Terms
Terms of use
These terms explain how you can use Freelance Codex, what you can expect from us, and what we expect from you.
By accessing or using Freelance Codex (the "site"), you agree to these Terms of Use ("Terms"). If you do not agree, do not use the site.
We try to keep this page plain-language and practical. Still, this is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for getting advice from a qualified professional who understands your specific facts.
Related pages:
Quick summary (human version)
If you only read one section, read this. It is not a replacement for the full Terms below, but it reflects the intent in simple words.
- Freelance Codex provides educational information about freelancing and independent work. It is not legal, tax, or financial advice.
- Tools, templates, and calculators are starting points. You are responsible for adapting them, validating them, and deciding when you need professional review.
- Use the site in good faith. Do not break laws, harass people, or interfere with the site's security or performance.
- If you create an account, keep access to your email secure and keep your comments and profile respectful. What you post is public, you still own it, and we may review, edit, hide, or remove it.
- We own the site content and branding. You get a limited license to read and use it for personal or internal business purposes, but you cannot republish or sell it as your own.
- The site is provided "as is." To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim warranties and limit liability for damages that may result from your use.
What Freelance Codex is (and is not)
Freelance Codex is a knowledge base for independent professionals. It may include articles, checklists, examples, and tools designed to help you think more clearly about common freelance problems: scoping work, writing proposals, setting expectations, negotiating, managing delivery, and building a sustainable practice.
It is not a substitute for professional advice. We are not your lawyer, accountant, financial advisor, HR department, or therapist. Using the site does not create a professional-client relationship between you and Freelance Codex.
You are responsible for how you interpret and apply what you read here. If you need advice that depends on your facts, your industry, or your local laws, consult a qualified professional.
Educational content and editorial intent
We aim to be accurate, clear, and useful, but content can become outdated as tools, markets, and norms change. Treat the site as a starting point for your own thinking, not as a final authority.
If you want to understand how we approach sourcing, corrections, and updates, see:
Tools, templates, and calculators
The site may offer templates, sample clauses, calculators, worksheets, or other tools. These are meant to help you move faster and reduce blank-page paralysis. They are not guaranteed to be correct for your situation.
When you use a template or tool, you agree that:
- you are responsible for evaluating whether it fits your project, client, and risk tolerance,
- you are responsible for adapting it to your local laws and industry norms,
- you should consider professional review when the stakes are high (for example, large contracts, regulated industries, or high-liability work),
- and you accept the possibility that a template can contain errors or be incomplete.
Templates are intentionally general. A "good" template is a reasonable default for common situations, not a guarantee of safety. If something needs to be tailored, it is on you to tailor it.
Practical example: if a template suggests a payment schedule, that does not mean the schedule matches how your client actually pays. If a clause mentions "deliverables," that does not mean you and your client agree on what those deliverables are. The template is a prompt; your job is to make it specific.
Another example: a calculator can help you estimate a rate or a budget, but it cannot know your client's approval process, the complexity of the work, or the knock-on effects of scope creep. Treat outputs as estimates, not commitments.
Keeping your own copies
The site changes. We may update a template, fix a typo, or rewrite a section for clarity. If you rely on a template for a live client engagement, keep your own copy and version it like any other business document.
We do not promise that links, headings, or template wording will remain exactly the same over time. If a specific version matters (for example, because it was part of an agreed process), save it and treat the saved version as the one you are using.
This is also a safety practice: keeping copies helps you explain what you used, when you used it, and what you changed.
Your responsibilities
Freelancing is high-variance. Small misunderstandings can become big problems. Using this site does not shift responsibility away from you.
You agree that you will:
- verify important details before acting on them
- use your own judgment, especially when a decision has legal, financial, safety, or reputational consequences
- keep backups and copies of your own work and contracts (do not rely on any single tool or page)
- use professional review when needed, rather than hoping a generic template covers an edge case
Using the site responsibly
You agree to use the site for lawful purposes and in a way that does not harm other people or the site itself. In plain terms, do not do things that make the site unsafe, unreliable, or unpleasant for other readers.
Acceptable use
You agree not to:
- use the site for illegal activity or to promote illegal activity
- try to gain unauthorized access to the site or its systems
- interfere with site performance (for example, by flooding requests or probing for vulnerabilities)
- scrape, harvest, or collect data from the site in a way that unreasonably burdens our infrastructure or violates others' privacy
- send spam or abuse contact forms
- upload or transmit malware, malicious code, or anything designed to disrupt service
- impersonate someone else, misrepresent your affiliation, or mislead us in order to get a response
- use the site to harass, threaten, or discriminate against others
- use the site in a way that infringes intellectual property rights (including copying substantial portions of content and reposting it)
- create accounts in bulk, or use automated tools to post comments, likes, or form submissions
We may suspend or block access to the site, or disable an account, if we believe (in good faith) that you are violating these Terms or creating risk for other users or for the site.
Security and responsible disclosure
If you believe you found a security issue, report it responsibly instead of exploiting it. Use:
Accounts
You can read Freelance Codex without an account. An account lets you comment, like comments, and keep a member profile. Accounts are free.
You sign in with a link we email you. The first time you ask for a link, we create your account. After you confirm your email, you can also set a password (at least 10 characters).
When you have an account, you agree to:
- use an email address you control, and only your own
- keep your email inbox and password secure. Anyone who can open your sign-in emails can sign in as you.
- not share your account, sell it, or sign in to someone else's
- tell us through the contact page if you think someone else has used your account
You are responsible for what happens under your account when you are signed in.
We may disable an account that breaks these Terms or puts other people or the site at risk. Disabling an account signs it out everywhere and stops new sign-ins. If you think we got it wrong, contact us.
You can stop using your account at any time. To have it deleted, contact us from the email address on the account; there is no self-serve delete button yet. Deleting an account also deletes its comments and likes. The Privacy policy explains what we store and for how long.
Comments, profiles, and other content you post
"Your content" means anything you add to the site through your account: comments, likes, your handle, display name, tagline, and profile photo.
What is public
- Approved comments can be read by anyone. They show your display name (or handle), tagline, and profile photo, with a link to your profile.
- Like counts are public. The list of who liked a comment is not shown.
- Your profile is public, and can appear in search engines, unless you set it to members only in your profile settings. Members-only profiles are visible to signed-in members. Your name, tagline, and photo still appear on your comments either way.
Post as if anyone could read it, because they can.
You own your content; you give us permission to show it
You keep ownership of your content. By posting it, you give Freelance Codex a non-exclusive, royalty-free permission to store, display, and format it on the site, including next to the pages you comment on and on your profile, and to make the moderation changes described below. This permission lasts while your content is on the site.
You confirm that you have the right to post what you post. For example, only upload a photo you took or are allowed to use, and don't paste in someone else's writing as your own.
Moderation
We want comments to be useful to other freelancers. To keep it that way:
- Comments may be held for review before they appear. If yours is, you'll see a note saying it is pending.
- We may approve or reject any comment. Rejected comments are not shown on the site.
- We may edit a comment, for example to remove personal information or a broken link. When we change a comment's text, it is marked "(edited)".
- We may delete comments. Deleting a comment also deletes the replies to it.
- We may change a handle, display name, or tagline that breaks the rules below, and disable accounts as described above.
We are not obliged to publish or keep any comment. A comment being visible does not mean we agree with it or have checked that it is accurate.
Community rules
In comments, profiles, and photos, do not post:
- personal information about other people (for example, contact details, addresses, or private messages) without their permission
- confidential client or employer information, including details that identify a client in a dispute
- harassment, threats, hate, or personal attacks
- spam, advertising, affiliate links, or repeated self-promotion
- sexual, violent, or otherwise graphic images or content
- content that is illegal, encourages illegal activity, or infringes someone else's rights
- links to malware, phishing, or other harmful sites
- anything that impersonates another person, brand, or Freelance Codex, including through your handle, display name, or photo
- comments that present themselves as professional legal, tax, or financial advice for someone else's situation
Removing your content or reporting a problem
You can change your handle, display name, tagline, and photo, or make your profile members only, in your profile settings. You can remove a like by clicking it again. To edit or delete one of your comments, contact us from the email address on your account.
If you see a comment or profile that breaks these rules, or that includes your personal information, tell us through the contact page with a link to it.
Your inputs, submissions, and messages
Some parts of the site may let you submit information, for example by sending a message or asking a question. If you submit anything to us, you are responsible for what you include. Questions sent through Ask the Codex are emailed to us rather than posted on the site as comments. The Privacy policy explains when we may turn a question into an anonymized page.
Practical guidance:
- Do not send confidential client information unless you have permission and it is truly necessary.
- Do not send sensitive personal information you would not want handled over email (or stored in a support system).
- If you submit a question, assume it could be used to improve the site's content, in an anonymized or aggregated form.
- If you ask for a review of a contract or a client situation, do not assume we can provide individualized advice. (We may respond with general educational guidance, or we may not respond.)
If you submit feedback, suggestions, or corrections, you give us permission to use them without obligation to you. For example: we may incorporate your idea, fix an error you reported, or improve a template based on your notes.
For details on what we collect and how we handle it, see:
Intellectual property and permitted use
The site, including text, templates, tools, branding, design, and code, is protected by intellectual property laws. Freelance Codex (and/or its licensors) owns the rights to the content unless a page says otherwise.
We want you to benefit from the work. So we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to access and use the site for your personal learning and for internal business purposes (for example, improving your own freelance process).
What you can do
- Read and apply ideas to your own work
- Copy a template and adapt it for your own projects
- Quote short excerpts with attribution and a link back to the source page
If you share excerpts, keep them short and contextual. The goal is to reference, not to recreate the full page elsewhere.
What you cannot do without permission
- Republish full articles or templates as your own content (including posting them on your website, selling them, or bundling them into a product)
- Create a competing database by copying substantial portions of the site
- Use our name, logo, or branding in a way that suggests endorsement or partnership
If you want permission for something that does not fit cleanly into the examples above, ask us:
Copyright and takedown requests
If you believe content on the site infringes your copyright, contact us with enough information to locate the material and understand your claim. Use:
External links and third-party services
The site may link to third-party websites, products, or services. Those are not controlled by us. A link does not mean we endorse the third party, and we are not responsible for third-party content, policies, or practices.
If you click a third-party link, you are subject to that third party's terms and privacy policies. Be cautious, and review their policies if you are sharing personal data or making purchases.
Disclaimers
The site is provided for educational purposes and general information. While we aim to be helpful and accurate, we do not make promises that everything is complete, current, or error-free.
Your situation is specific. Freelancing outcomes depend on factors like your industry, client behavior, local laws, contract terms, timing, and execution quality. A strategy that works for one person may fail for another.
No professional advice. The site does not provide legal, tax, accounting, financial, medical, or other professional services. Consult a qualified professional for advice tailored to your circumstances.
No guarantees. We do not guarantee results (for example: higher income, better clients, faster negotiation, or dispute-free projects). Tools and templates can reduce guesswork, but they cannot eliminate risk.
Decisions are yours. If you choose to act (or not act) based on something you read here, that is your decision. Freelance Codex is not responsible for outcomes.
"As is" and "as available." To the fullest extent permitted by law, we provide the site without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. That includes implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.
We may change, pause, or discontinue parts of the site at any time. We may also fix bugs, update templates, and rewrite content as the project evolves.
Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Freelance Codex will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for loss of profits, revenue, data, goodwill, or business opportunities, arising out of or related to your use of (or inability to use) the site.
This includes situations where: content is inaccurate, a template is incomplete, a calculator produces an output you rely on, a link goes to a third-party site, or the site is unavailable.
In jurisdictions that do not allow certain limitations of liability, some of these limits may not apply to you. In that case, our liability is limited to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.
Indemnity (being responsible for your use)
If your use of the site causes harm to someone else, violates a law, or leads to a claim against us, you agree to cooperate and to defend and indemnify Freelance Codex to the extent permitted by law. In plain language: you are responsible for your own actions, especially if you misuse the site.
Privacy and cookies
Your use of the site is also subject to our privacy and cookie policies, which explain what data we collect and what choices you have:
Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms as the site changes, new features are added, or policies need clarification. When we make changes, we will update the "last reviewed" date on this page.
If you continue using the site after an update, that means you accept the updated Terms.
Other plain-language legal notes
If one part is unenforceable
If a court or regulator says part of these Terms cannot be enforced, that does not automatically cancel the rest. The remaining sections still apply to the extent they are valid under applicable law.
How these policies fit together
These Terms cover how you may use the site and the core disclaimers. The Privacy policy explains what information we collect and why, and the Cookie policy explains how cookie preferences work. If something feels unclear or conflicting, contact us so we can clarify and fix it.
Disputes and common sense
If you have a problem with the site or these Terms, the fastest path is usually to contact us and explain what happened. We are more likely to resolve issues quickly when we understand the context. Nothing in these Terms is meant to remove rights you may have under applicable law.
Questions or contact
If you have questions about these Terms, want to request permission for reuse, or want to report an issue, contact us here: