E-signature for contracts, from template to deposit invoice
Short answer
Aventide sends contracts for e-signature from the same place you keep your clients and invoices. Start from one of seven built-in templates, including a Coaching Agreement, a Design Project Agreement and two consulting contracts, or upload your own Word file. You sign first. Your client confirms their email, then reads and signs on a page with your logo and colors, or declines with a note. The signed document is frozen, fingerprinted with SHA-256 and kept with a record of every step. If a deposit is due, the invoice is drafted and waits for your approval. Templates are starting points, not legal advice.
What Aventide's contracts and e-signature do
Templates written for coaching, design and consulting
The Coaching Agreement asks for 24 hours' notice to reschedule and needs the client's permission before a session is recorded. The Design Project Agreement starts at a 50% deposit, with two revision rounds unless your scope says otherwise and a kill fee that rises as the project moves on. The Consulting Agreement covers a fixed project; the Consulting Retainer bills weekly, monthly or quarterly.
You countersign, your client signs on your page
Every contract carries your signature before it goes out: you type your legal name and agree to sign electronically. Your client opens the link in their email, or their client portal, and sees your logo and colors. They confirm their email, read a disclosure, tick the consent box, type their name and sign. If the terms don't work for them, they can decline and leave you a note.
What they read is exactly what they sign
Sending freezes the document. Your client signs that frozen copy, and if anything changed after they opened it, the page reloads before they can sign. Each step, from sent to opened to signed, is timed and kept in a record that can't be edited, with your client's IP address. The signed PDF ends with a Signature Certificate showing the SHA-256 fingerprints, and both of you get it by email.
Reminders, new links and revisions, sent by you
A signing link works for 14 days. Before then, Send reminder emails the same link again. Send new link replaces it and the old one stops working. Revise and resend makes a new draft and leaves the original untouched, and Void cancels a contract with a private reason. Reminders don't go out on their own yet: you choose when to send one.
The contract, the signature and the deposit in one place
Nabil, while building his own proposal tool, described the usual setup on Hacker News in February 2026: "Chasing a signature in one tool, an invoice in another, a contract in a third." In Aventide each contract sits in its client's room next to their invoices, and the room's History shows who did each step.
How to send a contract for e-signature in Aventide
Pick a template or upload your own
Open Offers, then Contract templates. Pick one of the seven built-ins, or click Upload your own and choose a Word file (.docx), Markdown or plain text, up to 5 MB. PDFs aren't accepted. Your file becomes a template you review and edit. Then, on the Contracts tab, start a contract from an offer and a template, and the price and deposit fill in.
Let Aventide fill it in, or do it yourself
Ask Sidekick in Think: "Draft a Coaching Agreement for Maya, six sessions, $1,800, 25% deposit." Aventide fills in the client, price, deposit and scope from what you tell Sidekick and saves a draft. Anything Aventide drafts for a client waits for your approval; automations you switch on run on their own. Send stays off until every blank field is filled.
Countersign and send
Open the draft, check it with Preview as your client sees it, then type your full legal name, tick the consent box and click Send for signature. Your client gets an email with the signing link. If Sidekick asked to send it for you, the request waits in your approvals until you read the contract and countersign it there.
Approve the deposit invoice
When your client signs a contract with a deposit, Aventide drafts the deposit invoice and it waits on your Daily Brief and Approvals card until you approve it. Your client pays through your own Stripe account, and Aventide adds no fee of its own. To send it the moment they sign, tick Send invoice automatically after signing before you send the contract.
What contracts and e-signature cost
Contracts and e-signature are on both plans, like every feature: Starter is $39 a month and Pro is $99 a month, each with unlimited businesses and unlimited team members. There’s no fee per contract, per signature or per envelope. Doing things yourself never uses credits. Only the AI’s work does: sending and signing are free, while having Aventide draft a contract, Improve and Create with AI use AI credits. Starter includes 40,000 credits a month and Pro 120,000.
Questions about contracts and e-signature
Are Aventide's e-signatures legally binding?
In the US, the ESIGN Act and UETA say a signature can't be denied legal effect just because it's electronic, when the signer agrees to sign electronically and the record can be kept. Aventide asks for that consent, seals the signed copy and keeps a record nobody can edit. Wills and some other documents are excluded. This isn't legal advice.
Which contract templates does Aventide include?
Seven: Service Agreement, Master Service Agreement, Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement, Design Project Agreement, Consulting Retainer, Consulting Agreement and Coaching Agreement. Each fills in your business and client names, and the price and deposit where it has them. They are starting points, not legal advice, so have a lawyer check the terms you rely on, such as the governing state.
Can I use my own contract in Aventide?
Yes. Upload it as a Word file (.docx), Markdown or plain text, up to 5 MB, and it becomes a template you review before saving. Aventide converts the text as it is and doesn't rewrite it. Add merge fields such as client name and deposit terms where you want them filled in. Save a PDF as a Word file first.
Can two people sign one contract in Aventide?
Not two client signers on one contract yet. Each contract has one client signer, plus the countersignature you or a teammate add for your business before it goes out. If two people on your client's side must sign, today that means two contracts or another tool. Initials, signing order and fields placed on a PDF aren't built either.
Can Aventide's AI write a contract for me?
Yes, from a template you pick. Aventide's AI fills it in with the client, price, deposit and scope you give it, and Improve edits a draft from your instruction. Which contract fits you is a question for a lawyer. Anything Aventide drafts for a client waits for your approval; automations you switch on run on their own.
Do I still need DocuSign with Aventide?
Not for client contracts with one signer, if Aventide's templates or your own contract cover you. Aventide has no per-envelope fee, while DocuSign's eSignature Personal plan is $11 a month for five envelopes a month, on an annual plan billed monthly (as of October 12, 2026, DocuSign's pricing page). For several signers, keep a dedicated tool.
We make Aventide, so weigh our take accordingly.