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For agencies

Contract management software for agencies and client retainers

Contract management software for agencies keeps every client agreement in one place: the proposal, the master services agreement, each statement of work and the monthly retainer. Signee drafts the SOW from one sentence, gets the client's signature on any phone and emails the account lead before a retainer renews or its notice period closes.

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  • SOW drafted from one sentence
  • Clients sign without an account
  • Retainer notice dates tracked
  • Users included, not per seat

New statement of work

Draft, not sent

One free draft, no account needed. Signee templates are drafting assistance, not legal advice.

Try it with a real engagement, for example "SEO retainer for Harbor Dental, 3,500 USD a month, 6 months, 30 day notice".

Small agency team reviewing a printed client proposal and pricing table together at a studio worktable

Why agency contracts get messy faster than most

A typical agency signs one master services agreement with a client and then a new statement of work for every project, plus a retainer that rolls month to month or year to year. Add NDAs for pitches, freelancer agreements for overflow work and the odd change order when scope grows, and a 20 person shop can be juggling a few hundred live documents.

Those documents usually live in three places: the proposal tool, a shared drive full of files named "SOW_final_v3_signed", and someone's calendar. Nobody owns renewal dates, so a retainer that should have been repriced rolls over at last year's rate, or a client gives notice and the team finds out when the invoice bounces.

Signee is contract management software built so that the proposal, the SOW and the retainer are one thread. The accepted proposal becomes the signed agreement, the signed agreement lands in a searchable repository with its dates already read from the text, and the account lead gets an email before anything renews. If you already know you need proposals with pricing tables, our page on proposal software covers that side in detail.

What agencies use

Built around the MSA, the SOW and the retainer

Six things an agency owner or operations lead actually pays for, with no legal ops team required.

SOWs drafted from a sentence

Describe the project, fee and timeline in one sentence. Signee drafts a statement of work with deliverables, payment schedule and signature blocks, and flags anything it could not fill.

MSA plus SOW structure

Agree legal terms once in a master services agreement, then send a short SOW per project. Both are searchable by client name in the repository.

Client signs on a phone

The client opens a link, signs in the browser and gets a sealed PDF with an audit trail. No account, no app, reminders on the schedule you choose.

Retainer renewal alerts

Signee reads the term, auto renewal and notice period from the signed text and emails the account lead before the notice date passes.

Approvals for discounts

If an account manager drops a retainer below your floor, the SOW goes to the founder or finance lead before the client sees it.

Users included in the plan

Account leads, project managers and finance share one workspace. Plans include a set number of users instead of charging per seat.

How it works

From pitch to signed retainer in four steps

  1. 1

    Draft

    Describe the engagement or pick your SOW template. Client name, fees and dates fill from variables or your CRM.

  2. 2

    Approve

    Rules catch discounts, unusual payment terms or changed clauses and route them to the right person first.

  3. 3

    Sign

    Send to the client with a signing order. Signee checks no required field is empty and sends reminders until it is done.

  4. 4

    Track

    The signed agreement is filed with its key dates, and the owner hears about the renewal months before it happens.

Most agencies start from the agreement they send most often. Our master service agreement template is a good base for the MSA, and the SOW can be drafted fresh for each project. Templates and AI drafts are drafting assistance, not legal advice, and Signee is not a law firm, so have a lawyer review your standard MSA once before you scale it across clients.

Which agencies use it, and for what

Marketing and paid media agencies

Monthly retainers are the business model, so the renewal date is the revenue date. Signee puts every retainer's notice deadline in one view, which gives the account lead a reason to open the repricing conversation 60 days out instead of the week it renews.

Creative and branding studios

Projects are fixed fee with milestones and a final payment that releases the work. The SOW spells out deliverables, rounds of revisions and when ownership of the work transfers, and the client approves it on the same day you pitch.

Web and software development shops

A build SOW is followed by a support or hosting plan that renews quietly for years. Both reference the same client MSA, and the support renewal shows up with its notice period long before the client's procurement team asks.

Agencies that use freelancers

Overflow designers, writers and developers need a contractor agreement and often an NDA before they see client work. Send both from the same workspace and keep them next to the client contract they relate to.

Honest comparison

Signee next to the tools agencies usually try

Prices are list prices we checked in October 2026. Vendors change them, so confirm on their sites before you decide.

Price model

Signee
Flat plan, users included, from 24 USD a month billed yearly
Proposal tool (PandaDoc)
Per seat, about 19 to 49 USD per seat a month billed yearly
Enterprise CLM (Ironclad, Juro)
Quote only, usually annual contracts
Shared drive and calendar
No license cost

Drafting the SOW

Signee
AI draft from one sentence, templates with variables
Proposal tool (PandaDoc)
Strong designed proposal editor and content library
Enterprise CLM (Ironclad, Juro)
Template and clause library, set up by legal
Shared drive and calendar
Copy last project and edit by hand

Client signature

Signee
Included, audit trail certificate
Proposal tool (PandaDoc)
Included
Enterprise CLM (Ironclad, Juro)
Usually through a connected e-signature tool
Shared drive and calendar
Separate tool or wet ink

Retainer renewal alerts

Signee
Dates read from the signed text, email before notice date
Proposal tool (PandaDoc)
Limited after signature
Enterprise CLM (Ironclad, Juro)
Strong, built for legal teams
Shared drive and calendar
Only if someone types the date in

Setup time

Signee
Same day, self serve
Proposal tool (PandaDoc)
Same day, self serve
Enterprise CLM (Ironclad, Juro)
Weeks to months with onboarding
Shared drive and calendar
None, but nothing is automated

Best for

Signee
Agencies of 3 to 60 people with retainers
Proposal tool (PandaDoc)
Agencies whose deals depend on long designed proposals
Enterprise CLM (Ironclad, Juro)
Large companies with in house legal
Shared drive and calendar
Very few clients and no retainers

If the proposal design is what wins your pitches, a dedicated proposal tool is a fair choice, and our PandaDoc alternative page explains where it beats us. Signee is the better fit when the work after the signature matters to you: retainers that renew, SOWs you need to find in a year, and notice dates that cannot be missed. For the renewal side on its own, see contract renewal tracking.

Plans

What an agency pays for Signee

Most agencies under ten people start on Starter. Business adds CRM merge, approvals and proposals with pricing tables.

Price billed yearly

Starter
24 USD a month
Business
74 USD a month
Company
249 USD a month

Price billed monthly

Starter
49 USD a month
Business
149 USD a month
Company
499 USD a month

Users included

Starter
3
Business
10
Company
30

Documents sent per month

Starter
30
Business
150
Company
Higher volume with bulk send

AI drafts per month

Starter
20
Business
100
Company
Higher volume

Proposals, CRM merge, approvals

Starter
Not included
Business
Included
Company
Included, plus SSO

Compare the full feature list on the pricing page. If your agency is closer to a two person studio, the guide to contract management software for small business walks through what to set up in the first week.

Agency contract management questions

What is the best contract management software for agencies
The best fit depends on what hurts most. Agencies that lose time on drafting SOWs and miss retainer renewals do well with a self serve tool like Signee that drafts, collects signatures and tracks notice dates. Agencies whose pitches depend on heavily designed proposals often prefer a proposal tool, and large holding groups with in house legal tend to buy enterprise CLM.
Do marketing agencies need contract management software
Once you have more than a handful of retainers, yes. The cost of one retainer that auto renews at an old rate, or one client notice nobody saw, is usually higher than a year of software. Before that point a shared folder and a calendar can work if one person owns them.
How much does contract management software cost for an agency
Signee costs 49 USD a month, or 24 USD a month billed yearly, for 3 users on Starter, and 149 USD a month, or 74 USD billed yearly, for 10 users on Business. Proposal tools usually charge per seat, and enterprise CLM is sold by quote on annual contracts.
What contracts does a marketing agency need
Most agencies use a master services agreement with each client, a statement of work for every project or retainer, an NDA for pitches that share confidential data, and independent contractor agreements for freelancers. Signee drafts and stores all four. Templates are not legal advice, so have a lawyer review your standard MSA.
Can clients sign agency contracts electronically
Yes. In the US, the ESIGN Act and UETA make electronic signatures valid for ordinary business contracts such as MSAs, SOWs and retainers. Clients sign from an email link on any device and every signed PDF carries an audit trail certificate.
How do I track when client retainers renew
Signee reads the term, auto renewal clause and notice period from each signed agreement and lists them by notice date. The account owner gets an email before the notice deadline, so you can reprice or renew on purpose instead of by default.
Can I manage freelancer and subcontractor agreements too
Yes. Freelancer contracts and NDAs are agreements like any other in Signee, with templates, signatures and stored dates, so they sit next to the client work they relate to.

Keep reading

Proposal software Sales proposal software with pricing tables, approvals and e-signature. When the client accepts, the proposal becomes the contract and renewals are tracked. Read more Contract renewal tracking Contract renewal management software that reads end dates and notice periods from signed agreements and alerts the owner before each deadline. Read more Master service agreement template A master service agreement template that sets the legal terms once, so every new statement of work only covers scope, price and dates. Read more Contract management for small business Contract management software for small business teams. Draft with AI, sign, store and renew agreements without a legal ops team or an annual sales cycle. Read more

Every SOW signed, every retainer renewal on time

Draft the next statement of work from one sentence, get it signed on the client's phone and hear about renewals before they roll over. Starter is 24 USD a month billed yearly.

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One sentence in, agreement with signature fields out.

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