For freelance developers
You sent the SOW. You don't know if they opened it.
You scoped the build properly: milestones, an exclusions list, acceptance criteria, and a rate for anything outside it. It went out as a PDF on Monday. Since then, nothing — and you can't tell whether it's sitting unopened in an inbox, circulating through a procurement queue, or being compared against a two-page quote from an agency that didn't bother scoping anything.
ApeiroCraft sends the SOW as a link. You see each open with a timestamp, the client signs it in the browser, and the signature produces the first milestone invoice with the figures you already quoted.
Where freelance builds go wrong.
The SOW disappears into procurement
Your contact forwards it to a manager, who forwards it to finance. You have no idea it's moving, so you stop chasing — and three weeks later hear the budget got reallocated while your proposal sat unread in the second inbox.
“It's just a small change”
Auth was in scope. Auth with SSO, three roles, and an audit log was not. Without an exclusions list the client signed, every change request is a conversation about your goodwill rather than a line item with a rate attached.
Milestone one, invoiced on trust
You ship the first milestone, then rebuild the numbers by hand in a separate invoicing app, send it on net-30, and chase it twice while starting milestone two unpaid. The quote and the invoice never shared a source.
From SOW to paid milestone, in one place.
Know the second they open it
The SOW goes out as a link, so every open is timestamped on the document — including reopens. A proposal read three times on a Thursday afternoon is a proposal being discussed internally, and that's the day to call.
Scope and exclusions, signed
In scope, explicitly out of scope, acceptance criteria, and the hourly rate for change requests live in the document the client signs — so week six is a rate conversation, not a relationship one.
They sign in the browser
Verified name, email, and timestamp captured immutably — no separate e-signature subscription, no round trip through a scanner, no chasing a countersignature.
Signature becomes the first invoice
Accepting the SOW creates the invoice with the same client and amounts. Attach your own payment link and send it, then bill the remaining milestones from the same client record.
Notion, PDF, and DocuSign — measured honestly.
The stack works. It just costs four subscriptions and still leaves you blind for the one week that decides whether the project happens.
Sending the SOW
Notion + PDF + DocuSign + invoicing
Export to PDF, attach to an email, hope it survives an enterprise attachment filter.
With ApeiroCraft
Send a link. It opens on any device, and it can be forwarded internally without losing formatting.
Knowing if they read it
Notion + PDF + DocuSign + invoicing
You don't. And when it's forwarded to a decision-maker you've never emailed, you really don't.
With ApeiroCraft
Timestamped opens on the document itself, including repeat visits after it's been forwarded.
Pinning down scope
Notion + PDF + DocuSign + invoicing
A scope section in the PDF that nobody signs separately from the price.
With ApeiroCraft
Scope, exclusions, acceptance criteria, and change-request rate signed together in one document.
Getting it signed
Notion + PDF + DocuSign + invoicing
A separate e-signature tool at $10–25/month for a handful of documents a year.
With ApeiroCraft
Included. Verified name, email, and timestamp captured on the same document.
Billing milestone one
Notion + PDF + DocuSign + invoicing
Rebuild the numbers in the invoicing app, hope they match the SOW, send, chase.
With ApeiroCraft
The accepted SOW becomes the invoice with the same figures. One click to send.
- Free plan with no credit card and no trial clock.
- Your own payment links — no platform cut of your project fees.
- Flat per workspace, so a collaborator doesn't double the bill.
Common questions.
What is the best proposal software for freelance developers?
One that treats the SOW as the contract: scope and exclusions signed with the price, read tracking so you know when it's being reviewed, and milestone invoices generated from the accepted document. ApeiroCraft covers all of it in one subscription — free to start, $19/month flat after.
How do I know if a client read my proposal?
Send it as a link, not an attachment. ApeiroCraft timestamps every open on the proposal itself, including reopens, so you can tell an unopened SOW from one that's been read four times this week. Email open pixels only report that the email was opened — not the PDF inside it.
Can I invoice by milestone rather than all at once?
Yes. The accepted proposal creates the first invoice, and you raise further invoices against the same client record as milestones complete — so the numbers stay tied to what was signed instead of being retyped each time.
Do I still need DocuSign?
Not for client agreements. Electronic signature is included, capturing the signer's verified name, email, and a timestamp immutably. For most freelance SOWs that's the same evidence a standalone e-signature tool captures, without the second subscription.
Does it handle retainers as well as fixed-scope projects?
Yes. You build the template once — a fixed-scope build with milestones, or a monthly retainer with an hours cap and an overage rate — and reuse it. Both are proposals that get signed and become invoices.
How much does it cost?
There's a free plan with no expiry and no card required. Paid plans start at $19/month flat for the workspace, and every plan includes every feature — plans differ in capacity, not capability.
Send a SOW today. Know when they open it.
Set up your workspace in under a minute, start from the app development template, and send a real scoped proposal this afternoon.
Start freeKeep reading
Solution
Proposal tracking, explained
Timestamped opens on the proposal itself — not an email pixel, not a guess.
Free template
App development proposal template
Scope with an explicit exclusions list, phased gates, acceptance criteria, and IP handover.
Comparison
ApeiroCraft vs PandaDoc
Documents-first vs client-work-first — an honest feature and pricing breakdown.