Net 15 means the full amount of the invoice is due 15 calendar days after the invoice date — weekends and public holidays included, not 15 business days. An invoice dated June 3 on Net 15 terms is due on June 18. The word net refers to the entire balance with no early-payment discount attached; a discount is written separately in front of the net term, as in 2/5 Net 15.
Net 15 is the most common default among freelancers and small service businesses, and it rarely reads as aggressive to the people who receive it. Most accounts payable departments run a payment batch at least twice a month, so a 15-day window usually catches one without anyone having to make an exception. It also suits the way freelance work is normally billed: the client already has the finished work in hand by the time the invoice arrives, so there is nothing left to wait for.
The difference between Net 15 and Net 30 is money in your account rather than money on paper. If you bill roughly $8,000 a month, about $4,000 of it is sitting unpaid at any given moment on Net 15, against roughly $8,000 on Net 30. Nothing is lost either way — but the smaller figure is the one you can actually spend, and it is the gap that decides whether a slow month is an inconvenience or a problem.
Net 15 does not travel well into large-company procurement. Corporates, hospital systems, universities and government primes generally run fixed policies at 30, 45 or 60 days, often through a portal and against a purchase order, and asking for 15 rarely speeds up a process that is already automated. When you meet one of those, spend the negotiation on what starts the clock and how often you are allowed to invoice rather than on the number itself. For a sense of scale, the federal Prompt Payment Act holds US government agencies to a 30-day standard on a proper invoice and makes them pay interest when they miss it — so a private client quoting 45 or 60 days has chosen that policy, not inherited a universal one.
Terms only work if they are agreed before the work starts. Put Net 15 in the proposal or the contract, print both the term and the actual calendar due date on the invoice — a date is harder to misread than a term — and send the invoice the day the work is finished, because every day you delay invoicing is a day added to the wait and it is the part of the timeline entirely within your control. If you intend to charge a late fee it has to be agreed in advance and printed on the invoice; 1.5% per month on the outstanding balance is the common convention for freelancers, and several US states cap the interest chargeable on commercial debts, so check your own before going higher.
Finally, read the words around the number. Net 15 from receipt or from approval hands the start date to the client's internal process, and Net 15 EOM counts the 15 days from the end of the month the invoice is dated in, so an invoice dated June 3 is not due until roughly July 15. If a client's paperwork says anything other than 15 days from the invoice date, treat it as different terms and get the start date in writing.
Example
You finish a project and send an invoice dated June 3 showing Payment terms: Net 15 and Due: June 18. The client has 15 calendar days, weekends included, to pay the full amount — so the invoice is late on June 19, not at the end of the month.
Why It Matters for Freelancers
Net 15 halves the time your money spends in someone else's account compared with Net 30, and most freelance and small-business clients accept it without argument. It is the cheapest cash-flow improvement available to a small business, because asking for it at the proposal stage costs nothing — and it is very hard to shorten terms later, once the first invoice has gone out on a longer clock.
Related Terms
Net 15 FAQs
What does Net 15 mean on an invoice?
It means the full amount is due 15 calendar days after the invoice date. An invoice dated June 3 on Net 15 terms is due on June 18. Net refers to the entire balance with no discount applied, and the count runs on calendar days, so weekends and public holidays are included in the 15.
Is Net 15 counted in calendar days or business days?
Calendar days. No net term is read as business days by default, so if you genuinely mean working days you have to write 15 business days in full rather than relying on Net 15 to carry it. Because weekends are included, due dates regularly land on a Saturday or a bank holiday — state on the invoice whether you expect payment on the business day before or after.
Net 15 or Net 30 — which should a freelancer use?
Make Net 15 your default and treat Net 30 as a concession you grant, not a starting point. Net 15 is standard practice for freelance and creative work and halves the amount of your own money tied up in unpaid invoices at any moment. Net 30 is worth matching when you invoice a larger company whose accounts payable runs on a fixed 30-day cycle, because asking for 15 will not speed up a process that is already automated.
Is Net 15 too aggressive to ask a new client for?
No — it is ordinary practice, and most clients never comment on it. What makes terms feel aggressive is when they appear for the first time on the invoice, after the work is done. Quote them in the proposal before the work starts, state them once in plain language, and they become part of the deal rather than a demand made at the end of it.
When does the Net 15 clock start?
On the invoice date, unless the contract says otherwise. Some clients work on Net 15 from receipt or from approval instead, which moves the start of the count into their process and can add a week or more when approvals are slow. Net 15 EOM is different again: it counts 15 days from the end of the month the invoice is dated in. Ask which date the due date is measured from and get the answer in writing.
What should I do when a Net 15 invoice is not paid on day 15?
Send a short, factual reminder the next working day — most late invoices are simply sitting in someone's inbox, and a polite nudge resolves them without any escalation. Restate the invoice number, the amount and the due date, attach the invoice again so nobody has to search for it, and say when you will follow up next. Apply a late fee only if it was agreed in advance and printed on the invoice.
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