Introduction to Tillage
What Tillage does, how quotes, contracts, invoices and payments connect, and where to start.
Tillage is quoting, contracts, invoicing and online payments for agencies, consultants and freelancers. You price work by the hour, send the quote for approval, turn it into a contract your client signs, and bill from it, without retyping anything along the way.
How it fits together
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| Quote | Build line items from hours × rate, with a variance buffer for risk and a profit margin on top. Draft them yourself, from your service library or templates, or with AI. Your client approves online. |
| Contract | Turn the approved quote into a contract from your template, with deliverables, a timeline and a payment schedule. Your company signs when it’s created; your client signs online. |
| Invoice | Invoices are created from the quote or the contract’s payment schedule, or start one from scratch. Recurring work runs on a billing schedule. |
| Payment | Clients pay by card or bank transfer through Stripe. You choose whether you or your client covers the fees. |
You don’t have to use every step. Many teams invoice straight from an approved quote and skip contracts, or invoice without a quote at all.
What it costs
Tillage has no monthly fee. When a client pays online, Tillage charges a 1% platform fee, capped at $50 per invoice, on top of Stripe’s processing fee. You can absorb either fee or pass it to your client. Payments you record yourself, such as checks or wires, have no Tillage fee. See Pricing and fees.
Key ideas
- Team. Your workspace for one business: clients, documents, settings and a Stripe account. You can belong to several. See Team and permissions.
- Variance. A percentage buffer on each line item for the risk that work takes longer than planned. See Line items and pricing.
- Profit margin. One percentage applied to the whole quote, on top of variance.
- Client links. Clients open quotes, contracts and invoices from secure links, with no account. See Client portal.
- Payment schedule. How a contract’s total is split into invoices, such as 50% on signing and 50% on completion. See Payment schedules.
Where to start
- Quickstart: from your first quote to getting paid.
- Set up payments: connect Stripe and choose who pays fees. You need this before you can send quotes or invoices.
- Import your data: bring clients and invoices over from Harvest, Stripe, QuickBooks or a spreadsheet.
- Invite your team: add the people you work with.
You can also work with Tillage from Claude or ChatGPT. See Claude and ChatGPT.