Proposal templates
Proposal template: free business proposal templates you can send as a link
Pick your template
Proposal templates by type of work
Consulting proposal template
Eight sections for a consulting engagement: the problem, the approach, the investment and the next step, with a Claude prompt that builds it.
Web designersWeb design proposal template
Nine sections with a page list, out-of-scope line, review rounds, three price options and ownership terms.
MarketersMarketing proposal template
Ten sections that open with the client’s own numbers: audit, goals and KPIs, strategy, a 90-day plan, and your fee kept apart from ad spend.
FreelancersFreelance proposal template
Eight short sections for writers, designers and developers: deliverables, milestones, price, a kill fee, and a start date.
The template
The business proposal template: nine sections
PROPOSAL [Client name] · [Project] · Prepared by [you] · [date] 1. SUMMARY The whole deal in one paragraph: goal, what you will do, when, how much. 2. THE SITUATION The client's problem and goal, in their words. 3. SCOPE What you will deliver, in countable units. 4. OUT OF SCOPE What they might assume is included and is not. 5. TIMELINE Phases or milestones with dates, and how fast you need feedback. 6. INVESTMENT One price or two to three options, payment terms, valid until [date]. 7. PROOF One or two pieces of relevant work, each with the problem it solved. 8. TERMS Revisions, cancellation, ownership. 9. NEXT STEP One action and a start date.
Why this order
Clients read a proposal from the top and stop when they have enough to decide. So the order follows their questions, not your process: do they understand us (summary, situation), what do we get (scope, out of scope), when (timeline), how much (investment), can they do it (proof), what are the rules (terms), and what now (next step).
Three choices do most of the work. Restating the problem in the client’s words shows you listened, which no service list can. An out-of-scope line prevents the argument that would otherwise happen in week six. And a single next step with a date turns “let me think about it” into a calendar entry. Proof sits after the price on purpose: by then the reader is asking whether you can deliver, and one close example answers that better than a portfolio up front.
Example
What a proposal looks like as a page
A fictional example: a proposal to Northwind Studio built from the nine sections and published as a web page on the sender’s own domain. Summary and price on the first screen, readable on a phone, no attachment to download.
Because it is a page and not a file, it can be updated after the call at the same link, and the sender gets an email when it is opened.
Open a live example proposal (also fictional) to see one in your browser.
Build any proposal with AI (prompt included)
The general prompt below works for any service business. For a version tuned to your work, use the prompt on the matching template page above. Comparing tools that write proposals for you? See AI proposal software.
Copy, fill in the brackets with your notes and prices, and paste into Claude or ChatGPT:
You are producing a business proposal as a single, self-contained HTML file. CONTEXT (replace everything in brackets): - Client: [client name and what they do] - Prepared by: [your name / company] - Notes from the conversation with the client: [paste them as they are] - Scope: [deliverables, countable] - Out of scope: [list] - Timeline: [phases or milestones with dates] - Price: [one price, or two or three options with what each includes; mark the recommended one] - Payment terms and validity date: [terms] - Relevant work: [project: problem solved: link, one per line] - Terms: [revisions, cancellation, ownership] - Brand: [primary hex color] + [logo URL, or "text wordmark"] REQUIREMENTS: - Sections in this order: Summary · The situation · Scope · Out of scope · Timeline · Investment · Proof · Terms · Next step. - Open with a one-paragraph summary that states the goal, the work, the timeline and the price. - Write "The situation" in the client's own words from my notes. - Show the timeline as rows or bars and the price as a table or option cards. - Keep every name, number and price exactly as I gave it. If something is missing, write a clearly marked [TBD]. Never invent case studies, testimonials, logos or results. - Self-contained HTML: inline CSS, no external scripts or fonts, readable on a phone, printable. - Tone: plain, specific and confident.
- 1 Paste the prompt (with your details filled in) into Claude or ChatGPT. You get a finished, self-contained HTML document. Review it, correct anything, and iterate until it's right.
- 2 Publish it as a tracked link: with the Pagelive connector in Claude, say "publish this page" and the link comes back in chat. Next cycle, "update it" replaces the content at the same URL. Or upload the HTML file at app.pagelive.io.
Publish this as your proposal
Send it as one link, and know when it’s opened
Publish the HTML on Pagelive: say “publish this” in Claude with the Pagelive connector, or upload the file at app.pagelive.io. Send the link instead of an attachment.
On Solo and Team the link can sit behind a password or a verified email, and you get an email when it is opened, with how long they read; Solo also puts it on your own domain. Free shows a view count and sends one email on the first open. Revise the proposal at the same link after the call. How the follow-up side works: proposal tracking. Why consultants use it: Pagelive for consultants.
Frequently asked
A reusable structure for the document you send a client after a conversation, setting out the problem, what you will do, by when, for how much, and what happens next. A good template fixes the order and the questions each section must answer, so every proposal you send is complete without starting from a blank page.
A summary, the client’s situation and goal, your approach or scope, what is out of scope, the timeline, the investment, proof that you can do it, terms, and the next step. The templates on this page all follow that order, adapted to consulting, web design, marketing and freelance work.
Write it after a real conversation with the client. Restate their problem in their words, propose a scope that solves it, give the price as one figure or two or three options, and end with one concrete next step and a date. Put the summary and the price where they are seen first.
AI can draft and lay out the proposal from your notes in a couple of minutes, using a prompt like the one on this page. The scope, the price and the judgment stay yours: check every number and remove anything the AI added that you did not tell it.
A PDF attachment is the default, but it is silent after you send it and goes stale with the first revision. A proposal published as a web page at one link stays readable on a phone, can be updated at the same address, and with a tracked link tells you when it was opened.
Related: AI proposal software · all client document templates · Pagelive for consultants
Build the proposal with AI. Send it as a link that tells you it was read.
One tracked link you can update in place. Free for 2 public pages.