Vendor contract review for small businesses
Vendor agreements are where recurring costs hide. The signature takes a minute; the obligation can run for years and renew without anyone deciding to renew it.
One free review a month. No card required.
Why this one is worth reading twice
A vendor contract is usually drafted by the vendor, which means every ambiguity has already been resolved in their favour — not maliciously, just naturally. The terms that cost small businesses money are rarely the price on page one. They are the automatic renewal with a notice window that closed before you thought to look, the annual uplift clause, the liability cap that protects them and not you, and the termination right that they hold and you do not.
What ContractClerk flags
Auto-renewal and the notice window
Many vendor agreements renew automatically unless you give notice 60 or 90 days before the term ends. Miss it by a day and you have bought another full year.
Price increases on renewal
Look for uplift clauses that let the vendor raise rates by a set percentage, or by an index, without renegotiation. A clause capping the increase is worth asking for.
Unlimited or one-sided liability
If the vendor's liability is capped at fees paid but yours is not capped at all, the risk is asymmetric. This is common and usually negotiable.
Termination rights that only run one way
Check whether you can leave for convenience, or only for a material breach they failed to cure — and whether they have easier terms than you do.
What happens to your data when it ends
Export formats, retention periods, and deletion obligations matter most at the moment you are least happy with the vendor.
Questions
- What kinds of vendor agreements does this cover?
- Supplier agreements, SaaS and software subscriptions, service agreements, master service agreements, and statements of work. ContractClerk has 19 contract types and handles general agreements outside those categories too.
- Can it help me push back on a term?
- It explains what a clause does and why it favours one side, which is most of what you need to ask for a change. Paid plans also suggest counter-language you can send.
- Will it catch renewal deadlines?
- Deadlines found in the contract — renewal notice windows, expiry dates, price-review dates — are extracted and tracked on paid plans, with email alerts before they arrive.
- Is this legal advice?
- No. It is AI-assisted review that helps you understand what you are signing. For a high-value or unusual agreement, have a licensed attorney review it.
Read it before you sign it
Paste the text or upload the file. You get a clause-by-clause read in plain English, usually in under a minute.
Start freeContractClerk gives AI-assisted contract review, not legal advice, and using it does not create an attorney–client relationship. For anything high-stakes, have a licensed attorney look at it.