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Deposit and Milestone Exposure Calculator

Reviewed for 2026, updated September 8, 2026.

Shows how much unpaid work you would be carrying at the worst moment of a fixed-price project given your deposit, milestone count, timeline and payment terms.

Your numbers

Results update as you type.

Your estimate

Deposit amount...
Amount per milestone...
Peak unpaid work...
Peak as share of project...

Estimates only. Assumptions are listed below, and you can change every input.

On a fixed-price project, the gap between work delivered and cash received is the real risk. A 30% deposit feels safe until you notice that with net 14 terms and a client who pays ten days late, the first milestone payment can land after the project is finished. At that point you have delivered most of the job on trust.

This calculator maps when each payment actually arrives against the work you will have done by then, assuming work is delivered evenly across the timeline. It reports your deposit and milestone amounts and, more importantly, the peak exposure: the largest amount of unpaid work you carry at any single moment. Change the deposit, add a milestone or shorten terms and watch that peak move. It is an honest model of a payment schedule, not a forecast of whether this particular client will pay.

How to use this tool

  1. Enter the project total, the deposit percentage you plan to ask for, and how many payments follow the deposit, counting the final invoice.
  2. Set the project length in weeks, your payment terms in days, and a realistic number of days this client tends to run late.
  3. Read the peak exposure and its share of the project total, then adjust the deposit or milestones until you are comfortable with the worst case.

What the math assumes

  • Work is delivered evenly across the project timeline, so half the value is done at the halfway point.
  • Milestones are evenly spaced, and the last milestone is the final invoice on delivery.
  • The deposit is paid before work starts; every milestone invoice is paid at your payment terms plus the expected days late you enter.
  • Exposure is the value of work done minus cash received, measured at the moment just before each payment lands.
  • A 7-day week converts payment days into project weeks.

Frequently asked questions

Why is my peak exposure so high with a 30% deposit?

Because cash for a milestone arrives after the milestone, plus your payment terms, plus any lateness, while work keeps going. On a short project the first milestone payment can land after delivery, so the deposit is the only cash you hold while doing most of the work.

What is a reasonable peak exposure?

That depends on how long you could go without the money and how well you know the client. A sensible test is whether you could absorb the peak if the client disappeared. New or unproven clients usually justify a bigger deposit or shorter milestones.

How does the number of milestones change the result?

More milestones mean smaller, more frequent payments, which lowers the peak as long as your terms are short enough for the cash to arrive before the next chunk of work is done. If terms are long, extra milestones help less than you would expect.

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