Enforceability of non-competes varies dramatically by jurisdiction. California, Minnesota, North Dakota and Oklahoma effectively void or ban employee non-competes outright, and a growing list of states — including Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Washington, Oregon and Florida — restrict them by salary threshold, role or required notice. At the federal level, the FTC issued a rule in 2024 that would have banned most non-competes nationwide, but a federal court struck it down and the FTC abandoned its appeal in 2025, so there is no nationwide ban — though the agency still challenges overly broad covenants through targeted enforcement. Even in states that permit them, a non-compete is only enforced to the extent it is reasonable: narrow in the activities barred, limited to the area where the employer actually competes, short in duration (courts most often uphold roughly 6 to 24 months), and supported by a legitimate business interest and real consideration. Courts frequently refuse to enforce, or use a blue-pencil doctrine to narrow, a covenant broader than necessary. Because the rules are in flux and differ by state, confirm the law where you are and have an employment lawyer review any non-compete before relying on it.

Where non-competes are allowed, courts judge them by reasonableness across three dimensions: the activities restricted, the geographic scope, and the duration. The restriction must be tied to a legitimate business interest — protecting trade secrets, confidential information or substantial customer relationships and goodwill — and must be no broader than necessary to protect that interest, so it should not simply stop the worker from earning a living. The activities barred should be specific and narrow (for example, a defined competing line of business rather than an entire industry). The geographic area should match where the employer actually competes, not the whole country by default. The duration should be short: post-employment restrictions of roughly 6 to 24 months are most often upheld, while longer terms are frequently struck down or shortened. Adequate, often new and independent, consideration is also required — in many states continued at-will employment alone is not enough for a non-compete signed after the job starts. This generator nudges you toward narrow activities, scope and duration, flags durations over 24 months, and adds a severability / blue-pencil clause asking a court to narrow rather than void an over-broad term.

A full non-compete is the most aggressive restrictive covenant and the most likely to be unenforceable. In many cases a narrower tool protects the real business interest just as well and survives legal scrutiny far better. A non-solicitation of customers clause stops a departing worker from poaching clients they had contact with, without barring them from the field entirely. An employee non-solicitation (no-poach) clause stops them from recruiting your staff. A confidentiality or NDA clause protects trade secrets and confidential information during and after the engagement — often the most defensible protection of all. These clauses are generally narrower, more clearly tied to a legitimate interest, and more likely to be enforced than a blanket non-compete, and in states that ban non-competes outright a non-solicit or NDA may still be valid. This generator lets you toggle each of these clauses on or off, so you can build a narrower agreement — or skip the non-compete covenant’s reach in favour of the more enforceable protections — while still keeping a clear, consistent document.

AnyTool’s Non-Compete Agreement Generator runs completely client-side. Every keystroke and toggle updates the Markdown, HTML, plain text and the live preview locally, with no server round-trip, so the employer and worker details, the consideration, the restricted activities, the geographic scope, the duration and the governing state never leave your device. Because a non-compete names real people and describes a business, keeping the draft local matters. The page works offline once cached, and closing the tab discards your draft.