The best e-signature software, tested and ranked

DocuSign came first of six with 5 out of 5. Every one of our five documents was signed with a complete audit trail, it recorded all 10 audit details we looked for, and it passed all 15 sharing, permission and comment checks. Tasks took 3.0 minutes on average (5.3 on the slowest one in twenty), signers finished in a median of 2.6 minutes, and it hit only 1 plan limit. Our full DocuSign review has the details.

DocuSign is the best-known name in e-signatures, which matters because your clients are likely to recognise the emails. Signers don't need an account. It sells per-user plans with an allowance of envelopes, and it's growing into a wider contract management platform. It has the longest integration list here, which it puts at more than 1,000, and a strong security list including ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type 2 and PCI-DSS.

The catch is the commercial side. There's no free plan or trial, plans are sold on yearly commitments, and envelopes are capped: 5 a month on Personal and 100 per user a year on Standard and Business Pro. It has just 1.5 out of 5 on Trustpilot (1,279 reviews, checked November 2026), mostly over auto-renewals and refunds, though business buyers on Gartner Peer Insights give it 4.5 out of 5 from 758 reviews.

Adobe Acrobat Sign came second with 4.5 out of 5. It was the fastest tool in our test at 1.7 minutes per task (3.3 on its slowest), signers finished in a median of 1.1 minutes, and all five documents came back with complete trails. Ease of use was its best part, at a full 5. Read our Acrobat Sign review.

Acrobat Sign sends documents for signature from Acrobat on desktop or phone and tracks them to the end. Small businesses buy it inside Acrobat plans, so you get full PDF editing with it, and larger organisations buy Acrobat Sign Solutions by quote. It connects with Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday, Box and the main cloud drives, and lists ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type 2 and FedRAMP Tailored.

Collaboration was its weakest part at 4: it passed 13 of 15 teamwork checks and recorded 9 of 10 audit details. The way it's sold is the bigger issue. There's no free sending plan, its pricing page lists no sending limits, and leaving a yearly plan billed monthly after 14 days can cost up to half the remaining commitment. Adobe as a company has 1.2 out of 5 on Trustpilot (7,571 reviews, checked November 2026), while Acrobat has 4.5 on G2 from 5,100 reviews.

Dropbox Sign came third with 4.5 out of 5. Tasks took 2.9 minutes on average, signers finished in a median of 2.5 minutes, and it passed 14 of 15 teamwork checks, second only to DocuSign. Collaboration and value for money both scored a full 5. One of our five documents came back without a complete audit trail, though, and it hit 2 plan limits. Our Dropbox Sign review explains more.

Dropbox Sign, formerly HelloSign, keeps things simple: pick a file, add signers and fields, send a link, and the signed copy saves itself to your chosen storage. Signers don't need an account. There's a free plan, but it only lets you sign documents sent to you, not send your own. It also sells an API, from $75 a month for 50 requests, billed yearly.

Two things count against it. Subscriptions aren't refundable unless the law requires it, so cancel before renewal. And in April 2024 an attacker got into its production systems and exposed account details such as emails, phone numbers, hashed passwords and API keys; Dropbox said there was no sign documents or payment data were accessed. Users on G2 rate it 4.7 out of 5 from 2,266 reviews (checked November 2026).

Zoho Sign came fourth with 4.5 out of 5, close behind tools that cost more. Its signers were the quickest in the test, finishing in a median of 0.9 minutes, tasks took 1.8 minutes (2.7 on its slowest, the best worst case here), and all five documents came back with complete trails. Ease of use and features both scored a full 5. More in our Zoho Sign review.

Zoho Sign sends, signs and tracks documents with a signing order, templates and audit trails. It has a permanent free plan for one user with 5 envelopes a month, and three paid tiers priced per user. Professional removes the envelope cap, and the API is paid per envelope with no commitment. It's the natural pick if you already use Zoho CRM, Books or Workplace.

Value for money and platforms were its weaker parts, both at 4. We outgrew the free plan twice in two weeks, changes took 27 seconds to sync between devices, and it passed 14 of 15 teamwork checks. Its own pages showed no US dollar prices when we checked and name no security certifications. Zoho as a company has 3.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot (6,184 reviews, checked November 2026), with complaints about slow support.

SignNow came fifth with 2 out of 5, and we don't recommend it for most small businesses. Only 3 of our five documents came back with a complete audit trail, it recorded just 5 of 10 audit details, and signers took a median of 8.4 minutes. Tasks averaged 8.1 minutes, it passed 7 of 15 teamwork checks, only two of three device paths worked, and we hit 6 plan limits. Our SignNow review has the full results.

SignNow, from airSlate, sends, signs and tracks documents with templates, bulk sending and signing links, and adds no-code bots, web forms and payments. Developers get a free sandbox and 250 free API invites, and it connects with Salesforce, Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, ChatGPT and Claude. Its homepage lists a long compliance set, including SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA and 21 CFR Part 11.

Its seat prices look low on yearly billing, but third-party sources report a cap of 100 invites per user a year, and a Trustpilot reviewer reported an automatic extra charge after passing it. Users are happier than our results suggest: 4.3 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 3,207 reviews and 4.6 on G2 from 1,755 (both checked November 2026).

DottedSign came last with 2 out of 5. Only 2 of our five documents were signed with a complete audit trail, it recorded 5 of 10 audit details, and signers took a median of 9.9 minutes, the slowest in the test. Tasks took 8.4 minutes on average (13.9 on its slowest), only two of three device paths worked, and the plans stopped us 6 times. Read our DottedSign review.

DottedSign comes from KDAN and is sold as an online service, as an API, or to run on your own servers. That self-hosted option is rare in this list. The interface comes in 9 languages, the API is included on the Business plan, and it links with Google Drive, Microsoft Teams, Salesforce and Zapier. Its data sits on servers in the eastern US and Japan.

We couldn't confirm the free plan's limits, the trial length or any security certifications, and some of its prices come from a third-party listing. It passed 9 of 15 teamwork checks, better than SignNow. Users on G2 rate it 4.7 out of 5 from 282 reviews (checked November 2026), praising ease of use but noting limited customisation.