it starts and how many months it runs (1 to 60), and RunwayDue spreads the proposal's subtotal, before tax and without optional items, across a monthly or quarterly term, with rounding carried on the last instalment so the total matches what was accepted. The draft opens with a six-section agreement built from the proposal's scope, deliverables and terms, or with the same PDF if the proposal was an upload. Writing, sending and weighting proposals covers the step before.
The built-in agreement. A contract started from scratch opens with eight sections, from the parties to governing law, which is left for you to fill in. It is Markdown, with eleven merge tokens, such as the client's name and total value, filled in when the client reads it. There are no saved templates, and the editor says the text is a starting point, not legal advice.
An uploaded PDF. Upload an agreement drafted elsewhere (PDF only, up to 12 MB and 100 pages, with no password or usage restrictions) and tell RunwayDue how it bills.
How the billing schedule is built
| How it bills | What the schedule holds |
|---|---|
| One time | One instalment for the full value, due on the start date |
| Monthly retainer | One instalment a month to the end date |
| Quarterly | One instalment every three months |
| Milestones | Nothing until you add each one by hand, with its own date and amount |
A monthly or quarterly contract written in RunwayDue needs an end date, and a generated schedule stops at 36 instalments: three years monthly, nine quarterly. Amounts are before tax; the contract's tax rate is applied when each instalment is billed. The editor previews the instalments before you save. RunwayDue set beside Dubsado compares this with a client-workflow tool. Which schedule to agree in the first place, deposit and milestones included, is the subject of how deposits, milestones and late-fee clauses get you paid.
Signing is what makes it count
A draft or unsigned contract adds nothing to the forecast. Once signed, its unbilled instalments count as committed revenue, before tax, in the month each falls due; one already past its date counts in the current month. The forecast covers this month and the next five, with committed money shown beside what is invoiced and collected, never added to it: why the four layers are never added together.
Three things sign it: the client on its share link, everyone on a PDF signature request, or you, with Mark as signed, for a signature collected elsewhere.
Share link or signature request
| Share link | PDF signature request | |
|---|---|---|
| Works for | Any sent contract | A contract held as a PDF |
| The signer | Types their name twice and ticks a box confirming authority | Fills the fields you placed on the pages |
| Who takes part | One signer | Signers, approvers and copy recipients, in order or all at once |
| Consent screen and certificate of completion | No | Yes |
| Access codes | No | Business and Enterprise |
A share link needs no login and marks the contract signed at once, keeping the typed name, the time and the network address; a signature request marks it signed when the last person finishes. Signature requests and their certificates are covered separately. Whether a typed name is enough is a legal question (whether a typed name counts under ESIGN and UETA), and a few kinds of document fall outside the federal e-signature law, leaving other rules to decide: the documents US e-signature law excludes.
Billing an instalment
Every unbilled instalment on a signed contract has a Bill it button, future ones included, and a banner flags the ones already due. It opens an invoice filled in from the row: the client, the contract's currency, exchange rate and tax rate, one line carrying the contract title, instalment label and amount, and a due date from your default payment terms. You check it, then save a draft or send it.
A draft keeps the instalment in committed revenue; sending moves it to invoiced, so it never counts in two layers at once; payment in full marks it paid. After that it is an ordinary invoice: see sending and tracking invoices. A fixed amount with no agreement behind it suits recurring invoices better.
Changing a live agreement
On a signed contract, Edit terms changes the dates, the amount or how it bills, and RunwayDue rebuilds only the unbilled instalments generated from the old terms. Invoiced and paid instalments are never touched, and months already billed are not billed again. The editor previews every row with the contract value before and after, and that preview is exactly what Save writes; if an instalment was invoiced after you opened the editor, the save is refused.
A partly billed quarter bills only its unbilled months, at a third of the quarterly fee each. Raising a one-time contract's value after it is invoiced adds a remaining-balance instalment; lowering it below what is invoiced is refused.
On the contract itself you can add an instalment by hand, which later changes of terms leave alone unless the contract moves off milestones, or remove an unbilled one. There is no edit in place, so a changed amount is a removal and a re-add.
Completing, cancelling and reopening
- Mark completed closes a signed contract. Unbilled instalments stay on the schedule but stop counting as committed, and Bill it is no longer offered.
- Cancel contract, on a signed contract, marks every unbilled instalment cancelled and takes it out of the forecast. Invoices already raised are untouched. The contract page offers no way to cancel or delete a contract that was sent but never signed; it stays awaiting signature.
- Reopen as signed restores the instalments cancelling took out; an invoiced one stays invoiced, so nothing is billed twice.
- Delete draft is only for a draft never emailed to the client.
Bringing in a contract signed somewhere else
- Upload the signed PDF and enter its dates and how it bills.
- Press Mark sent without emailing. This uses one of the month's agreement documents, as emailing would.
- Press Mark as signed, with who signed and when.
- Remove any instalment already invoiced outside RunwayDue, or the forecast will count it as money still to bill.
Contracts on the Free plan
Free covers 3 proposals or contracts a month, 36 a year, inside an overall cap of 8 documents a month and up to 3 clients. A contract is counted when first sent, by email or with Mark sent without emailing. Over the limit, nothing is sent or lost; the monthly count resets on the 1st. Collecting a signature, on the share link or by PDF signature request, needs Pro or above, from $15 a month billed yearly, or a signature document bought on Free for $2: the plan and signature prices.
Frequently asked questions
Does my client see the payment schedule before signing?
On an agreement written in RunwayDue, yes: under the agreement text, the client's link lists every instalment not cancelled, with its due date and amount, and a total. On an uploaded PDF contract the link shows the PDF itself and no schedule, so its payment terms have to be written into the PDF.
Can a contract run longer than three years?
The agreement can say whatever it needs to, but a generated schedule stops at 36 instalments, three years monthly or nine quarterly, and later ones have to be added by hand. A monthly retainer converted from a proposal over a longer term, say 48 months, has its whole subtotal spread across those 36 instalments, so each is larger than a month's fee.
What if an instalment was billed by mistake?
Void the invoice, provided no payment has been recorded against it, and the instalment returns to the schedule with Bill it offered again. A draft invoice that was never emailed can be deleted instead, with the same result.
Does a contract close itself when its end date passes?
No. A signed contract past its end date reads Term ended, and any unbilled instalment keeps counting as committed revenue until its invoice is sent, you mark the contract completed or you cancel it. Nothing renews by itself either: the Renews automatically box is recorded but adds no instalments.
Do a proposal and the contract made from it count separately on Free?
Yes. They share Free's allowance of 3 a month, and each is counted when first sent, so sending a proposal and then its contract uses 2 of the 3. Converting the proposal and recording the signature with Mark as signed use none.