Electronic Signature Software

Electronic Signature Software Overview

Electronic signature or e-signature software allows a contract to be signed digitally with a formal signature. The goal is to speed up contractual processes that legally require a signature.

The signature can be created using a mouse, a touchpad or tablet. E-signatures do away with paper forms. Paper forms are replaced with easily tracked and audited digital documents.

E-signing is especially important for contracts involving remote parties. In those cases, in-person signatures would be a significant roadblock. Therefore, most vendors offer features related to integration, file sharing, compliance, and approval workflows.

Best Electronic Signature Software include:

eSign Genie, SignRequest, SignEasy, SignNow, PandaDoc, and GetAccept.

Electronic Signature Software TrustMap

TrustMaps are two-dimensional charts that compare products based on trScore and research frequency by prospective buyers. Products must have 10 or more ratings to appear on this TrustMap.

Electronic Signature Products

(1-25 of 111) Sorted by Most Reviews

The list of products below is based purely on reviews (sorted from most to least). There is no paid placement and analyst opinions do not influence their rankings. Here is our Promise to Buyers to ensure information on our site is reliable, useful, and worthy of your trust.
Adobe Acrobat Sign

Adobe Sign lets users send, sign, manage, and store documents and forms with trusted, legal electronic signatures. It keeps business moving from anywhere, with signing of documents, requesting signatures, and process tracking from web and mobile devices as well as inside applications…

PandaDoc

PandaDoc headquartered in San Francisco offers their eponymous electronic signature platform for sales teams, containing sales proposal automation and CPQ (configure, price, quote) features, and integration with CRMs.

Box

Box is an online cloud content management solution that caters to individual users as well as businesses.

Key Features

  • File sync, storage & archiving (36)
    95%
    9.5
  • Enterprise content collaboration (36)
    93%
    9.3
  • Security, risk management & information governance (36)
    93%
    9.3
DocuSign

DocuSign supports transactions with document sharing and electronic signature, as well as automated and guided data collection and entry, record updating across disparate systems and payment collection upon agreement, as well as analytics and reporting.

SignNow

SignNow

Customer Verified

SignNow is an electronic signature software offering from PDFfiller, which acquired SignNow from Barracuda Networks in 2017. It includes features such as collaboration and shared templates.

eSign Genie

eSign Genie

Customer Verified

eSign Genie in Cupertino offers their electronic signature application supporting digital document signing with reusable templates, contract drafting with esignature workflow, embedded online forms, and other features.

HelloSign

HelloSign is an electronic signature software offering acquired by Dropbox in early 2019. It includes features such as customization for businesses of any size and bank-level security.

OneSpan Sign (formerly eSignLive)

OneSpan Sign (formerly eSignLive) is an e-signature solution for secure document signing processes that enables organizations to digitize business processes and eliminate costly paper and inconvenient “wet” signatures.

GetAccept

GetAccept

Customer Verified

GetAccept is a software platform designed exclusively for sales professionals which facilitates deal design, orchestration and closure. Sales management and marketing teams are able to create automated deal workflows on behalf of sales representatives; combining video, live chat,…

PDFfiller

pdfFiller is a comprehensive online document management platform that provides businesses with the services of form-building, PDFs editing and e-signing. The vendor says their tools help businesses to streamline document management, make workflows fully paperless, freeing up time…

Smallpdf

Made in Switzerland, Smallpdf is a company that offers a suite of document management tools for everyone-for work, for home, for life. Founded in Switzerland in 2013, Smallpdf provides what they describe as a simple, secure, and reliable answer to the world's PDF challenges. Smallpdf…

SignRequest

SignRequest is an e-signature platform. The vendor promises e-signing that is easy, fast and legally binding while maintaining the highest standards of security. Box announced it would acquired SignRequest in February 2021. The eSignature tool is the basis for Box Sign.

Citrix RightSignature

Citrix RightSignature is an electronic signature system competing directly with Adobe Sign and DocuSign. RightSignature was acquired by Citrix in October 2014.

Nitro Productivity Suite

Nitro Productivity Suite combines electronic signature and general PDF editing, from Nitro, Inc. It is built around capabilities such as getting approvals and esignatures in seconds and sharing and reviewing documents from anywhere.

Outlaw

Outlaw’s contract automation platform adapts to the user's needs for rapid adoption. Outlaw boasts flexible, simple pricing in order to make it affordable for all team sizes (no maint. fees, unlimited storage & eSignatures). The platform unifies contract generation, document…

Key Features

  • Contract templates (10)
    94%
    9.4
  • Contract creation (10)
    92%
    9.2
  • Clause library/saved fields (10)
    82%
    8.2
INHUBBER

Contract lifecycle management platform with cloud security, digital signature and AI-powered document management. AI helps customers simplify contract management by making it understandable, interactive and automated. Digital signature signs any file format along with text and images.…

Key Features

  • Contract sharing (8)
    92%
    9.2
  • Contract search (8)
    91%
    9.1
  • Approval process (8)
    91%
    9.1
eversign

Viennese company Apilayer offers eversign, an electronic signature application featuring document security and storage with audit trail, templates, contact management, and integrations with other popular applications (e.g. Dropbox, Google Docs, etc.).

SignEasy

SignEasy is a simple and fast way to sign or get documents signed from a phone, tablet or computer. SignEasy is used by businesses and individuals across industries such as real estate, legal, accounting, banking, HR, sales, and logistics from over 150 countries. The vendor says…

MSB Docs

MSB's platform aims to ensure enterprises achieve and maintain compliance by validating their software against crucial industry regulations. Boasting more than 1 million users in 188 countries, MSB Docs enables organizations to create documents, send these to the signers for eSignatures,…

Formstack Sign (formerly InsureSign)

Formstack Sign (formerly InsureSign, acquired by Formstack July, 2019) offers their eSignature application for document signing across all platforms (e.g. mobile, tablet, etc), document backup with audit trail, and support with features built around the needs of insurance agents…

Concord

Concord is a way to create, collaborate on, sign, and store agreements; designed to be the only tool needed for contracts, so users can spend less time juggling between applications, editors, and e-signature tools.The vendor states over 500,000+ companies use Concord with their contracts.…

Key Features

  • Contract creation (6)
    97%
    9.7
  • Contract sharing (6)
    93%
    9.3
  • Contract templates (6)
    80%
    8.0
Sertifi

Sertifi is an electronic signature software offering from Sertifi.

Zoho Sign

Zoho Sign is a digital signing service that lets you execute contracts quickly without the hassles of transporting paper documents while ensuring security and legality. It works completely on cloud and integrates readily with your everyday apps. According to the vendor, Zoho Sign…

Smartwaiver

Smartwaiver is an electronic signature software offering from Smartwaiver.

Secured Signing

Secured Signing is an electronic signature software offering from SecuredSigning. It includes features such as capturing graphical signatures and individually sign a document.

Learn More About Electronic Signature Software

What is Electronic Signature Software?

Electronic signature or e-signature software allows a contract to be signed digitally with a formal signature. The goal is to speed up contractual processes that legally require a signature.

The signature can be created using a mouse, a touchpad or tablet. E-signatures do away with paper forms. Paper forms are replaced with easily tracked and audited digital documents.

E-signing is especially important for contracts involving remote parties. In those cases, in-person signatures would be a significant roadblock. Therefore, most vendors offer features related to integration, file sharing, compliance, and approval workflows.

Common Uses of Electronic Signature Software

E-signatures may be deployed in many scenarios, including things like:

  • Sales order processing
  • New hire paperwork
  • Invoicing
  • Inventory sign-off
  • IT asset change or maintenance
  • Legal documentation

Key Benefits of Electronic Signature Software

The benefits of e-signature software include:

  • Acceleration of transactions and contractual agreements
  • Increased efficiency through digitization and automation
  • Ease of demonstrating compliance, compared to a paper trail

Electronic Signature Software Features & Capabilities

Some e-signature tools are lower cost and geared toward contract-heavy industries like real estate or household services. They offer capabilities for generating and signing simple contracts via tablet or mobile device.

More sophisticated platforms offer enhanced integration, security, and oversight capabilities.

Electronic Signature Software may include the following features:

  • Send & Collaborate: Ability to easily send digital documents, or sync them with a digital repository.
  • Integration with Systems of Record: Compatibility with project management, ECM, and CRM systems, among others.
  • Compatibility with Document Types: Support for signatures on almost any kind of document or file. Examples are .txt., .doc, pdf., and .xcl.
  • Sign on the Go: Documents can be signed on a mobile device, even while offline, to be synced later. Useful for field agents.
  • Form Conversion: Areas and fields within a form (e.g. a .pdf) can be converted to a spot to sign.
  • File Sync: Prepare documents offline or on the go, and sync them with the repository later.
  • Digital Signature: Asymmetric encryption with a certificate-based ID, providing enhanced security with authentication and non-repudiation. Useful for enterprises or in scenarios where compliance is a concern.
  • Managerial Oversight: See who has and has not signed. Useful for tracking and accelerating sales offers toward closure.
  • Workflow Design, Creation & Editing: Designing or re-ordering contracts' workflow to a manager's specifications.
  • White Label & Branding: Ability to present documents in your own branded style.
  • Compliance: Support for different compliance standards such as HIPAA, SOC 2 type II, and ISO 27001. Concerns vary by industry, so vendors tend to focus on compliance standards for particular verticals.

Electronic Signature Software Comparison

To compare different Electronic software, consider these aspects of each product offering:

  1. Feature Needs: Unlike many software categories, electronic signature software options don’t have many features provided by all products. If your business needs any features beyond digital signatures, you can narrow down your software selection process a lot by looking for electronic signature options that meet each of your needs.
  2. Form Conversion Options: One of the key features of electronic signature tools is their ability to convert existing forms into forms that can accept a digital signature. Consider how your forms exist now, and whether or not each tool can convert them. A tool that can convert most or all of your forms will save your business a lot of time compared to other options.
  3. Integrations: Many electronic signature options offer integrations with business systems such as CRMs. When comparing electronic signature software, consider which ones offer built in integrations with tools you are already using. If you have any obscure integration needs, consider how difficult it is to build an integration with each electronic signature tool.

Pricing Information

E-signature vendors often price on a per user, per month basis. Pricing ranges from $10/month for personal or individual use to $40+ per user per month for businesses. Enterprise platforms may cost upwards of $100 per user, per month for more sophisticated features.

Electronic Signature Software Best Of Awards

The following electronic signature software offer award-winning customer relationships, feature sets, and value for price. Learn more about our Best Of Awards methodology here.

Best Electronic Signature Software Products

Frequently Asked Questions

Does electronic signature software also allow payment processing?

Some electronic signatures offer payment processing, though it is rarely included as part of the base payment. Electronic signature tools that do offer payment processing usually offer it as an add-on for an additional charge. Some software doesn’t offer payment processing at all, so it is an important consideration for businesses looking for an all in one solution.

What forms can be converted into digital signature forms automatically?

Most PDF forms can be converted to support digital signatures, particularly if they are already form fillable. Businesses using particularly old PDFs, or another file type should consider which software options support those filetypes, as not all electronic signature tools support all legacy file types.