Escrow for freelancers and contractors
Getting paid for freelance work means trusting a client you may never have met — or, as a client, paying upfront for work you haven't seen. Vaultion is an escrow service for freelancers and contractors paid in stablecoins: it locks the payment in a smart contract before the work starts: the freelancer can see the money is committed, and the client releases it once the work is delivered. If it goes wrong, a dispute ruling decides — Kleros jurors or a Vaultion reviewer on Ethereum, a Vaultion reviewer elsewhere.
Start an escrowLess trust, both ways
Money committed up front
The client funds the escrow before work begins, so the freelancer can start knowing the payment is already locked on-chain — not sitting in an account that might go quiet.
Release on delivery
When the work is delivered and accepted, the client releases the funds in one on-chain transaction. No invoice to chase, no payment processor to wait on.
A fallback if it sours
If the two sides disagree about whether the work met the brief, either can open a dispute. Who decides depends on the network: independent Kleros jurors or a Vaultion reviewer on Ethereum, or a Vaultion reviewer on every other network. Either way the contract enforces the ruling.
Set the deal up so acceptance is clear
Most freelance disputes come down to what “done” meant. Nailing scope, revisions and delivery in the escrow terms before work starts is what makes a release — or a dispute — clean.
Milestone payments
Split a big project into separate escrows, one per phase. Fund and release each as that stage is delivered, so neither side ever carries the whole balance at once.
Revision & acceptance criteria
Agree up front what counts as finished — rounds of revisions, file formats, a sign-off deadline — and put it in the terms. It is the reference if a dispute is opened.
Source-file delivery
Decide what actually ships on release: working files, licences, repo or deployment access. Release when the client confirms they have all of it, not just a preview.
Scope-creep disputes
If the brief keeps growing, a fixed escrow protects both sides — extra work becomes a new escrow, not an argument. Evidence is judged against the brief you agreed.
Escrow for freelancers, and for the clients who hire them
The same escrow answers a different worry on each side of a freelance contract.
If you are the freelancer or contractor
You see the client’s payment locked on-chain before you open the brief, so you are never finishing a job to chase an invoice. Send the client a payment link with the price filled in, deliver, and get paid when they release. If they take the work and go quiet, you claim the payment yourself once the review period ends. A confirmed stablecoin payment cannot be charged back.
If you are the client
You are not paying a deposit to someone you found last week and hoping the work arrives. Your USDC or USDT sits in the contract until the deliverables you wrote into the terms are in your hands, then you release in one transaction. If what arrives is not what was briefed, you open a dispute instead of releasing, and the money stays locked until it is ruled on.
Milestone escrow: one escrow per deliverable
For anything longer than a one-off job, do not lock the whole budget at once. Create one escrow per milestone, each with its own acceptance condition and its own review period. The client funds the next milestone when the last one lands; the freelancer never carries more than one unpaid stage; and a dispute, if it comes, is about one deliverable rather than the whole project. A retainer works the same way, one escrow per month, funded at the start of the period and released at the end.
What a platform takes, and what escrow takes
On Upwork the freelancer service fee ranges from 0% to 15% per contract, with 10% the rate its own examples use. On Fiverr a freelancer receives 80% of the client’s cleared payment, and the client pays a 5.5% service fee plus $3.50 on orders under $200. On Vaultion the only charge is the escrow fee the client pays when funding: 4% below 500 USDC, 3% from 500 and 2% from 5,000, and the freelancer receives the full amount. The honest difference: a platform brings you the client and runs its own dispute desk, and that is what its cut pays for. Escrow does neither. It secures the payment for a client you already have, with disputes decided on the evidence by a ruling, not by the platform.
Check the contract before you commit
Vaultion runs on a published, open-source contract that holds the funds — not Vaultion. You can read it and the locked balance on the block explorer before you send anything.
Frequently asked
Is there an escrow service for freelancers that does not need a platform?
Yes. Vaultion works for a direct client relationship: send the client a payment link with the price filled in, they fund the escrow from their own wallet, and you see the payment locked on-chain before you start. No platform account, no platform commission, and a confirmed crypto payment cannot be charged back.
Does escrow work for contractors paid per milestone?
Yes. Create one escrow per milestone so each piece of work has its own locked payment and its own acceptance. The client releases each milestone as it is delivered; if they go quiet after taking delivery, you claim it once the review period ends.
Is escrow cheaper than a freelance platform?
It is a different thing, so compare what you get. Upwork’s freelancer service fee ranges from 0% to 15% per contract; a Fiverr freelancer receives 80% of the client’s cleared payment, and the client pays 5.5% plus $3.50 on orders under $200. Vaultion charges the client one escrow fee at funding, 4% below 500 USDC, 3% from 500 and 2% from 5,000, and the freelancer receives the full amount. A platform brings you the client and runs its own dispute desk; escrow only secures the payment for a client you already have.
How do I ask a client to pay through escrow?
Send them a payment link with the price, the deliverables and the review period already filled in. They fund it from their own wallet in USDC or USDT with no account to create, and you see the payment locked on-chain before you start. Most clients agree once they see that they, not you, control the release.
How does escrow protect a freelancer?
The client locks the agreed amount in the contract before work starts, so the payment is committed and visible on-chain. Instead of chasing an invoice, the freelancer is released the funds once the work is accepted — and if there is a dispute, it is decided by independent Kleros jurors or a Vaultion reviewer on Ethereum or by a Vaultion reviewer on every other network, rather than the client simply walking away.
What if the client refuses to release after I deliver?
Either party can open a dispute. Both submit evidence — the brief, the delivered work, the messages — and the ruling comes from independent Kleros jurors or a Vaultion reviewer on Ethereum, or from a Vaultion reviewer on every other network. The contract enforces whichever it is. The contract also has timeouts, so funds cannot be frozen indefinitely.
Do milestone payments work?
Yes. You can set up a separate escrow for each milestone, funding and releasing each as that phase is delivered. Every escrow is independent and verifiable on its own.
What does it cost?
A tiered platform fee — 4% on smaller deals down to 2% on larger ones — is paid once when the escrow is created. What a dispute costs depends on the network. On Ethereum you choose at creation: Kleros charges a fee, paid in ETH by the party that raises the dispute, while a Vaultion reviewer costs nothing. On every other network a Vaultion reviewer handles it and there is no charge. Either way, no dispute means nothing extra to pay.
Lock a freelance payment
Set up an escrow in a few steps. Funds stay locked in the contract until the deal is done or arbitration decides.
Create an escrow