Development agreement review
Free Development Agreement Review
Upload the software or product development agreement and see who ends up owning the work, what you are barred from doing afterwards, and how the project can end.
PDF, Word, or a photo of the signed pages — up to 25 MB.
Drag & drop your contract here
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Up to 25 MB · PDF, JPG, PNG, DOCX, XLSX or TXT
Encrypted · auto-deleted after 30 days · never used to train AI
This is information, not legal advice. We are not a law firm.
No account needed to run your first one.
Six things worth checking in a development agreement
Who owns the result — and your old code.
An assignment of “all work product” can sweep in libraries and tools you built before the project. A common thing to ask for: a carve-out for pre-existing materials, licensed back to the client.
Joint ownership nobody can use.
Where both sides own the IP jointly, check whether either can license or sell it without the other. Silence on that point can freeze the asset.
A non-compete dressed as a project term.
Development deals sometimes bar you from building “similar” products. Worth knowing how long it lasts and how “similar” is defined.
Milestones tied to acceptance.
If each payment waits on sign-off, look for a time limit and a definition of what counts as a pass.
First-refusal rights on your next work.
A right of first refusal or negotiation gives the other side the first look at what you build next. It can be reasonable; it is rarely obvious from the title.
What happens to unfinished work on exit.
If either side can end the project early, check who pays for work in progress and who gets the half-finished code.
What development agreements in a public contract dataset contain
We counted clauses in the 29 development agreements among 510 public-company commercial contracts from the CUAD dataset (The Atticus Project, CC BY 4.0). These are larger-company deals, not a sample of every development agreement — use them as a reference point, not a rule.
Stands out
- Joint IP ownership: 12 of 29 (41.4%) — across all 510 contracts: 9.0%.
- An assignment of IP ownership: 16 of 29 (55.2%) — across all 510 contracts: 24.3%.
- A right of first refusal, offer or negotiation: 12 of 29 (41.4%) — across all 510 contracts: 16.7%.
| Clause | In these 29 | Across all 510 |
|---|---|---|
| A cap on liability | 18 (62.1%) | 275 (53.9%) |
| Liability left uncapped for some breaches | 10 (34.5%) | 111 (21.8%) |
| A right to end the contract without cause | 16 (55.2%) | 183 (35.9%) |
| An assignment of IP ownership | 16 (55.2%) | 124 (24.3%) |
| A non-compete | 13 (44.8%) | 119 (23.3%) |
| An insurance requirement | 11 (37.9%) | 166 (32.5%) |
In this set, development agreements moved IP ownership, shared it jointly and gave first-refusal rights far more often than the average contract — ownership is the part to read first.
Small sample: with 29 contracts, one contract moves a percentage by about 3.4 points. A clause being rare here is not a reason to leave it out of yours.
Source: CUAD v1, The Atticus Project, CC BY 4.0. Counts are ours — see the full method on /data/cuad.
What's free
- One contract analysis, free forever — no credit card.
- Your risk score, and every finding in the development agreement listed by name and severity.
- Your two most important findings explained in full, with wording you can ask for.
- PDF and Word download of your free report.
- The remaining findings stay locked until you unlock the report for $9 once, or start a plan.
Free — one analysis, no card. · $9 — unlock one full report. · Pro $19/month — full reports, 30 analyses a month.
How the analysis works
Upload your contract
Choose your side
See the risks
Know what to ask for
Not a chat window: the whole document goes through the same analysis every time, and findings quote the clause they came from. See the side-by-side.
Questions people ask
Is the development agreement review free?
Yes — your first analysis is free for good, one contract per account, no card. You get the risk score and every finding by name, with the two most important explained in full. The rest are listed but locked until you unlock the report for $9 or start a plan.
Does this cover software development contracts from freelance platforms?
Yes, if you can download or paste the contract text. Platform terms of service are a separate document; the analysis reads whichever one you upload.
Will it tell me if the IP clause is fair?
It tells you what the clause says, how wide it is, and what people usually ask to change. Whether it is fair for your deal depends on the price and on facts outside the document.
Is my development agreement private?
It is private to your account and is never used to train models. Uploaded files are deleted after 30 days. From 30 September 2026, your report stays in your account until you delete it.
Other contract types we check
- Any contract
- NDA
- Lease
- Freelance contract
- Employment contract
- Service agreement
- Supply agreement
- License agreement
- Distribution agreement
- Franchise agreement
- Manufacturing agreement
- Maintenance agreement
- Sponsorship agreement
- IP agreement
- Collaboration agreement
- Strategic alliance agreement
- Joint venture agreement
- Co-branding agreement
- Marketing agreement
- Outsourcing agreement
- Hosting agreement
- Endorsement agreement
- Encrypted in transit & at rest
- Files auto-deleted after 30 days
- Never used to train models
- Informational — not legal advice