{"head":{"title":"What Is a Milestone in a Software Project? | OceanLab","description":"A milestone is a checkpoint in a project where agreed work is delivered and reviewed, often tied to a payment. How to set them well and the usual mistakes.","canonical":"https://oceanlab.in/glossary/milestone"},"crumbs":[{"name":"Home","path":"/"},{"name":"Glossary","path":"/glossary"},{"name":"milestone","path":"/glossary/milestone"}],"slug":"milestone","term":"Milestone","aka":["payment milestone","delivery milestone"],"category":"Running a build","short":"A checkpoint in a project where an agreed piece of work is delivered, checked and, often, paid for.","body":[["A milestone marks the end of a chunk of work with a result you can check: a signed-off prototype, a feature working in staging, a launch. In contracts, each milestone has a date, a list of what is included and ",{"href":"/glossary/acceptance-criteria","text":"acceptance criteria"}," for signing it off."],["Milestones are bigger than a ",{"href":"/glossary/sprint","text":"sprint"},". A three-month build might have four or five, each made up of several sprints."]],"why":["Milestones give both sides regular points to check progress and, if needed, change course. When payment is tied to them, the buyer pays for working results rather than time, and the supplier gets paid as value is delivered. They are a middle ground between ",{"href":"/glossary/fixed-price","text":"fixed-price contract"}," and ",{"href":"/glossary/time-and-materials","text":"time and materials"},"."],"example":["A marketplace build has four milestones: approved prototype; supplier listings and search in staging; bookings and payments in staging; launch on the app stores. Each one has a payment and a short checklist the client runs before signing off."],"inBuild":["OceanLab's product builds and embedded engineers can be priced on outcomes, paid per milestone, or hourly at $30 to $50 an hour, whichever suits the client. Milestone billing needs each milestone written with its scope and checks."],"mistakes":[["Milestones that are activities (\"backend work\") instead of results you can test."],["Putting most of the payment on the last milestone, which turns launch into a dispute."],["No rule for what happens when a milestone slips because of the buyer, such as late feedback."]],"related":[{"href":"/glossary/acceptance-criteria","label":"Acceptance criteria","detail":"The testable conditions a feature must meet before the person who asked for it accepts it as done."},{"href":"/glossary/statement-of-work","label":"Statement of work (SOW)","detail":"The document that sets out what a supplier will deliver, by when, for how much, and how the work will be accepted."},{"href":"/glossary/fixed-price","label":"Fixed-price contract","detail":"A contract where the price for an agreed scope is set up front."},{"href":"/glossary/time-and-materials","label":"Time and materials (T&M)","detail":"A contract where you pay for the hours actually worked, at agreed rates."}],"tools":[{"href":"/tools/project-timeline-estimator","label":"Project timeline estimator","detail":"Free tool"},{"href":"/tools/sow-template","label":"SOW template","detail":"Free tool"},{"href":"/tools/fixed-vs-time-materials","label":"Fixed price vs time and materials","detail":"Free tool"}],"links":[{"href":"/software","label":"Software by industry","detail":"Systems we build per industry, with guides and tools."},{"href":"/embedded-engineers","label":"Embedded engineers","detail":"OceanLab engineers working inside your team."}],"sources":[],"legal":false,"updatedAt":"2026-10-25"}