Legal

Create a Mutual or One-Way NDA

This free NDA generator creates a mutual or one-way confidentiality draft from the parties, purpose, information, term, governing law, and permitted recipients you provide. No account or card is required. The result is a starting draft, not legal advice or execution-ready paperwork. Do not paste existing secrets: your text is sent to a third-party AI provider. Choose the NDA type with the decision flow below, then have counsel in the governing jurisdiction review every clause before signature.

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A starting draft for legal review, not ready to sign.

NDA draft
Your result will appear here Add your input, then create nda draft

How to create a useful first draft

  1. 01 Name the legal parties, who will disclose, and the single business purpose for sharing.
  2. 02 Define the information narrowly, then add the standard exclusions and permitted recipients.
  3. 03 Choose Mutual only if both sides will disclose; otherwise choose One-way. Add governing law and a realistic term.
  4. 04 Compare the output with the field walkthrough and legal-warning checklist below, then have local counsel review before signature.
Decision flow

Mutual or one-way: choose by who discloses

Do not choose Mutual because it sounds fair. Choose it only when both parties will send information that meets the definition of confidential information.

Reviewed 26 Aug 2026
01 · Identify flow

Who will disclose?

Write the legal names first. Then list which side will provide product, customer, technical, financial, or deal information.

02 · One side only

Choose One-way

Use when one discloser gives protected information to one recipient, such as a company briefing a contractor before a project.

03 · Both sides

Choose Mutual

Use when each party will disclose genuinely confidential information, such as two companies evaluating a partnership or acquisition.

Short form is a length choice, not a legal category. A short NDA can still be mutual or one-way. Use it only when the deal and information are narrow enough for a compressed draft.

Sample field walkthrough

This fictional consulting example is specific enough to reduce invented clauses without exposing a real secret. Load it into the generator, then replace the names and commercial facts.

Party A: Northstar Labs Ltd (discloser)
Party B: Maya Rao Consulting (recipient)
Purpose: evaluate a 12-week analytics project
Confidential information: unreleased product roadmap, named customer list, non-public pricing model
Term: agreement ends after 2 years; confidentiality survives for 3 years after each disclosure
Governing law: England and Wales
Permitted recipients: employees and professional advisers who need to know and are bound by confidentiality
Required exclusions: public without breach, already lawfully known, independently developed, lawfully received from a third party
Return or destruction: on written request, except one archival legal copy
No licence: disclosure does not transfer intellectual-property rights

Why these fields matter

  • Purpose limits why the recipient may use the information.
  • Categories are clearer than “everything we share.”
  • Exclusions keep public and independently developed work outside the NDA.
  • Permitted recipients cover a need-to-know team without allowing open circulation.
  • Return and destruction states what happens when talks end.

The nine-clause review card

A useful draft should answer each row. A blank or vague answer is a review issue, not permission for the model to improvise.

ClauseDraft must sayRed flag
PartiesCorrect legal names and rolesBrand name used instead of legal entity
PurposeOne permitted business use“Any business purpose”
DefinitionIdentifiable categories tied to the dealEvery fact, forever, whether marked or not
ExclusionsPublic, known, independent, lawful third-partyNo exclusions
RecipientsNeed-to-know staff and advisers under dutyUnrestricted affiliates and contractors
Compelled disclosureLawful disclosure path and notice where permittedAbsolute ban on legal reporting
TermAgreement term and confidentiality survivalA copied term with no commercial rationale
ReturnReturn, deletion, backup, and archival-copy rulesPromises technically impossible to perform
Law and signatureGoverning law, venue, authority, executionA jurisdiction nobody reviewed

Jurisdiction warning: the carve-outs are not optional

There is no globally valid NDA template. Employment, whistleblowing, trade-secret, competition, privacy, and settlement rules can override the words in a draft. These examples show why local review is part of the workflow.

United States

For agreements with employees, contractors, or consultants that govern trade secrets, 18 U.S.C. § 1833(b) includes whistleblower-immunity notice requirements. A generic commercial carve-out may not satisfy them.

European Union

The EU Trade Secrets Directive defines a trade secret partly by whether reasonable steps were taken to keep it secret. An NDA is one control, not a substitute for access, marking, and security practices.

United Kingdom

Acas guidance, checked 26 Aug 2026, says an NDA cannot stop whistleblowing, reporting a crime, or certain other protected activity. Employment wording needs specialist review.

Stop and use a lawyer now for employment or severance NDAs, regulated data, health records, source-code escrow, M&A, cross-border transfers, threatened litigation, minors, government information, or a request to hide misconduct.

Before anyone signs

Pass

  • The legal names, roles, purpose, and information categories are correct.
  • The draft contains exclusions, permitted-disclosure language, and protected-reporting carve-outs.
  • The term reflects the information’s useful life and the governing law.
  • Return, deletion, backup, and archival rules are operationally possible.
  • Local counsel has reviewed the final version and execution method.

Reject

  • The model invented non-compete, non-solicit, IP assignment, indemnity, or penalty clauses.
  • “Confidential information” means everything, including public or independently developed work.
  • The draft claims to block regulators, police, legal advisers, or protected reporting.
  • Real secrets, credentials, personal data, or an existing NDA were pasted into the tool.
  • A signature is requested before a lawyer in the governing jurisdiction reviews it.

Frequently asked questions

Use one-way when only one party will disclose protected information. Use mutual only when both parties will disclose information that genuinely needs protection. Reciprocity does not fix an overbroad definition.

Not automatically. Enforceability depends on governing law, consideration, signature formalities, legitimate scope, statutory carve-outs, and the facts. This tool cannot assess those. Local counsel must review the draft before signature.

At minimum: information already public without breach, already lawfully known, independently developed without the disclosure, and lawfully received from a third party without a confidentiality duty. Add compelled-disclosure and protected-reporting language appropriate to the jurisdiction.

There is no universal term. Match it to how long the information keeps commercial value and what local law permits. Separate the agreement term from the confidentiality period, and ask counsel whether trade-secret obligations should survive longer.

Do not assume so. Protected disclosures vary by jurisdiction. For example, US federal trade-secret law requires notice of certain whistleblower immunity in employee confidentiality agreements, and UK guidance says an NDA cannot stop whistleblowing or reporting a crime.

The page does not publish your input, but the text is sent to a third-party AI provider to produce the draft. Use placeholders and categories rather than real secrets, personal data, credentials, unreleased source code, or information already covered by another NDA.

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