Non-compete agreement template
Restrictive covenants are the part of an employment package that varies most from place to place, and the rules keep moving. goHeather asks where your person actually works, builds to that answer, and shows you narrower alternatives beside the broad ones.
Any country or jurisdiction you tell it- Built for wherever the person works
- Non-solicit alternatives shown alongside
- Every clause explained as you go
Recognized by
What is a Non-Compete Agreement?
An agreement about what happens after someone leaves
A non-compete is an agreement that someone will not do certain work after their relationship with you ends — typically joining a competitor or setting up in the same line of business, for a period, within an area.It usually travels with two narrower relatives. A customer non-solicit is about not approaching the accounts the person worked on. An employee non-solicit is about not recruiting their former colleagues. Many businesses find those narrower agreements cover what they were actually worried about.This is the area of employment paperwork that differs most from one place to another, and the picture keeps changing. That is why goHeather asks where your person works before it builds anything, rather than handing over one document for everyone.
What often goes wrong in a non-compete
Patterns that come up again and again, and how goHeather handles them.
One covenant for every hire
- The same agreement issued everywhere, regardless of where people actually work
- Three years and a continental territory for someone who covers two counties
- A customer restriction covering every account and prospect, including ones never contacted
- Handed over on day one, after the person has already resigned somewhere else
- Put in front of an existing employee with nothing offered alongside it
Building it with goHeather
- goHeather asks where the person works and builds to that answer
- Duration and territory are set against the role, with narrower options shown
- The customer restriction is tied to accounts the person actually dealt with
- Timing is one of the questions, not an afterthought
- Where a term is a judgment call, goHeather says so rather than deciding for you
From blank page to signed non-compete
goHeather is not a template download. It is a contract builder that walks you through the document, powered by the latest AI models.
- Start
Start from scratch or from a template
Describe the deal in your own words, or pick a Non-Compete Agreement template and work from there. Either way goHeather builds the document with you rather than handing you a file to fill in.
- Answer
Answer questions as it drafts
goHeather asks who the parties are, what the deal covers and where you operate, and writes each clause around your answers as you go.
- Review
See every clause explained
Each clause comes with a plain-English summary of what it does, so you know what the document says before you send it.
- Negotiate
Check what comes back
Upload the other side’s edits and goHeather shows each change against the version you sent, flagged by risk.
- Sign
Send it for signature
Collect e-signatures and keep the executed copy, the key dates and the renewal terms in one place.
20,000+
SMBs and small law firms trust goHeather
$1,419
Average saving vs. a lawyer per deal
10,500+
Lawyer-made templates to draft from
25+
Enterprise-grade security controls
Who needs a Non-Compete Agreement
Where this document usually shows up, and what else goHeather covers there.
- HR
Hiring across several states
A multi-state employer rarely wants one restrictive covenant for everyone. Build the version that matches where each person sits.
See contract AI for HR teams
- Sales
Protecting the customer relationship
When a salesperson leaves, the worry is usually the account list. A narrow customer non-solicit is often the more targeted answer.
See contract AI for sales teams - Founders
Key people and the cap table
Covenants attached to an equity grant or a share sale are a different conversation from ones attached to a job. goHeather asks which this is.
See contract AI for founders - Related
Where it usually lives
Restrictive covenants normally sit inside the employment agreement, or in a separate document signed alongside it.
See the employment contract template
Your contracts stay yours
A Non-Compete Agreement carries names, numbers and terms you would not want shared. goHeather protects every document you draft or upload with enterprise-grade controls, end-to-end encryption and trusted AI providers.
Learn more about security
Contracts encrypted with gold-standard protection- Database provider meets bank-grade security
- Your documents and data will never be sold
- We do not use your data to train our models
Restrictive covenants and how goHeather handles them
goHeather is a technology company, not a law firm, and this page is not legal advice. It describes what our software does. Nothing here states the law or tells you what your contract needs — for that, talk to an attorney licensed where you operate.
Most businesses reaching for a non-compete are worried about one of three things: the person takes customers, takes colleagues, or takes information. The sections below cover how goHeather works out which of those you mean, what it asks before building anything, and what it flags in a covenant somebody sends you.
What goHeather covers in a Non-Compete Agreement
These are the parts of a Non-Compete Agreement goHeather asks you about while it builds one, and the parts it looks at when you upload one somebody else sent. It is a description of what the product does — not a checklist for your document, and not a view on what yours needs.
- Definition of competing business. What activity the agreement actually covers, as opposed to the whole industry. goHeather flags: wording like “any business similar to ours”, because it is broad enough that neither side could say with confidence what it rules out.
- Duration. How long the restriction is meant to run after the person leaves. goHeather flags: a period much longer than the role would seem to call for, with a shorter option shown beside it for comparison.
- Geographic scope. The area the restriction covers. goHeather flags: a territory far wider than anywhere the person actually worked, which goHeather raises against the role described elsewhere in the document.
- What is being protected. The recital explaining the business reason for the agreement — relationships, confidential information, training you paid for. goHeather flags: the absence of any stated reason at all, since that is usually the first thing anyone reviewing the document asks about.
- Customer non-solicitation. A narrower agreement about approaching customers, usually limited to the ones the person actually dealt with. goHeather flags: a customer restriction stretched to cover prospects the person never met, which blurs the line between this and a full non-compete.
- Employee non-solicitation. An agreement about recruiting former colleagues after leaving. goHeather flags: wording that goes beyond soliciting and into refusing any application at all, so you can see the difference before choosing.
- What is given in exchange. What the person receives for agreeing — the job itself at hire, or something else if they are already employed. goHeather flags: an agreement handed to an existing employee with nothing offered alongside it, which goHeather raises as a question for you and your counsel.
- Timing and notice. When the agreement is put in front of the person relative to their start date. goHeather flags: a covenant produced on day one after the person has already resigned elsewhere, since the timing is often negotiated and worth checking.
- What happens if a term is too broad. What the parties ask a court to do if it decides part of the agreement goes too far. goHeather flags: the absence of any provision on this, so you can discuss with counsel what you would want to happen.
The question goHeather asks before it writes anything
A non-compete is the broadest of the options, and it is often not the one that matches the actual concern. So goHeather starts by asking what you are worried about rather than which document you want.
If the worry is a salesperson leaving with the account list, a customer non-solicit speaks to that directly. If it is losing half the team to whoever leaves first, an employee non-solicit is the closer fit. If it is your pricing, your methods or your roadmap walking out of the door, confidentiality is doing more of the work than any covenant would.
Sometimes the answer genuinely is a non-compete — a senior person who has seen everything, or somebody selling you their business. goHeather builds that too. The point of asking is that the narrower options are easier to explain to the person signing, easier to live with, and more likely to match what you actually need.
- Customers — a non-solicit tied to accounts the person worked on
- Colleagues — an agreement about recruiting the team
- Information — confidentiality, which does a lot of this work
- Genuine competition — where a non-compete is the fit
Why the location question comes early
This is the single biggest factor in what goHeather builds, and the reason it asks before writing rather than after. Businesses operating in several states generally find they need different documents for different people, and the differences are not cosmetic.
goHeather asks where the person will actually be working — which is not always where the company is registered, and not always what a choice-of-law clause in an old template happens to say. It builds to that answer.
It also keeps an eye on the gap between the document and the job. If the covenant covers a continent and the role covers three counties, goHeather points at the mismatch and shows a version scoped to the territory the person actually serviced. Whether you use it is your decision, made with your attorney.
What goHeather flags in a covenant somebody sent you
The other side of this is being handed one. A new employer sends an agreement with a restrictive covenant in it, you have a week to start, and the clause is one paragraph in a longer document.
Upload it and goHeather reads it. It flags how long the restriction runs, how wide the territory is, whether the activity is defined or left open, whether customer restrictions reach people you have never dealt with, what you are being given in exchange, and whether anything in it sits oddly against the role you are being hired for.
Each finding comes with an explanation of why it was flagged. What it does not give you is a verdict on whether the covenant would be enforced against you, because that depends on facts and on where you are, and it is a question worth putting to an attorney before you sign rather than after you have handed in your notice.
A covenant given with a business sale is a different conversation
When someone sells their business, the buyer usually wants them not to immediately start a competing one. That is a different situation from an employer asking a member of staff to sign something, and it is treated differently in practice — the terms people agree to are typically broader and longer.
goHeather asks which of the two you are dealing with, because the answer changes the whole document. A covenant attached to a share sale, with real consideration paid for goodwill, is not built the same way as one attached to a job offer.
The distinction turns on substance rather than the title on the page, and it is not always clear-cut — a founder who is both selling equity and staying on as an employee sits somewhere in between. That is a good example of where the document goHeather builds should be reviewed by a deal attorney before anybody signs it.
Why goHeather asks where your person works
Of everything in an employment package, this is the piece that differs most from one place to another — and it is also the piece that has changed most in recent years, with the ground still moving. A covenant that is entirely ordinary for a business in one state can look out of place for the same role somewhere else. goHeather does not ask you to track any of that. It asks where the person will actually work, what their role involves, and whether this is attached to a job or to the sale of a business, then builds to those answers and shows you narrower alternatives where a clause looks broad for the role. What it will not do is tell you whether a covenant will hold up. That is exactly the kind of question to put to an employment attorney licensed where your person is, and it is worth asking before the document goes out rather than after.
Before you go. goHeather is a technology company, not a law firm. We do not provide legal advice, legal opinions, or any view on whether a contract or a clause will hold up. Everything above describes what our software does when you build or upload a document. Rules differ from state to state and change over time, and what is right for your business depends on facts we do not have. Have an attorney licensed where you operate review anything that matters.
Other contracts goHeather builds
goHeather drafts any business contract. These are the ones that usually travel with this one.
- Hiring
Employment Agreement template
Put an employee on paper: pay, duties, at-will status, IP ownership and what happens at the exit.
See the employment contract template - Confidentiality
Non-Disclosure Agreement template
Protect information you share with a vendor, investor, candidate or partner, in either direction.
See the NDA template - Exits
Severance and Release Agreement template
End the employment relationship cleanly: what is paid, what is released, and what each side may say afterwards.
See the severance agreement template
Need a different contract?
goHeather drafts any business contract, not just the ones listed here. Browse every template or start from a blank brief.
non-compete template questions
What people ask before they build a Non-Compete Agreement.
Still have questions?
Build a non-compete and see what goHeather produces, or book a short demo and we will go through one of your own documents with you.
Trusted by 20,000+ SMBs and small law firms
Build the version that fits the role
Tell goHeather where your person works and what you are protecting, and it builds to that. Or upload the covenant you use today and see what it flags.
Free to try