Best Electronic Signature Software

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Here at Crazy Egg, we use electronic signature software for just about everything, from onboarding new team members to finalizing partnerships and business deals. Based on our experiences, DocuSign is the best electronic signature software. You can try it free for as long as you’d like before paying a penny. Plus, there are powerful automations and other time-saving features waiting for you when you’re ready to upgrade.

The Best Electronic Signature Software for Most

If you’re looking for an easy and affordable way to sign documents online, DocuSign is the way to go. It supports 43 languages, comes with reusable automated workflow templates to speed up the process, and is compatible with virtually every operating system.

You can try it free forever or upgrade to a paid plan for more advanced features (personalized branding, comments, and reminders) at any time for just $10 per month.

The 8 Best Electronic Signature Software Options to Consider:

1. DocuSign — Best for most
2. SignWell — The easiest way to get multiple signatures
3. MSBDocs — Best for industry-specific compliance
4. SignEasy — Best e-sign mobile app
5. HelloSign — Best for businesses sales contracts
6. KeepSolid Sign — Best for team sharing and collaboration
7. Secured Signing — Best electronic signature software for notaries
8. PandaDoc — Best for document automation

When it Makes Sense to Invest In Electronic Signature Software

If you were born before 2000, you know the struggle of printing out documents, signing them, scanning them, and emailing (or faxing) them back and forth. It’s time-consuming, wasteful, and expensive since you have to pay for ink and paper.

To make matters worse, many people don’t even have a printer at home anymore. Thankfully, there’s a better way to collect signatures entirely online.

Whether you sign or receive signatures once a year or hundreds of times a day, electronic signature software is a more modern and effective solution for everyone (including the environment).

In the business world, signatures and contracts are part of daily operations. There are dozens of use cases for electronic signature software, from purchase orders to lease agreements, contracts, new-hire paperwork, receipts, NDAs, and everything in between.

If you’re currently using outdated methods to execute contracts and sign business documents, it’s time to switch over—everyone will be glad you did.

It’s never too early to invest in electronic signature software. Even for one-off occurrences, every business can benefit from e-sign software. The best part is that many of them are free, particularly if you only use them every once in a while.

#1 – DocuSign — Best Electronic Signature Software for Most

DocuSign has quickly become the gold standard in the world of electronic signatures. More than 500,000 businesses and hundreds of millions of signers around the world use it every day to send over legally binding e-signatures in a few clicks (or taps).

It’s even trusted by global leaders like Apple, Visa, BMW, Uber, Samsung, and Facebook, so you know you’re in good hands.

DocuSign has global adoption, with signers in 180 different countries with support for 43 languages. It’s also compliant with HIPAA, PCI, GDPR, ISO 27001, and other strict security standards. As such, it’s perfect for healthcare businesses and other highly regulated industries around the world.

With it, you can sign documents from the web or on your mobile phone. It supports signing on iOS, Android, and Windows devices so you don’t have to worry about being at your computer to add your stamp.

As a document creator, you can also add standard fields (like signature and date), plus custom fields to collect all of the information you need in one go.

You can also save re-usable document templates for frequently used agreements, complete with all of their associated custom fields, approval workflows, and settings. Not only does this ensure standard quality for all of your documents, but it also speeds up the process.

On higher tiers, SMS notifications let you get your documents in front of the right people as fast as possible. In a world where most people always have their phones, it’s a golden detail that can significantly speed up the process.

Not only that but there are more than 350 one-click integrations so you can add e-signature functionality via DocuSign into the business apps you use every day.

DocuSign also has solutions for contract lifecycle management, which helps businesses streamline the agreement lifecycle by automating manual tasks and aligning complex workflows. 

With DocuSign CLM, organizations can fast-track contracts and boost efficiencies at scale. 

For those with basic e-signature needs, plans start at $10 per month. But if you want an advanced business solution, contact the DocuSign sales team for a quote on DocuSign CLM. You can also try DocuSign free for 30 days.

#2 – SignWell — The Easiest Way to Get Multiple Parties to Sign Documents

When agreements involve a lot of different stakeholders, it’s exponentially tougher to get documents and contracts signed in a swift manner.

But not if you use SignWell. With it, you get the ease of a lightweight template creator combined with full control over the order in which recipients sign documents.

It’s incredibly easy. After you sign in with Google or your account, simply upload your document and enter the recipients’ names and email addresses. SignWell can handle a good array of file types, from Word docs, Excel spreadsheets, and Powerpoint presentations to PDFs and images.

After that, it will take you to a drag-and-drop editor. There, simply place fields for signatures, initials, checkboxes, date fields, and even custom text fields. You can easily move and resize them after placement.

It’s awfully easy to knock out a document of several pages or more with just a handful of clicks using SignWell’s platform.

Once everything’s in place, drag recipients in the order you want them to sign it and customize the subject line and message. You can also require attachments with signature and require approval.

For recipients, the process is even easier. They click the link in their email and SignWell’s wizard guides them directly from one field to the other, so they can sign in seconds. Those waiting on others to sign first will get a second email when it’s their turn.

So, SignWell is incredibly efficient for getting a document, agreement, or contract from nothing to digitally signed. And, if this is something you don’t have to do often, you might be able to get by with its free plan.

On it, you’re allowed three documents per month from one sender and you can save one template. You can send each document to as many email addresses as you need, though.

That might be a bit limiting for some light users. SignWell’s next level up is the Personal plan, which is $96 for a year or $10/month when paying monthly. At that level, you get unlimited document sends for one sender and five templates.

If you need the feature to request attachments or want custom branding, unlimited templates, or more than one sender, SignWell’s Business plan has you covered for $288 annually or $30 per month.  Additional senders beyond the three provided are an extra $8 – $10 depending on if you pay annually or monthly.

We primarily recommend SignWell for those who don’t need a ton of deep features from their electronic signature software. Being able to use SignWell for free is a steal if you only need to send three or fewer documents each month. And the Personal plan is a great price for unlimited sends.

Get started by creating a SignWell account for free.

#3 – MSBDocs — Best for Industry-Specific Compliance

MSBDocs is an all-in-one solution for document management and electronic signatures. It’s trusted across a wide range of industries, like banking, real estate, law, life sciences, insurance, pharmaceutical, healthcare, and more.

If your business has unique security and compliance needs, MSBDocs will be the best option for you.

The software is perfect for unique use cases like clinical trials, contracts, lab accreditation, informed consent, automotive dealerships, GxP compliance, 1572 signatures, and other situations where security and compliance are top priorities. 

MSBDocs adheres to global regulatory compliance standards worldwide, including:

• HIPAA
• GDPR
• UETA and ESIGN Act
• PIPEDA
• FDA 21 CFR Part 11
• Canada’s Evidence Act
• SOR/2005-30
• People’s Republic of China Compliant
• Aadhaar based eSignature IT Act of 2000

The software also has privacy and security certifications for EU-US Privacy Shield, SSAE 16, and ISO 27001. 

Plans start at $30 per month. But you can try MSBDocs free for 30 days. 

#4 – PandaDoc — The Best for Document Automation

PandaDoc is another electronic signature solution designed for sales teams. More than 20,000 businesses rely on this software for closing deals and collecting digital signatures. 

This software makes it easy for salespeople to create a scalable pipeline by leveraging document automation.

PandaDoc allows businesses to create, send, and track documents in a way that’s faster than traditional approval processes. You can build a customized workflow process that works for the entire team. 

Sales teams leveraging automation from PandaDoc benefit from a 30% decrease in time-to-close, a 65% decrease in document creation time, and double the number of monthly deals. These are huge gains for sales teams and are thanks to all of PandaDoc’s automations.

Other top features and benefits of PandaDoc include:

• Built-in collaboration tools
• Proposals, quotes, and sales contracts
• Ability to collect payments with e-signatures
• Analytics and notifications when prospects open, view, comment, or sign
• 200+ professional templates

PandaDoc seamlessly integrates with CRMs and other tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, Stripe, Dropbox, Zapier, and more.

Plans start at $19 per month. But the Business plan with approval workflows and CRM integrations starts at $49 per month. Try PandaDoc for free with a 14-day trial.

#5 – SignEasy — The Best E-Sign Mobile App

SignEasy is another popular solution in the electronic signature space. Over 35,000 businesses trust it in a wide range of industries, and more than 26 million documents and counting have been signed with this software. 

As the name implies, SignEasy is extremely straightforward. Unlike other solutions on the market, SignEasy eliminates complexities associated with electronic signatures.

SignEasy’s mobile app is second to none. Between iOS and Android, the app is loved by 7+ million people. The app makes it possible for you to sign documents from anywhere. 

You and your staff can even collect in-person signatures directly from the SignEasy mobile app. This is perfect for use cases like on-site delivery confirmations and in-person meetings. 

With SignEasy, businesses will benefit from top features like:

• Sequential and parallel signing
• Document tracking and signature progress
• Send reminders and alerts to signers
• Receive notifications when documents have been signed
• Integrates with Gmail, Dropbox, Google Drive, and other apps
• SSL encryption and advanced security features
• Supports multiple file formats (PDF, JPG, PNG, Word, Excel, etc.)
• Offline signing

SignEasy automatically collects a digital audit trail for every document. This includes signer email addresses, device IPs, timestamps, and more. All of this is useful legal evidence if someone tries to dispute a signature. 

Plans start at just $8 per month for one user, plus you can do a free 14-day trial before committing. The SignEasy mobile app is free to use with all subscriptions. 

#6 – HelloSign — Best for Businesses Sales Contracts

HelloSign is an industry leader in the electronic signature software space. It’s used by 80,000 customers and millions of signers worldwide. 

This platform for legally binding e-signatures is perfect for sales teams. HelloSign seamlessly integrates with Salesforce so that you can manage electronic signatures directly from your Salesforce dashboard.

Your sales team can create templates, send contracts, collect signatures, and sign everything with an embedded Salesforce experience. The software is designed to help sales reps close deals faster without forcing your staff or clients to navigate more complex tools. 

With HelloSign, customers can sign sales contracts in a matter of seconds and immediately receive a copy of it in their inbox. 

The software also integrates with Slack, Oracle, Dropbox, Gmail, and other useful business tools trusted by sales teams. 

In addition to sales, HelloSign has solutions for other use cases, including:

• On-demand services
• Onboarding paperwork
• Financial agreements
• Insurance documents
• Mortgage and escrow

Overall, the software can be versatile if you need it to be. But sales contracts are definitely the strength of HelloSign.

Paid plans start at $15 per user per month for the Essentials plan, though they do offer a completely free plan for up to 3 signatures per month for one user. Salesforce integration is only available with HelloSign Enterprise, and you’ll need to contact them for pricing. All paid plans come with unlimited signature requests. Sign up now to start a free trial.

#7 – KeepSolid Sign — Best for Team Sharing and Collaboration

KeepSolid Sign is a cross-platform electronic signature tool. It works from web browsers, iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS. It even has an account synchronization feature so users can work on the same document from multiple platforms and devices. 

The software is trusted in use cases like sales, human resources, service provisioning, and real estate. It’s easy to use, secure, and feature-rich.

KeepSolid Sign is built for teams. You’ll have the ability to create separate groups within the app and manage them however you see fit. The platform is designed to facilitate efficient and secure team collaboration. 

The software allows businesses to collaborate with remote workers, add signees to documents, or just designate document observers with the organization. 

Other top features of KeepSolid Sign include:

• Offline mode
• Custom form fields
• Document templates
• Real-time status notifications
• Unlimited documents
• No document length restrictions

Pricing for teams starts at $349.99 per year for five users with unlimited signers at no extra cost. Plans for teams of 10 start at $599.99 per year. Month-to-month contracts are available as well. 

Try KeepSolid Sign for free with a 14-day trial. 

#8 – Secured Signing — The Best Electronic Signature Software for Notaries

Secured Signing is an electronic signature software that specializes in security. 

They offer all of the basic features that you need in an e-sign solution. But Secured Signing has a unique feature not offered by other providers on the market today—eNotary.

This all-in-one platform is built specifically for notary businesses. Notaries can use the software for in-person electronic notarization as well as remote online notarization. The software makes it easy for you to deal with clients directly, without a middle man. 

Notaries benefit from additional features like:

• Live remote video recordings of signings and notarizations
• Digital notary seals
• ID verification
• Digital signature certificate
• Two-Factor authentication
• Facial recognition match
• Electronic notary journal
• KBA authentication

Overall, Secured Signing has everything you need to run your notary business remotely. Plans start at $9.95 per month, plus an additional fee per notarization. 

Request a free demo through their website to try it out.

Methodology For Choosing The Best Electronic Signature Software

There are dozens of electronic signature solutions available on the market today. Finding the best option for you and your business can be challenging if you don’t know what to look for. These are the top factors you should evaluate as you’re shopping around for software in this category. Follow the methodology we used to narrow down your options. 

Legality and Compliance Standards

Due to the E-Sign Act of 2000, US federal law recognizes electronic signatures as legally binding. However, some platforms go above and beyond to ensure the legality of signatures. 

Look for software that has an audit trail. This typically includes features like device IP tracking, timestamps, and other information to help if a signature is disputed in court. 

Certain organizations need to meet stricter compliance standards, like HIPAA, PCI, GDPR, and more. So just make sure that the software you’re evaluating is compliant with your industry. 

Signature Volume and Team Size

How often do you need things signed?

Some platforms offer unlimited documents and signatures, while others have monthly limits on specific plans. High-volume business users should definitely be seeking an unlimited plan. 

Be aware that the entry-level plans and pricing for electronic signature software rarely accommodate business use. So, look beyond those starter packages to accommodate your needs.

The number of people on your team who will use the software must be considered here as well. Some subscriptions are offered on a per-user basis, while others include a certain number of users within a set plan.

Integrations and Use Cases

The best electronic signature software will integrate with third-party tools that your business already uses to manage customers and contracts. For example, sales teams should look for solutions with a Salesforce or HubSpot integration if those tools are already in use at your company.

Beyond integrations, see if the software you’re evaluating has use-case specific tools for your industry. SaaS sales teams won’t have the same needs as banks. Real estate agents have different needs than organizations running clinical research. 

The best electronic signature software for you will address specific use cases your company has.

Multi-Platform Compatibility

Make sure the software you’re using works on multiple devices and platforms. This gives you, your employees, customers, and partners the ability to sign documents from the web, iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS.

You can start working on a contract from the web in your office and then send it to a client who signs it from their Android smartphone before another party signs it from an iPad tablet. 

If the software you choose isn’t cross-platform compatible, it won’t be convenient for everyone signing the document. 

Summary

Signatures have gone digital in the modern era. That’s why companies worldwide are relying on electronic signature software to conduct business.

DocuSign is arguably the most popular solution on the market today. It’s also ideal for businesses that want contract lifecycle management features. SignEasy has the best e-sign mobile app. HelloSign and PandaDoc are our top recommendations for sales teams. KeepSolid Sign has the best collaboration features. 

If you’re running a notary business, look no further than Secured Signing. MSBDocs is our top pick for businesses with strict security and compliance needs.

Regardless of your business type or industry, there’s a solution for everyone in this guide.