What Is a Kill Fee?

A kill fee is a payment the client owes if they cancel a project before it's finished — typically payment for all work completed to date plus a set percentage of the remaining fee. It's the price of walking away, agreed up front instead of argued about later.

Why it matters

Project work is planned around being seen through: you turn down other work, schedule weeks, and front-load effort. A contract that lets the client terminate for convenience with nothing owed turns a cancellation into your loss alone. A kill fee shares that risk — and because it's negotiated before anyone is upset, it usually costs little to ask for.

What to watch for

• No kill fee at all next to a termination-for-convenience right — the most common version of the problem is absence.
• "Payment for work completed" only, with no share of the remaining fee — it covers your past hours but not the schedule you cleared.
• Vague measures of "work completed" with no milestones to point to.
• Kill fees that only run one way — if you must exit for a legitimate reason, the clause is silent.

A realistic example

An illustrator books six weeks for a campaign and declines two other projects. In week three, the client's budget is cut and the project is cancelled with the contract's three-day notice. Without a kill fee, the contract owes her only the milestone already invoiced — the two declined projects, and the empty three weeks, are her problem.

What to ask for

1. A kill-fee sentence: "If the Client terminates other than for the Contractor's breach, the Client will pay for all work completed plus a percentage of the remaining fee" — and put the actual number in the contract.
2. Milestone definitions so "work completed" is measurable, not arguable.
3. Pair it with notice: a kill fee plus a 14-day notice period covers both money and planning.

Related terms: termination for convenience · net 30 · scope of work Related guide: How to get paid as a freelancer

See whether your contract owes you anything if the project dies — 👉 Analyze your contract free, 3 analyses every month, no card.

Not legal advice. This is an educational definition of a common contract term. Details vary by jurisdiction — this page explains common U.S. usage. For high-stakes agreements, have a lawyer review the final version.