How much deposit to ask as a freelancer (and how to ask for it)
Starting work before you have been paid anything is a bet. If the client disappears halfway, changes their mind or simply pays late, you are the one who already put in the hours. When the client is in another country the bet gets bigger: a different time zone, a different legal system and, in most cases, no practical way to chase the money. A deposit is the simplest tool to shrink that risk. This guide covers what a deposit is for, what decides how much to ask, how to word it in your quote so it reads as normal business, and what to do when the client agrees but never pays it.
What a deposit actually does for you
A deposit is the part of the price the client pays before you start. It does three jobs at once:
- It confirms the commitment. A client who pays something up front has really decided to go ahead. It separates buyers from people who were still shopping around.
- It caps your loss. If the project stops, at least part of the work you did is covered.
- It funds the work. If the project needs a license, a stock asset or a paid tool, or if it takes several weeks, you are not the one financing it.
Asking for a deposit is not a sign of distrust. It is a normal working condition in many fields, and most serious clients have paid deposits before. What does come across as distrust is asking late, asking awkwardly, or asking for it only after the price was already agreed.
There is no “standard” percentage
You will find plenty of posts that state a fixed number as if it were a rule. Be careful with that. Deposits somewhere between a third and half of the total are common, but the right number for you depends on the project and the client, not on what a stranger online does. These are the factors that weigh the most:
- New client or repeat client. With someone you have never worked with, a higher deposit makes sense. With a client who has paid you on time for months, you can relax it.
- Size and length of the project. A small, short job can be billed with a large deposit or even fully up front. A long project is easier to split into milestones, where the deposit covers only the first one.
- Costs you have to cover. If you need to buy something to do the work, the deposit should cover at least that.
- How much invisible work comes first. Research, setup and drafts that the client never sees are the hours you lose if they walk away. The more of that work happens at the start, the stronger the case for a bigger deposit.
- How the client pays. Larger companies often have their own payment processes, vendor forms and net terms. Ask how they pay suppliers before you propose terms, so you do not offer something their accounts team cannot process.
A quick way to decide: picture the worst reasonable case, where the client vanishes right after your first delivery. How much would you need to have received already to be fine with that? That is your starting number.
Write it into the quote, not the invoice
The deposit belongs in your quote or proposal, next to the price. If it shows up for the first time on the invoice, it feels like a surprise and invites a negotiation. If it was there from the start, it is just one more term the client accepts along with the price. The freelance proposal template for US clients shows where it fits inside the pricing section, and the guide on how to quote a project in US dollars covers the rest of the payment terms.
Four things to state clearly, in a few lines:
- The deposit amount in USD, not just a percentage, so nobody has to do math.
- When it is due: before work starts.
- When the balance is due: on delivery, per milestone or on a specific date.
- What happens on cancellation: whether the deposit covers the work done up to that point.
Here is a version you can adapt:
Total price: USD 1,500. To get started, I ask for a USD 500 deposit; the remaining USD 1,000 is due on final delivery. Work begins once the deposit has cleared. If the project is cancelled, the deposit covers the work completed up to that date.
And a milestone version for longer projects:
Total price: USD 3,000, billed in three milestones of USD 1,000 each: on signing, on delivery of the first draft, and on final delivery. Each stage starts once the previous payment has cleared.
The amounts are only examples: use your own. Notice that neither version apologizes or over-explains. Clear payment terms read as normal because they are normal.
A note on tone if English is not your first language
Non-native speakers often soften payment requests until they sound unsure: “if it’s not a problem, maybe you could pay a part before?” That wording invites the client to say no. Short, neutral sentences work better in business English:
- “Work begins once the deposit has cleared.”
- “I’ll send the deposit invoice today.”
- “The start date depends on receiving the deposit.”
You do not need “please” in every line, and you do not need to justify the deposit. If the client asks why, one sentence is enough: “It’s how I schedule projects, so I can reserve the time for yours.”
How to ask for it without making it awkward
The moment to request the deposit is right after the client says yes. Instead of opening a new discussion, make the next step concrete: “Great, I’ll send the deposit invoice today and start as soon as it clears.” The deposit is not negotiated again; it is simply what happens next.
A few details that help:
- Send the deposit invoice the same day the client confirms, with the payment method spelled out. If you are not sure what to include, the guide on how to invoice US clients from abroad lists the fields.
- Tie the start date to the payment, not to the calendar. “I’ll start Monday if the deposit has cleared” is clearer than “I’ll start Monday.”
- If the client wants you to start before paying, offer something small at no cost, such as a kickoff call, and keep the real work for after the deposit arrives.
What to do if the deposit never arrives
If the client agreed but the deposit does not show up, the rule is simple: do not start. Send a friendly reminder after a few days, without drama, and confirm that the start date is on hold until the payment clears. If you want help with the tone, a polite email to a client who hasn’t paid has messages you can adapt.
If a couple of reminders go nowhere, treat it as information. A client who will not pay the deposit is unlikely to pay the balance on time. Losing a project that never started is much cheaper than working for weeks and then chasing the money.
Track the deposit and the balance as two payments
A common mistake is marking the project as “paid” the moment the deposit lands. At the end of the month you no longer know how much you are actually owed. Record two separate payments instead: the deposit, with its date and the net amount you received after fees, and the balance, with its due date and its status.
The quote and payment tracker spreadsheet in USD is built for that: you quote the project, see which quotes were accepted, and log each payment (deposit and balance) with the platform, the fee and what you actually kept, so you always know what is collected and what is still pending. If you have not settled the total price yet, the hourly rate calculator is free and helps you get that number first.
Disclaimer
This guide is general operational information: it is not legal or tax advice, nor accounting or financial advice. Whatever you agree in writing with a client about payments and cancellations is binding on you: if the amounts are significant or you are unsure how to word those terms, talk to a professional in your country.
Our products and articles are practical tools and informational content. They are not legal, accounting or tax advice. Every country and every payment platform has its own rules: talk to a professional before making tax decisions.