If you’re in the market for an electronic signature solution, DocuSign is likely one of the first names that comes to mind. Understanding DocuSign’s pricing is crucial to determine if it aligns with your needs and budget. However, simply looking at their pricing page might not give you the complete picture. This guide provides a detailed breakdown of DocuSign’s costs, plans, and alternatives, helping you make an informed decision.
We’ve researched and compared eight leading e-signature solutions, evaluating their features and pricing to provide a comprehensive comparison.
Key Takeaways
- DocuSign is a robust e-signature platform suitable for businesses of all sizes.
- Plan limitations can force users into higher pricing tiers that don’t fully meet their requirements.
- Many DocuSign alternatives offer additional features like PDF editing, file storage, and document creation alongside e-signing.
How We Gathered Our Data
Our team dedicates numerous hours to analyzing the offerings of various e-signature services. This involves scrutinizing pricing pages, support documentation, asking specific questions, and conducting thorough tests on many of these platforms. This data-driven approach ensures that our comparisons are factual and reliable.
We compared subscription plans, features, and price points across different platforms, aligning this data with DocuSign’s pricing structure for easy comparison.
Understanding DocuSign Alternatives
This article compares DocuSign’s pricing and features to other platforms. For a direct platform-to-platform comparison, refer to our dedicated DocuSign alternatives article, which offers valuable insights for those seeking the best e-signing tools.
Understanding Envelope Limits
Before diving into a comparison of DocuSign and its competitors, it’s crucial to understand user restrictions and usage limits, particularly “envelope limits.”
What are Envelope Limits?
Many e-signature companies, including DocuSign, use envelope limits to restrict the number of documents users can send annually. These limits can significantly impact businesses that rely on e-signatures for bulk distribution or core operations.
Regardless of the DocuSign plan you choose, each account is capped at 100 envelopes per user per year.
Many e-signature providers obscure their usage caps within “Fair Use” or “Reasonable Use” policies in their Terms and Conditions. It’s essential to read the fine print before choosing an e-signature vendor.
While it’s often possible to increase transaction limits by purchasing additional seats or contacting the sales team for custom pricing, exceeding the limit typically incurs additional costs.
Based on our research, PandaDoc stands out as one of the few companies offering truly unlimited sending. Most e-signing companies will impose usage caps.
Free Plans
Free plans are often less advertised and serve as perpetual trials or minimal-use options for occasional users.
| eSignature solution | Free plan available? |
|---|---|
| DocuSign | ✓ |
| PandaDoc | ✓ |
| Dropbox Sign | ✓ |
| Foxit eSign | ✗ |
| signNow | ✗ |
| Adobe Acrobat Sign | ✗ |
| SignRequest | ✓ |
| SignEasy | ✗ |
While most companies offer free trials, only some provide a perpetual free plan.
DocuSign’s free plan allows users to send three documents per month for electronic signature. It includes basic features such as adding signature fields, sending to multiple recipients, and real-time audit trails. Users can also import documents as PDFs from cloud storage.
Advanced features like template creation, bulk sending, and in-person signature collection are not available.
The DocuSign free plan is suitable for individuals and very small businesses with minimal e-signature needs. To get started, you just need a DocuSign account.
Competitor Highlights
Many competitors offer similar free plans with limited capacity and restricted features. Most services allow users to sign an unlimited number of documents sent to them for free, often without requiring an account.
Unique features and variations in free plans include:
- Dropbox Sign: Caps signature requests at 3/month but offers free storage via Dropbox.
- SignRequest: Limits signature requests to 10/month but doesn’t allow setting a signing order.
- PandaDoc: Offers legally binding e-signing and access to a payment processor for payment collection.
PandaDoc’s Free eSign Plan allows businesses to send 5 documents per month at no cost. It also provides a payment gateway for collecting payments via credit card on signed documents, a feature not typically offered for free by other signature solutions.
The Best Plan at This Level: PandaDoc
The ability to send 5 documents, onboard unlimited users, and collect payments without cost is unique to PandaDoc’s free plan.
Here’s a comparison of DocuSign and PandaDoc at the free level:
| Plan details | DocuSign | PandaDoc |
|---|---|---|
| Plan name | Free | Free eSign |
| Maximum number of users on plan | 1 | Unlimited |
| Minimum number of users on plan | N/A | N/A |
| Transaction / envelope limits | 3/month | 5/month |
| Core product | ||
| E-signature capture | ✓ | ✓ |
| Real-time audit trail | ✓ | ✓ |
| Notifications | ✓ | ✓ |
| Language support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mobile app | ✓ | ✓ |
| Reporting tools | ✓ | ✓ |
| E-signing features | ||
| Signing order | ✓ | ✓ |
| Send to multiple recipients | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bulk send | X | X |
| In-person signing | X | X |
| Collaboration tools | X | X |
| Signer attachments | X | X |
| Payment gateway | X | ✓ |
| Document prep | ||
| Drag & drop fields (PDF) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Create templates | X | X |
| From-scratch document builder | X | X |
| Pre-built template library | X | X |
| Form creation | X | X |
| Custom branding | X | X |
| Integrations & API | ||
| Import & storage | ✓ | ✓ |
| CRM | X | X |
| Productivity | X | X |
| API | X | X |
| Support | ||
| Email / ticketing support | X | ✓ |
| Chat support | X | X |
| Knowledge base | ✓ | ✓ |
| Phone | X | X |
| Premium support options | X | X |
Personal & Entry-Level Plans
These plans cater to individuals, freelancers, and small business owners with basic signing needs. Price is a significant factor when evaluating these plans.
| eSignature solution | Plan name | Price (Monthly) | Price (Annual) |
|---|---|---|---|
| DocuSign | Personal | $15 | $10 |
| PandaDoc | Essentials | N/A | N/A |
| Dropbox Sign | Essentials | $20 | $15 |
| Foxit eSign | eSign | N/A | $8 |
| signNow | Business Premium | $30 | $15 |
| Adobe Acrobat Sign | Acrobat Standard | $23 | $13 |
| SignRequest | Professional | $10 | N/A |
| Signeasy | Essential | $15 | $10 |
A key feature of entry-level plans is a restricted usage limit.
For DocuSign users, the Personal plan increases the send limit from 3/month on the free plan to 5/month on the Personal plan. It also unlocks reusable templates.
For $15/month or $120/year, you can send a total of 60 documents annually, assuming you max out your envelope limit each month.
Competitor Highlights
Most competitors offer plans that rival DocuSign at this level, often providing more features or higher usage limits for a similar cost, especially with an annual subscription.
Key highlights at this tier include:
- Dropbox Sign: Offers unlimited document sending and signing for $15/month (annual).
- Adobe Acrobat Sign: Offers two plans for individuals, including the ability to sign, edit, share, and convert PDFs, but limited to 150 transactions per year.
- Acrobat Standard: $13/month (annual) with basic e-signing features.
- Acrobat Pro: $20/month (annual) with payment collection, signature capture from websites, and limited bulk sending.
- SignRequest: Offers the most features at this level for $10/month (monthly), including unlimited signatures, integrations, signer attachments, and custom branding.
Many platforms unlock core features at this tier, making DocuSign competitors a potentially better value with a broader scope of features.
The Best Free Plans: PandaDoc Free eSign or SignRequest Professional
For a reliable e-signing solution at this level, PandaDoc and SignRequest stand out.
SignRequest offers excellent value at the lowest price, with branding options, signer attachments, and more for less than half the cost of most competitors.
The PandaDoc Free eSign plan is ideal for uploading documents and getting them signed. It offers document preparation and signing tools typically found in paid plans.
PandaDoc also has no send limits and provides access to payment processing services at no extra cost, usually a paid feature.
If payment processing is essential, PandaDoc Free eSign is the best choice, even at this tier. For a paid option with great value, consider SignRequest.
SignRequest offers the most features at the lowest price point, making it a clear winner for paid services at the entry-level tier. It includes custom branding and in-person signing, features usually found in higher-tiered plans.
Here’s how these plans compare:
| Plan details | DocuSign | PandaDoc | SignRequest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan name | Free | Free eSign | Professional |
| Maximum number of users on plan | 1 | Unlimited | 5 |
| Minimum number of users on plan | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Transaction / envelope limits | 5/month | 5 | Unlimited |
| Core product | |||
| E-signature capture | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Real-time audit trail | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Notifications | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Language support | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mobile app | ✓ | ✓ | X |
| Reporting tools | ✓ | ✓ | X |
| E-signing features | |||
| Signing order | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Send to multiple recipients | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bulk send | X | X | X |
| In-person signing | X | X | ✓ |
| Collaboration tools | X | X | X |
| Signer attachments | X | X | ✓ |
| Payment gateway | X | ✓ | X |
| Document prep | |||
| Drag & drop fields (PDF) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Create templates | X | X | 5 |
| From-scratch document builder | X | X | X |
| Pre-built template library | X | X | X |
| Form creation | X | X | X |
| Custom branding | X | X | ✓ |
| Integrations & API | |||
| Import & storage | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CRM | X | X | X |
| Productivity | X | X | ✓ |
| API | $ | X | X |
| Support | |||
| Email / ticketing support | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Chat support | X | X | X |
| Knowledge base | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Phone | X | X | X |
| Premium support options | $ | X | X |
Standard Plans
Designed for small businesses and teams with moderate signing needs, these plans offer a balance between personal and business plans.
| eSignature solution | Plan name | Price (monthly) | Price (annual) |
|---|---|---|---|
| DocuSign | Standard | $45 | $25 |
| PandaDoc | Essentials | $35 | $19 |
| Dropbox Sign | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Foxit eSign | eSign | N/A | $25 |
| signNow | Business Premium | $30 | $15 |
| Adobe Acrobat Sign | Acrobat Pro | $30 | $20 |
| SignRequest | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| SignEasy | Team | $30 | $20 |
The DocuSign Standard plan is designed for small to medium teams needing a mix of signing, sending, and collaboration tools. It costs $45/month or $25/month (annual).
It includes collaborative commenting tools, limited custom branding, team reporting tools, and expands the user cap to 50 seats.
Custom branding is introduced at this level, but SignRequest offers it on their entry-level plan. Most plans lack CRM integrations like Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics.
While DocuSign integrates with document storage platforms and productivity integrations like Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, most DocuSign integrations require an enterprise plan.
The biggest difference is the number of documents users can send. The Standard plan allows envelopes to be sent at a rate of around 10/month (max 100/year on the annual plan). Usage limits can be increased by adding seats or customizing limits through enterprise-level pricing.
Competitor Highlights
While most DocuSign competitors have similar offerings, some key features stand out:
- PandaDoc offers a create-from-scratch document editor starting with the Essentials plan.
- Foxit eSign offers affordable eSigning with a 500 document/year cap.
- Adobe Acrobat Sign offers custom branding options and PDF editing.
- Signeasy offers a pre-built template library and full Google integrations (Docs, Sheets, Drive, Gmail).
The Best Standard Plan: Signeasy, SignRequest, or PandaDoc
The best plan depends on your specific needs.
Signeasy is ideal for Google Workspace users, offering native integrations similar to PandaDoc for Google Workspace.
PandaDoc allows creating documents from scratch and offers productivity integrations, payment gateways, document analytics, and instant chat support.
SignRequest’s Professional plan from the previous tier is also a strong contender.
Here’s a closer look at how these plans compare:
| Plan details | DocuSign | PandaDoc | Signeasy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan name | Standard | Essentials | Team |
| Maximum number of users on plan | 50 | 2 | 5 |
| Minimum number of users on plan | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Transaction / envelope limits | 100/year | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Core product | |||
| E-signature capture | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Real-time audit trail | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Notifications | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Language support | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mobile app | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Reporting tools | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| E-signing features | |||
| Signing order | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Send to multiple recipients | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bulk send | X | X | API Only |
| In-person signing | ✓ | X | ✓ |
| Collaboration tools | ✓ | X | Limited |
| Signer attachments | X | X | X |
| Payment gateway | X | ✓ | X |
| Document prep | |||
| Drag & drop fields (PDF) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Create reusable templates | ✓ | ✓ | 5 |
| From-scratch document builder | X | ✓ | X |
| Pre-built template library | X | ✓ | ✓ |
| Form creation | X | X | X |
| Custom branding | ✓ | X | X |
| Integrations & API | |||
| Import & storage | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CRM | X | X | Limited |
| Productivity | ✓ | ✓ | Limited |
| API | $ | X | $ |
| Support | |||
| Email / ticketing support | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Chat support | X | ✓ | ✓ |
| Knowledge base | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Phone | X | X | X |
| Premium support options | $ | $ | X |
Business & Pro-Level Plans
These plans are designed for businesses just below the enterprise level, offering the most features before requiring a custom configuration.
| eSignature solution | Plan name | Price (monthly) | Price (annual) |
|---|---|---|---|
| DocuSign | Business | $65 | $40 |
| PandaDoc | Business | $65 | $49 |
| Dropbox Sign | Standard | $65 | $50 |
| Foxit eSign | eSign Pro | N/A | N/A |
| signNow | Enterprise | $50 | $30 |
| Adobe Acrobat Sign | Acrobat Pro for Teams | N/A | $24 |
| SignRequest | Business | $16 | N/A |
| SignEasy | Business Plus | $60 | $50 |
DocuSign’s Business Pro plan helps businesses optimize their signing process with advanced features and automation tools.
It includes payment collection, bulk sending tools, signer attachments, and template locking. It also offers advanced form fields like drop-down forms, radio buttons, and approve/decline fields.
However, competitors like PandaDoc and SignRequest offer advanced fields in their lower-tier subscriptions.
The Business Pro plan offers PowerForms, which can be embedded into websites. Many e-signing solutions offer a form builder at this tier.
DocuSign still locks most integrations, including all CRM and ERP integrations, at the Enterprise level. While cloud storage integration options are available, critical CRM integrations are only available with an enterprise-level solution.
DocuSign Standard vs. Business Pro
Business Pro adds features like:
Signer attachments
Essential for signers to send documentation back as part of the signing process.
Advanced form fields
Helpful for forms requiring complex input.
Payment collection
Useful for forms with payment requirements, invoicing, or collecting deposits.
Form creation
Allows users to create and embed forms into websites for data collection.
Bulk sending
Useful for sending a large number of unique documents and emails at once.
SMS/phone authentication
Provides an additional layer of verification for signers.
For the right user, these features can streamline the signing process. Before buying, consider the scale of your operation and required tools.
Competitor Highlights
At this level, DocuSign challengers offer their best solutions at competitive prices, focusing on integrations and scalability.
Key takeaways from DocuSign competitors include:
- PandaDoc offers document editing, content management tools, and native integrations with 10+ CRMs.
- Adobe Pro for teams offers PDF editing, payment collection, and bulk sending but requires an annual commitment.
- SignRequest remains the most affordable plan, but lacks a document editor.
Best Business Plan: PandaDoc or Adobe Acrobat Sign (or SignRequest)
We recommend PandaDoc as the best solution for business and pro-level users. It offers key integrations and the ability to design business documents from scratch.
Adobe Acrobat is great for those working with PDFs, offering direct PDF editing.
However, consider these points before signing up:
Signatures through Adobe Acrobat Standard/Pro aren’t as secure as those with Acrobat Sign.
Adobe limits transactions to 150 documents per user/year.
Integrations are limited to enterprise plans.
Adobe changes their plans often.
SignRequest’s cost-effectiveness makes it a worthwhile consideration.
| Plan details | DocuSign | PandaDoc | SignRequest | Adobe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan name | BusinessPro | Business | Business | Acrobat Profor Teams |
| Maximum number of users on plan | 50 | Unlimited | Unlimited | 250 |
| Minimum number of users on plan | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Transaction / envelope limits | 100/year | Unlimited | Unlimited | 150/year |
| Core product | ||||
| E-signature capture | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Real-time audit trail | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Notifications | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Language support | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mobile app | ✓ | ✓ | X | ✓ |
| Reporting tools | ✓ | ✓ | X | ✓ |
| E-signing features | ||||
| Signing order | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Send to multiple recipients | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bulk send | ✓ | $ | $ | ✓ |
| In-person signing | ✓ | X | ✓ | X |
| Collaboration tools | ✓ | ✓ | X | ✓ |
| Signer attachments | ✓ | X | ✓ | ✓ |
| Payment gateway | ✓ | ✓ | X | ✓ |
| Document prep | ||||
| Drag & drop fields (PDF) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Create reusable templates | ✓ | ✓ | 5 | ✓ |
| From-scratch document builder | X | ✓ | X | X |
| Pre-built template library | X | ✓ | X | X |
| Form creation | ✓ | $ | X | ✓ |
| Custom branding | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Integrations & API | ||||
| Import & storage | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CRM | X | ✓ | X | ✓ |
| Productivity | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| API | $ | $ | $ | X |
| Support | ||||
| Email / ticketing support | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Chat support | X | ✓ | X | X |
| Knowledge base | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Phone | X | X | X | ✓ |
| Premium support options | $ | $ | X | $ |
Frequently Asked Questions
- How Much Is Docusign eSignature? DocuSign eSignature costs $15 to $65 per month, depending on the plan (cheaper with an annual subscription). Enterprise pricing is also available. More expensive plans offer more features, including bulk sending, customized branding, and the ability to send an unlimited amount of documents. However, the unlimited plan pricing assumes you will only send 100 envelopes per year.
- What is a DocuSign envelope? DocuSign envelopes function like traditional envelopes, bundling multiple documents into a single envelope. Each DocuSign plan only includes 100 envelopes per user/seat.
- How much are DocuSign API plans? DocuSign API plans range from $75 to $720+ per month (cheaper with an annual subscription). These plans are divided by usage limits and features.
- What is the difference between DocuSign API and PandaDoc API? The biggest difference comes down to the available fields and how the API is designed to function. PandaDoc API allows for adding dynamic content and customizable variables due to its native document editor.
- What is the difference between the PandaDoc Free eSign Plan and the paid plans? The biggest difference is the ability to access the onboard document editor.
- Which electronic signature solution is right for me? Mobile apps are commonplace, but every plan varies slightly from the DocuSign service. Consider the PandaDoc Free eSign Plan or sign up for a free demo or a free 14-day trial.
- How much are DocuSign plans? DocuSign has plans starting as low as $10/month for personal and $40/month for business (when billed annually).
- How do I link DocuSign to Microsoft Word? Docusign can be linked to Microsoft Word through their native integrations within the app. You will receive 5 free signature requests with a Microsoft account or 10 free signature requests with an Office 365 account.
