Coaching contract template: the clauses published agreements share, and the session-records clause

A coaching contract template is a short written agreement with eight clauses: parties, scope, fees and payment, cancellation, confidentiality, termination, an optional satisfaction guarantee, and a records clause saying what the client receives after each session. Six of those sit in the published samples that rank for the phrase, read on 1 October 2026; the last two do not. None of this is legal advice, so check it against the law where you practise.

What should be included in a coaching contract?

Seven of the eight clauses are listed here, and a coaching agreement needs the same ones, because in these samples the two words name one document.

1. Parties. Both names and a date, left blank. Wharton’s agreement starts “This agreement is between , Client and , Coach”.
2. Scope. What coaching is, what it is not, the roles, and access between sessions. First of Tandem Coach’s ten clauses.
3. Fees and payment. The amount, when it is due, and how it is paid.
4. Cancellation. The notice you want, and what a late cancel costs.
5. Confidentiality. What stays between you, and where that stops.
6. Termination. How either side ends it. The ICF sample adds the money: the client pays for services rendered through the termination date.
7. Satisfaction guarantee, optional. No sample here carries one, so there is nothing to copy.

The eighth clause is one line: what the client receives after each session, and by when.

Only two of the four samples gave me readable clause text, and neither names a document the client gets. The ICF’s records language points at the coach’s own filing: the client acknowledges that the coach disclosed a record retention policy. Tandem Coach lists session logistics. Wharton’s PDF arrived as unreadable binary and the Association for Coaching keeps its templates behind a member login, so the count is two of four, not a share of the field.

In these samples the clauses that set limits are scope, confidentiality, cancellation and termination. One r/lifecoaching poster uses one contract for every client, covering those four plus fees, client responsibility and limitations. A commenter in another thread there is blunter about buying one ready made: “a cookie cutter form may not actually address what you need it to.”

Where can I find free contract templates?

Each of the first five offers its document free as of 1 October 2026. The Association for Coaching’s templates, ranking beside them, need a member login.

Document or tool	What you get	Who fills it in	What I read, 1 Oct 2026
ICF Sample Coaching Agreement	a finished sample with record retention	the coach	the PDF
Tandem Coach	ten clauses to check yours against	the coach	the page
Wharton Coaching Agreement	one program’s agreement, sessions set	the program	its snippet only
PandaDoc	a free sample to edit and sign	coach, then client	its listing only
Paperbell	a free template as a Google Doc	the coach	its listing only
Ember	no agreement; the record a records clause names	the coach’s own AI, then the coach	I build it

I build Ember, the last row, so read it as an interested party’s claim. No agreement lives in it. It writes the session record under the coach’s letterhead, in closed beta.

What the record is for changes what goes in it, which the recipient test works through.

Your agreement already says when the client pays and how either side walks away. Add the line about what the client receives after each session, and it covers the part the client keeps.

Questions people ask next?

Can a coaching contract include a satisfaction guarantee?

No sample in this set carries one. The nearest published guarantee is Paperbell’s 30-day money-back offer on its own subscription, read on 1 October 2026. These samples carry termination instead, plus the ICF line on paying through that date.

Can I use the ICF sample coaching agreement as my own?

It is published as a sample to adapt, and one r/lifecoaching commenter answers a contract question by naming it. Adapt the clauses, then check them where you practise.