What is a pilot agreement?
A pilot agreement lets a business customer try your product for real, with real users and data, before committing to a full contract. It is the paperwork behind a proof of concept, a paid pilot or a limited trial at one site. Getting it right matters: a pilot with vague goals rarely converts, and a pilot with no data terms can stall in the customer's security review.
This template covers the pilot's scope and dates, measurable success criteria agreed up front (which inform the decision but never oblige the customer to buy), each side's responsibilities, a free or fixed-fee pilot with an optional credit against a full contract, conversion terms the customer can take up for a set period, customer data ownership, security and deletion, confidentiality and feedback, ownership of the product, an "as is" evaluation warranty with a liability cap, and early termination.
- Best for
- SaaS and B2B product pilots, proofs of concept, single-site trials
- Signed by
- Vendor and customer — an authorised person for each
- Fee
- Free, or a fixed pilot fee that can be credited against a full contract
- Length
- About 3 pages, initialled on every page
When to Use a pilot agreement
- A software start-up running a 60-day pilot with an enterprise prospect
- A paid proof of concept at one site before a company-wide roll-out
- A logistics software vendor trialling its platform at one of a customer's depots
- An agency or service provider testing a new offering with a key client
- Turning an informal trial into something the customer's procurement team can approve
What You Fill In
20 blanks, then the name and email of each person who signs: vendor, customer.
1 The parties
- Effective date*
- Vendor (company name)*
- Vendor address
- Customer (company name)*
- Customer address
2 The pilot
- Product or service being piloted*
- Scope of the pilot*
- Pilot starts*
- Pilot ends*
- Success criteria*
3 Responsibilities
- What the vendor provides
- What the customer provides
4 Fees
- Pilot fee* Free of charge · A fixed pilot fee · A fixed pilot fee, credited if the customer signs up
- Currency
- Pilot fee amount
- Liability cap
5 After the pilot
- Terms offered for a full contract
- Conversion period (days after the pilot ends)*
- Customer data returned or deleted within (days)*
- Governing law*
6 Who signs
- Vendor signature and date, job title, initials on every page · The business providing the product for the pilot.
- Customer signature and date, job title, initials on every page
What the pilot agreement Covers
- The pilot
- Success criteria
- Responsibilities
- Fees
- After the pilot
- Customer data
- Confidentiality and feedback
- Ownership
- Warranties and liability
- Ending early
- General
Using the pilot agreement, step by step
1 Define the scope and dates
Say who uses what, where: the number of users, sites or locations, and which features are in the pilot. Fixed start and end dates keep the pilot from drifting into free, open-ended use.
2 Agree success criteria
Write down two to four measurable goals — time saved, adoption, uptime — that both sides will review at the end. The agreement says they decide whether the pilot succeeded, not whether the customer must buy.
3 Set the fee and the path to a contract
Choose a free pilot, a fixed fee, or a fixed fee that is credited if the customer signs a full contract within the conversion period. Add the terms you are offering for a full contract and how long they stay open. Set a liability cap; for a paid pilot you can leave it empty to use the fee, and for a free pilot an empty cap means only indirect losses are excluded.
4 Cover the data, then sign
Set how many days after the pilot you will return or delete the customer's data. If personal data is involved, sign a data processing agreement before it is uploaded. Then send for signature.
Tips Before You Send It
- Agree who the named contacts are on both sides — pilots without an internal champion rarely convert.
- Book the final review meeting when the pilot starts; the template expects it within 10 business days after the end.
- The pilot does not renew or convert automatically. Send the full contract before the pilot ends if the review goes well.
- Large customers may insist on their own security questionnaire or data terms. The template's data clause is a starting point, not a substitute.
Sign It Online In Minutes
- Fill in the blanks. Names, dates and amounts go straight into the agreement — the preview shows exactly where.
- Name who signs. Tick “This is me” for your own part. VergeHR builds the PDF with every signature, date and initials box on the right line, and you can check or move anything before sending.
- Send it. Each signer gets a secure link and signs from any device — no account needed. The signed PDF, with an audit trail and a Certificate of Completion, is filed in Files and emailed to everyone.
Pilot agreement: frequently asked questions
Does the customer have to buy if the success criteria are met?
No. Meeting the criteria does not oblige the customer to buy, and missing them is not a breach by the vendor. The criteria give both sides an objective basis for the decision.
What happens to the customer's data after the pilot?
The customer owns it. If no full contract follows, the vendor returns it in a standard format or deletes it, at the customer's choice, within the number of days you set, and confirms this on request. Routine backups are deleted in the normal cycle.
How does the liability cap work?
Neither side is liable for indirect loss or lost profits, and each side's total liability is capped at the amount you enter, or at the pilot fee for a paid pilot with no amount entered. A free pilot with no amount entered has no overall cap. Breaches of confidentiality or the data clause, and anything that cannot be limited by law, are outside the cap.
Can a pilot agreement be signed electronically?
Yes. Electronic signatures are generally valid for business contracts like this in the US (ESIGN Act and UETA), the UK, the EU (eIDAS) and Canada.