The short version: use the shortest terms your client relationship can carry: net 7 or net 14 for most freelance work. Net 30 is a convention inherited from corporate procurement, not a law, and every extra day of terms is an interest-free loan from you to your client.
What do net 30, net 15, and net 7 actually mean?
"Net N" means the full amount is due N days after the invoice date. That's it. There is no regulation anywhere that says invoices default to net 30. It survives because enterprises built their accounts-payable processes around monthly payment runs, and everyone else copied it without asking why.
Here's the math that should bother you: with net 30 terms and the average 39-day actual payment time, you're financing your client for more than a month on every project, while your own costs are due immediately.
Who should use what
Net 7: solo freelancers and small-project work. Your client approved the work; a week is plenty for a bank transfer or card payment. This is also the honest match for how you get paid as an employee: promptly.
Net 14: retainers and mid-size clients with a real (but lightweight) approval step.
Net 30: only when a corporate client's procurement process genuinely can't do better, and ideally priced in: some freelancers add 3-5% for net 30 and offer a discount back for net 7. Suddenly procurement finds flexibility.
Due on receipt: fine for small amounts, but in practice it behaves like net 7 anyway; naming a date creates a cleaner overdue trigger.
How to switch existing clients without drama
Frame it as policy, not personal: "Starting with next month's invoices, my standard terms are moving to net 14."
Give notice and a start date, never retroactive.
Pair it with convenience: include a payment link, offer card on file or autopay. Shorter terms + easier payment feels like an upgrade, not a squeeze.
Put it in writing: contract for new clients, email confirmation for existing ones. Terms that exist only in your head are net-never.
Terms only work if something happens at day N+1
A due date without follow-up is a suggestion. The freelancers who actually get paid on time pair short terms with a fixed reminder ladder: day 0, +7, +14, +30 (templates here). That consistency is what DunPilot automates: it knows each client's payment history, drafts the right reminder at the right moment, and shows you the money it recovered. Short terms set the expectation; systematic follow-up enforces it.
Tired of chasing invoices by hand?
DunPilot finds your overdue invoices and drafts reminders tuned to each client's payment history. Nothing sends until you approve.