Draftli

Help & Common Questions

Deeper answers about how Draftli's approval-to-payment workflow actually works — pricing, Stripe, supported file types, security, and more. If you're still shopping, the homepage answers the five most-asked questions and the pricing page shows full plan details.

Payments & StripeProofing-only projectsPricing & plansSharing & client experienceFiles & uploadsAnnotations & roundsSecurity & privacy

Payments & Stripe

Will my client trust paying through Draftli if they've never heard of it?
They're not paying through Draftli — they're paying through Stripe, hosted on a stripe.com page. Draftli is the workflow you're using to send the work; Stripe is the same payment processor that runs Substack, Shopify, Lyft, and most subscription products your client already uses. The charge appears on their card statement under your business name (set in your Stripe Dashboard's statement descriptor), not "Draftli". If they want a one-page explanation in plain English you can hand them, send them /secure-payments.
Does Draftli ever hold or touch my client's money?
No. Draftli uses Stripe Connect Standard with direct charges, which means the card is charged on your connected Stripe account directly. The money flows: client's card → Stripe → your Stripe balance → your bank, on Stripe's payout schedule. There is no Draftli balance. There is nowhere on our side for funds to sit. The same is true for cards: they're entered on Stripe's hosted Checkout page on a stripe.com domain — Draftli has no card fields in its database. This is true for deposits too. Deposits are direct Stripe charges to your connected account, not held by Draftli.
Do I need a Stripe account before I sign up for Draftli?
No. You can sign up, log in, and create projects on Draftli without Stripe being connected. Stripe is only required to receive payment on a project — your client can't check out until you've connected Stripe and Stripe has enabled charges on your account. Draftli uses Stripe Connect Standard, so clicking Connect Stripe on the dashboard banner launches Stripe's hosted onboarding. If you don't have a Stripe account yet, one is created for you during that flow; if you already have one, you can connect it instead.
How do I get set up to receive payments?
When your Stripe account isn't connected yet, a banner on your dashboard prompts you to connect it. Draftli uses Stripe Connect Standard, which means you own and control your own Stripe account — Draftli is the platform on top. Onboarding is the standard hosted Stripe flow: you provide business and bank details to Stripe directly, and once charges are enabled you're ready to take payments. The text that appears on your client's card or bank statement comes from your Stripe account's statement descriptor — you can review and update it under Settings → Public details in your Stripe Dashboard.
How long does Stripe verification take?
Stripe handles verification end-to-end — Draftli has no role in it and no insight into how long it will take. Timing depends on your country, business type, and what Stripe asks for during onboarding; Stripe's own documentation on identity verification is the authoritative source. On our side, Draftli listens to Stripe's account.updatedwebhook and clears the Connect banner the moment Stripe reports that charges are enabled — you don't need to refresh anything or come back to a setup page.
Which countries and banks does Stripe support for creators?
If your country is supported by Stripe Connect Standard, you can use Draftli. The list changes over time, so we don't hardcode it — check the current list at stripe.com/global. Bank support follows the same logic: Stripe decides which kinds of bank accounts can receive payouts in each country, not Draftli. If the account you provide during onboarding isn't accepted, Stripe surfaces the error in its hosted flow before you finish. See Stripe's payouts documentation for the per-country specifics.
When and how do payouts land in my bank account?
Payouts are governed by Stripe, not Draftli. Stripe transfers funds from your Stripe balance to your bank account on the schedule you've set in your Stripe Dashboard — usually daily or weekly. Draftli has no role in moving money out of Stripe.
Will my client know I'm using Stripe?
Yes — payments happen on Stripe Checkout, which is a hosted page on a Stripe-owned domain, so Stripe is visible as the payment processor. The page shows your business name and any branding from your connected Stripe account, and your client's card or bank statement shows your statement descriptor (set in your Stripe Dashboard, see the setup question above) — not Draftli's or a generic platform name. Your client doesn't need a Stripe account or login to pay.
Is Draftli PCI-compliant? What about my client's card data?
Stripe is PCI-DSS Level 1 certified — the highest level the standard defines. Card details are entered on Stripe Checkout (a stripe.com page) and never touch Draftli's servers, so Draftli's PCI scope is effectively empty. We make no PCI compliance claim of our own — the relevant claim is Stripe's, and it's the strongest level there is.
What happens to my project if a client opens a chargeback or my account is frozen by Stripe?
Chargebacks (card disputes) appear in your Draftli Disputes view with the deadline to upload evidence — you submit evidence to Stripe; Stripe's decision is final. If Stripe pauses or freezes your connected account (their decision, their criteria), new payments will fail at the Stripe Checkout stage and you'll see the error in your dashboard. Existing project files, share links, and reviews continue to work — Draftli stores those, not Stripe. The Stripe-side issue stays a Stripe-side issue between you and Stripe.
What happens if my client's card is declined?
Stripe Checkout shows the client the decline reason and lets them try a different card. The project stays in its previous state until a payment actually succeeds — nothing is marked paid and no original files are unlocked. The client can return to the same review link and try again.
How do refunds and chargebacks work?
Refunds are issued from your Stripe Dashboard — Draftli listens for the refund event and updates the project record so you and your client both see the refunded state. Chargebacks (disputes opened by a client's bank) appear in a dedicated Disputes view inside your Draftli dashboard with the deadline to submit evidence. You submit evidence to Stripe; Stripe's decision is final. Deposit refunds are issued the same way; chargebacks raised against a deposit charge enter the same Disputes view as final-payment chargebacks.
How do deposits work?
When you create a project, you can set a deposit percentage (1–100%). The client pays the deposit through Stripe before they can see the work — the deposit goes directly to your connected Stripe account, exactly like a regular Draftli payment. Once the deposit is paid, the client can review and comment. When they approve, the balance is charged — also directly to your Stripe. Files stay locked until both deposit and balance are paid. Once you've uploaded files OR the deposit has been paid, the deposit percentage is locked and can't be changed — this prevents disputes about changing the deal mid-project.
Why am I being asked to pay a deposit?
The creator you're working with has set a deposit on this project — a partial payment before they begin work. The deposit goes directly to the creator via Stripe; Draftli does not receive or hold it. After paying, you'll be able to review and comment on the work. When you approve the final result, the balance is charged. If something goes wrong, contact the creator first; if it's unresolved, you can dispute the charge through your card issuer via Stripe.

Proofing-only projects

Can I use Draftli without taking payment through it?
Yes. When you create a project, you can toggle off Get paid through Draftli. The project then becomes proofing-only: your client gets Approve & Download instead of Approve & Pay, deliveries unlock the moment they approve, and no Stripe Checkout opens. Useful if you want to try the review and approval flow before connecting Stripe, or if a particular client prefers to pay another way.
What does my client see for a proofing-only project?
The same review experience as a payment project — watermarked previews, the same annotation tools, the same approve button. The only difference is that the button is labeled Approve & Download. Clicking it marks the project approved, unlocks the originals and any delivery files for download, and skips the payment step entirely.
Can I switch a proofing-only project to a payment project later?
No. The payment setting is locked at project creation — once a project is created as proofing-only, it stays that way. If you want to enable payment for a future project, create a new project with the toggle on (and connect Stripe if you haven't already). Existing proofing projects keep working as they are.

Pricing & plans

How do Free, Pro, and Ultra differ?
Free is $0/mo with 1 GB of storage, a 500 MB max file size, and a 2% platform fee on every approved project. Pro is $10/mo (or $100/yr) with 25 GB of storage, a 2 GB max file size, and no platform fee. Ultra is $29/mo (or $290/yr) with 100 GB of storage, a 2 GB max file size, no platform fee, and custom branding for the client portal. The full breakdown is on the pricing page.
When does Pro pay for itself?
Around $500/mo of approved projects. That's the break-even line where the 2% Free platform fee equals Pro's flat $10. Below that, Free is cheaper. Above it, Pro is. Most freelancers start on Free and switch the month their pipeline crosses the line. Stripe's processing fee is on you either way.
What does the 2% platform fee on Free apply to?
It applies to the project amount you set when you create the project — the same amount your client is charged. It's taken as a Stripe application fee on top of Stripe's own processing fee, which is paid by your connected Stripe account either way. Pro and Ultra have a 0% platform fee, so on those plans only Stripe's processing fee applies.
Can I switch plans without losing projects?
Yes. Subscriptions are managed through the Stripe Billing Portal from your settings. Switching from Free to Pro or Ultra is a standard Stripe Checkout. Switching between Pro and Ultra prorates the difference. Your projects, files, share links, and Stripe Connect account are unaffected by plan changes.
What happens if I cancel my Pro or Ultra subscription?
You keep access until the end of the period you've already paid for, then drop back to Free. If your storage is over the 1 GB Free quota at that point, new uploads are blocked until you delete files or resubscribe. Existing projects, share links, and downloads keep working — nothing is deleted automatically.
Which currencies can I bill clients in?
Each project can be billed in USD, EUR, or GBP — you pick the currency when you create the project. Subscriptions to Pro and Ultra are billed in USD only.

Sharing & client experience

How long does the share link stay live?
By default, share links expire 30 days after the project is created. You can regenerate the link at any time from the project page — that issues a new token and invalidates the old one. On a paid project, the same link continues to serve the unlocked originals to the client.
Can I send the same link to more than one reviewer?
Yes. The share link is a single URL that anyone you forward it to can open. Each viewer types their name when they leave a comment, so you can tell reviewers apart in the annotation thread. There's no per-viewer login or seat count.
Will the review page work on a client's phone?
Yes — the review experience is mobile-first. On phones, the comment thread becomes a bottom sheet you toggle from a button instead of a sidebar, so the work itself fills the screen. Approval and payment also work on mobile through Stripe Checkout.
What does the client actually see at the share link?
They land directly on the project — your business name and logo (if set), the project title, the file gallery for the active round, and an Approve button. They can click any file to view a full-size watermarked preview and pin a comment to a spot. No account, no password, no email verification.

Files & uploads

Which file formats can I upload?
Images (PNG, JPG, WebP), PDFs (rendered page-by-page so clients can pin notes per page), and videos (MP4, MOV, WebM). Other file types can still be attached as post-payment delivery files — those don't need a preview because they're only released after approval.
How big can a single upload be?
500 MB per file on the Free plan. 2 GB per file on Pro and Ultra. Storage quotas across all your projects are 1 GB on Free, 25 GB on Pro, and 100 GB on Ultra.
How does the watermark work?
Every preview is watermarked. Image and PDF previews are resized for fast loading and tiled with your business name as a semi-transparent diagonal overlay. Video previews are transcoded to a 1280×720 preview clip with the same watermark baked in. The full-resolution originals stay in a separate, private storage bucket and aren't touched — the watermarked previews are what makes it safe for us to keep originals private until your client pays.
How does video preview generation work?
Video transcoding runs on a background worker, not in your browser. You upload the source, the worker produces a watermarked 720p preview (capped at 60 minutes of source length), and the file row updates when the preview is ready. If a video preview fails, you can retry generation from the file row in the project's file management panel.

Annotations & rounds

How do pin annotations actually work?
Your client clicks on the spot of an image, PDF page, or video frame they want to talk about. A pin lands at that coordinate (stored as a percentage so it stays in place across screen sizes) and they type a comment underneath. You see new annotations appear in real time on the project detail page and can reply or mark individual threads as resolved.
What is a round, and what happens to old ones?
A round is a snapshot of the work you've sent for review. When you upload a new round, the previous round is marked as superseded — the share link points at the new round's files, and the old round's files and annotations stay archived on your project page so you can see what changed between rounds.
Can the client still comment after they've approved?
No. Once a project is paid, comments and pin-dropping are disabled on that project — the page becomes the unlocked-originals view. If revisions are needed afterwards, you can supersede with a new round, which reopens annotations.

Security & privacy

Where are my files stored, and who can read them?
Files live in Supabase storage buckets, split by purpose. The originals bucket is private — nothing on the public internet can read it; downloads happen through short-lived signed URLs (expire in 4 hours by default). The previews bucket holds the watermarked previews and is publicly readable because that's what your client's browser fetches. The deliveries bucket holds post-payment delivery files and is also private.
Can I delete my account and all my data?
Yes. Account deletion is in your settings. It first checks that you have no active projects or pending payments, then cancels any active subscription, deletes all your files across every storage bucket, and cascades through projects, rounds, files, annotations, and payments. For tax and dispute-defence reasons, succeeded payment records (Stripe payment intent ID, amount, currency, paid-at timestamp) are copied into a separate retained-transactions table that survives account deletion. You can also export everything as JSON via the data-export endpoint before deleting.
What if there's a copyright complaint about a file?
We honour valid takedown requests. When a file is taken down, it's moved into a private quarantine bucket and the share link returns a takedown notice instead of the file — the file isn't deleted permanently, so it can be restored if the complaint is withdrawn or resolved.