Feature · Escrow Delivery
Never get ghosted on your final 50% milestone again.
Payment-gated downloads protect your hard work. Clients can inspect previews in the browser, request revisions, or approve the project — but download links remain strictly sealed until payment clears.
Why "just email it over" is costing you money
The standard freelance delivery workflow has a fundamental flaw: you hand over your work before getting paid for it. A Google Drive link, Dropbox folder, email attachment, or WeTransfer download gives the client immediate, unrestricted access to your finished deliverables. There's nothing stopping them from downloading everything, using it in production, and quietly ignoring your final invoice.
This isn't hypothetical. Studies consistently show that 71% of freelancers have experienced late payment, and a significant portion of those cases involve clients who received deliverables before paying their final invoice. Payment-gating your deliverables is the single most effective structural protection you can put in place.
Without Payment Gating
- ✕ Client downloads source files before final invoice is paid
- ✕ No leverage to recover payment once work is delivered
- ✕ Client can use your work commercially before you've been compensated
- ✕ Chasing overdue invoices with nothing to withhold
With Portalize Payment Gating
- Client reviews watermarked previews — work is fully visible, downloads are sealed
- Full-resolution exports unlock the instant you confirm payment
- Client has strong incentive to pay promptly to access their assets
- You maintain leverage throughout the entire handoff process
How Payment Gating Works
Three steps. No payment processor to integrate, no complex webhooks to configure.
Upload your deliverables & attach your payment link
Upload PDFs, images, ZIPs, code snippets, or any other file type to your portal. Optionally paste your Stripe, PayPal, Wise, or Bonsai invoice payment link — it appears as a prominent call-to-action button inside the client's portal view so they know exactly where to pay.
Client reviews with watermarked in-browser previews
Your client opens the portal with a 4-digit PIN — no account required. Images and PDFs render at full quality in-browser with a subtle canvas watermark overlay. They can inspect every detail, zoom in, request revisions, or approve. You receive a timestamped read receipt the moment they access the portal. The download button remains disabled and clearly shows a "Payment required" state throughout this review phase.
Mark as paid — downloads unlock instantly
Once payment arrives in your invoicing tool, return to Portalize and click "Mark as Paid". All watermarks are removed and secure, time-limited full-resolution download links are generated for the client immediately. They can download everything they paid for — clean, unprotected, ready to use in production.
What makes Portalize payment gating different
Server-side file locking
File URLs are never exposed client-side. Even a technically sophisticated client inspecting network traffic or page source cannot construct a working download link before payment is confirmed.
Watermarked previews, not blind delivery
Unlike escrow services that hide work until payment, Portalize lets clients fully review everything before paying. This speeds up approval cycles and reduces revision requests while protecting your download leverage.
Invoicing tool agnostic
Works with Stripe, PayPal, Wise, Bonsai, FreshBooks, Wave, QuickBooks, or a plain bank transfer. Portalize doesn't process payments — you control your invoicing workflow and just tell Portalize when to release.
Time-limited post-payment links
Once unlocked, download links are time-limited and scoped to the specific session. This prevents clients from sharing direct download URLs publicly or with third parties after the handoff.
Frequently asked questions
- Does Portalize process the payment itself?
- No — Portalize doesn't handle money. It works alongside your existing invoicing setup (Stripe, PayPal, Wise, Bonsai, FreshBooks, Wave, or even a bank transfer). You paste your payment link into the portal. When payment arrives in your invoicing tool, you come back to Portalize and click 'Mark as Paid'. That single click unlocks the download for your client instantly.
- What happens if a client tries to download before paying?
- The download button is visually disabled and shows a 'Payment required' state. The actual file URL is never exposed to the browser — even inspecting page source or network requests reveals nothing downloadable. The secure download link is only generated server-side after you mark the portal as paid.
- Can a client see the files they're downloading before paying?
- Yes — that's the whole point. Clients get high-quality in-browser watermarked previews of images and PDFs so they can review, request revisions, and approve the work with full visibility. Only the clean, unprotected download file is locked. This keeps the review process frictionless while protecting your leverage.
- What file types can I upload and gate?
- Any file type can be payment-gated. Images (PNG, JPG, WebP, SVG) and PDFs show watermarked in-browser previews. ZIPs, video files, code archives, and any other file type show a secure 'locked' download card until payment is confirmed. There's no limit on file size beyond the 50MB per-file upload ceiling.
- Can I unlock downloads for individual files separately?
- Currently, payment gating applies to the entire portal at once — all files unlock when you mark the portal paid. Granular per-file payment gating is on the product roadmap for a future release.
- What if my client pays in installments?
- A common scenario for project-based work. You can create multiple portals — one for the milestone 1 deliverables, one for milestone 2, etc. Each portal has its own payment gate that you unlock independently as each invoice clears.
Protect your next client delivery
Free to start with 1 active portal. Unlimited on Pro ($9/mo).
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