Document Upload and Sign Solutions for Developers

Paperwork doesn't have to be done on newspaper to be legally binding, simply if you want those documents to be a little more enforceable, in that location will be a few extra steps. Using a dedicated eSignature app to add a digital signature is the all-time mode to get.

Automate your digital signature workflows

As a freelance tech writer, I've had to sign dozens of contracts, statements of work, W8-BEN-E forms, and other legal documents over the last decade just to practise my chore. It's reached the point now that I'm relieved to see a DocuSign link in an email—and go stressed when it's a link from one of the many apps not on this list.

Whether you're looking for a way to electronically sign a document that you've just received or want to ship documents out to exist digitally signed by contractors and other business partners, we've got recommendations for the right apps to use. I considered and tested almost 40 electronic signature apps, and these are the eight best—for everyone on both sides of the paperwork.

The best eSignature software

• DocuSign for businesses that sign lots of things

• HelloSign for integration with cloud storage

• Preview for occasionally signing documents on a Mac

• Adobe Acrobat Reader for occasionally signing documents on a PC

• eSignatures.io for a pay-as-y'all-go selection

• SignWell for a free eSign app

• PandaDoc for collecting payments when people sign

• signNow for modest teams

Digital signature vs. electronic signature

As with all things legal, definitions thing. Electronic signatures and digital signatures are slightly different things. An electronic signature is just your typed, fatigued, or otherwise computer-added signature on a document. You can make one with most any app, from Microsoft Word to Adobe Photoshop. Information technology'due south notwithstanding legally binding, just considering anyone could easily forge it, y'all might have a harder fourth dimension in a contentious courtroom case.

A digital signature is a special kind of electronic signature that uses cryptography to protect the document and also embeds details like electronic mail addresses, when and where people signed any documents, and the serial number and identifying details of the device they utilize to do it. This creates both a "fingerprint" that makes the certificate unique and a newspaper trail that tin be independently verified. If there ever was a court case, it would be a lot harder for anyone to claim they weren't the 1 to actually sign the document. For official purposes, digital signatures are a lot more secure and legally recognized around the world—and you need a dedicated eSign app to add together them.

We utilize the terms interchangeably—in mutual usage, they basically are—merely it's worth keeping that distinction in heed as you lot exercise your research.

What makes a groovy electronic signature app?

How we evaluate and test apps

All of our best apps roundups are written by humans who've spent much of their careers using, testing, and writing about software. We spend dozens of hours researching and testing apps, using each app as information technology's intended to exist used and evaluating information technology against the criteria nosotros prepare for the category. We're never paid for placement in our manufactures from any app or for links to whatsoever site—we value the trust readers put in us to offer authentic evaluations of the categories and apps nosotros review. For more details on our procedure, read the full rundown of how we select apps to characteristic on the Zapier blog.

The problem with business app categories similar this is that ofttimes the people paying for the app (or deciding which ane to get) aren't the ones who have to use information technology every 24-hour interval. And while there are lots of eSignature apps out in that location, a lot of them are atrocious to utilise.

To brand this list, an eSignature app had to be nice to apply but also provide all the features that businesses need. Any skilful eSignature app has to meet a few criteria:

• The ability to add an electronic (or digital) signature to whatsoever certificate. Signing things is the whole betoken of these apps. But the simpler and easier it is to practice, the more unlike kinds of documents and devices that are supported, and the deeper the integrations with other apps and software platforms, the ameliorate. While almost whatever app can simply add a signature or typed proper name, we were looking for ones that were great to use and could fit into a lot of different workflows.

• The ability to send a document to someone else to have them sign it. This is a actually important feature for a dedicated eSign app and, like when signing a document yourself, we wanted information technology to be easy and pleasant for the recipient. (Seriously, I've had to sign a lot of documents with awful apps.) The recipient likewise had to be able to do it without beingness forced to sign up for an business relationship or install whatsoever apps.

• Accessibility for minor to mid-sized businesses. You tin find enough of eSign apps with expensive plans, crazy contract lock-ins, and a focus on enterprise clients—just not on this list.

• Security. Although nosotros weren't looking for a specific prepare of features, any app that could shop sensitive documents like contracts needed to address information technology in some fashion. Things like encrypted or countersign-protected documents, U.Due south. or EU government compliance, and digital signature support were all enough to make the grade. (With that said, make certain that whatever app yous utilize meets the compliance standards of your land or industry. They tin can vary quite a lot.)

• A gratis trial (or costless programme). This is a field crammed with different competitors, and telling the good from the bad merely from their websites is nearly impossible (trust me, I know). A decent free trial—or better yet, a free plan—was needed to make this list. Priority was also given to apps that didn't collect credit menu details. They're merely non necessary.

I started out with a listing of most 40 eSignature apps. That was too many to meaningfully exam, so I cutting information technology down by checking out their websites and excluding any that obviously didn't meet our criteria, were clearly aimed at enterprise clients, had generally poor user reviews, or otherwise didn't look like a skilful fit.

For the remaining apps (which I've at present tested twice over the past ii years), I created an account, uploaded a Super Of import Contract as a Discussion file, and sent it to a 2d electronic mail address. I and so signed the contract both equally the sender and the recipient, which gave me a proficient sense of the overall workflow. Most apps that didn't brand the listing were cutting at this stage, as the process for either the sender or the recipient wasn't up to our standards.

For those apps that passed, I spent more fourth dimension exploring the interface, trying any headline features they claimed to take, and making sure they met the residual of our criteria. Based on all that, hither are the 8 all-time eSign apps.

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Best electronic signature software for businesses that sign lots of things

DocuSign (Spider web, iOS, Android, Windows)

DocuSign is one of the most popular electronic signature apps bachelor, and for good reason. Information technology's great to use and hits all the features most people need in an eSignature app. Getting started with DocuSign is pretty straightforward: sign upwardly for a costless trial, and almost immediately, information technology's prompting you to upload a document, set it for signatures, and send it to recipients.

DocuSign is fix so that information technology's easy to keep runway of lots of unlike documents at different stages in the signing procedure. In the Manage dashboard, there's a sidebar with an Inbox for any documents or "envelopes" you lot've received, a Sent box for the ones you've sent, and a Drafts tab for ones you're working on. There are also Quick View options, so you lot can, well, rapidly run across any documents that you need to do something to, the ones you're waiting on, whatever that are due to expire before long or where the recipient failed to sign, and all your completed documents.

DocuSign also has powerful templates and reporting features. If you're sending the aforementioned contracts over and over again, you tin can set up a template in the Templates dashboard. Simply upload a file (or apply ane you've already sent as a base), add together all the signature and information fields, and salvage it—it's much the aforementioned procedure equally sending out an individual document and really speeds things up.

If you're but sending a couple of envelopes a calendar month, the report features aren't going to exist much use—yous know who has and hasn't signed their contract. But if you lot're managing dozens of contractors or freelancers, or require all your clients to sign contracts, then they tin requite you a useful overview of where your business stands. Click on the Reports tab, and you'll see things like how many envelopes you've sent, how quickly people sign them, and the number that are withal unsigned.

DocuSign also integrates with Zapier, so you can exercise things like automatically send a contract to someone who fills in a Typeform or let your team on Slack know when one has been signed.

DocuSign cost: From $fifteen/calendar month for a Personal program with up to 5 envelopes sent per month. Unlimited documents with automated reminders are available on the Standard plan at $45/user/month.

DocuSign isn't the but solid eSign app for businesses that need to handle a lot of documents. Both SignEasy (from $xv/month) and HelloSign (from $xx/month) are great DocuSign alternatives—it just eked them out on a few specifics.

Best electronic signature app for cloud users

HelloSign (Web, iOS, Android)

HelloSign, now owned by Dropbox, is one of the best alternatives to DocuSign. Information technology's one of simplest-to-use electronic signature apps around, has a great free programme, and offers unlimited signature requests per month on its starting paid plan. As soon every bit you log in, y'all're presented with ii options: transport or sign something, or create a template (as long as you're on a paid plan). The things yous're going to want to exercise aren't subconscious away in deep sub-menus.

The simplicity of the user interface, however, hides some pretty powerful features. Of all the apps nosotros tested, HelloSign has the best integrations with cloud storage platforms. While you'd look it to play nice with Dropbox, it also works well with Google Drive, Box, Evernote, and OneDrive.

To sign a file in your Dropbox, for example, you lot tin caput to HelloSign, click Sign or Ship, and so click on the Dropbox icon to bring up a file browser. Navigate to the file you lot want to sign, and click Choose to import it into HelloSign. Alternatively, yous could open up the file in Dropbox, select information technology, click on the Share dropdown, so click Send for Signatures. You've got like options with Google Drive likewise. You can upload a file straight from HelloSign or, with the Chrome improver, sign files through the Google Drive app.

And all this file treatment works both ways. When someone signs a document and sends information technology dorsum to you, it can get saved back to your cloud storage platform of selection.

HelloSign doesn't agree back on the other features, either. Information technology supports custom templates, and, on higher plans, custom branding, multiple users, and advanced squad management. If you lot want to integrate HelloSign with non-cloud storage apps, y'all tin do it with Zapier. That way, you tin do things like automatically send a contract when someone fills in a Typeform or get an SMS when someone signs.

HelloSign price: Free for 3 documents/month with one user; from $20/month for the Essentials plan with unlimited documents.

All-time electronic signature app for occasionally signing documents on a Mac

Preview (macOS)

If you've been sent a document to sign and nobody needs all the alarm bells and security whistles that come up with one of our other picks, yous accept options. If you lot have a Mac, you don't need to worry well-nigh installing any software or signing upwards for any services. You can sign things direct from Preview.

Open the document you desire to sign in Preview, become to Tools > Comment > Signature > Manage Signatures, and click Create Signature. You tin can then create a signature using your trackpad, your iPhone, or by signing a piece of paper and holding it up to the camera.

Click Done, and and so y'all tin drag your new signature to where it needs to be. Relieve the certificate, send it back, and you're good to go. And your signature stays saved in Preview for hereafter use.

Preview cost: Included free with all Macs

Best electronic signature app for occasionally signing documents on a PC

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Windows)

Windows PCs don't have an awesome congenital-in option like Preview, simply you can all the same quickly sign whatsoever document with the complimentary Adobe Acrobat Reader DC app—something you probably already have installed. If yous don't, download it from Adobe'south website.

Open the document you want to sign in Adobe Reader, and in the right sidebar, select Fill up & Sign. Click the Sign button in the toolbar and then Add together Signature.

There are a couple of means you lot can create a signature: yous can type your name and have Adobe Reader convert it into something that looks like a signature, draw one with your trackpad, or upload an image of your signature. Cartoon is probably the easiest if you want something unique without too much hassle.

Drag your signature to where yous want it to be, save the document, and send information technology back. And simply similar that, you're washed.

Adobe Reader DC price: Gratis

All-time electronic signature app with a pay-as-you lot-go option

eSignatures.io (Web)

A lot of eSign apps limit the number of documents y'all tin can send per month without signing up for one of the more expensive plans. It'south pretty inconvenient if your eSigning needs vary throughout the year, say considering you lot hire seasonal staff or your projects don't follow a predictable pattern. You either can't send all the documents yous demand to when you desire to, or you have to overpay most months. eSignatures.io, with its exclusively PAYG option, bucks this trend entirely.

As soon as y'all sign upwards for a free account, eSignatures.io encourages you to send a sample contract to yourself then you tin can see how the service works. (The same demo is also built into the website homepage, which is pretty crawly.) Afterwards that, things are up to you—although the onboarding sorcerer helpfully guides you through.

Different other of the all-time eSignature services, eSignatures.io isn't really fabricated for sending individual contracts to 1-off recipients. Yous can exercise that if y'all similar, but it's really designed for businesses looking to batch or automate their contracts using templates.

To make a template, head to the Templates tab. You can build your own from scratch, utilize a sample one as a base, or extract one from an uploaded Word doc. Just fill in all the legal details, add together all the placeholders you lot need, and click Save Template. (It's a little less flexible than some of the other options that back up more file types, just eSignatures.io'south lack of lock-in makes up for it.)

With a template gear up, eSignatures.io is near ready to employ—you just need to add credit bill of fare details. Caput to Business relationship > Billing and add together them. Then yous tin can start sending out documents without worrying about monthly fees or usage limits.

To get started, select the template from the dashboard, and click New Contract. Y'all tin can as well upload an Excel spreadsheet of contacts, if y'all desire, and bulk send everyone the same documents to sign. But click the dropdown and and then Bulk Send Contracts.

eSignatures.io doesn't even need you to exist this easily-on to work. There'southward an API if you lot desire to code your own integrations, and in that location'due south congenital-in Zapier back up for everyone else. That ways you tin can easily do things like accept new signed contracts automatically uploaded to your Google Drive account or saved back to an Excel sheet.

eSignatures.io price: $0.49/document.

Best free eSign app

SignWell (Spider web)

Non every business organization needs to send or sign dozens of contracts a calendar month. If that's the instance, then SignWell (previously known every bit Docsketch), with its three documents per calendar month free programme, might be the perfect fit.

Every bit presently every bit y'all sign upwards, yous're proficient to start sending contracts. Just click New Document on the dashboard. Y'all can either upload a certificate to be signed or build a template (though you but get ane on the free plan). Whichever option you have, you'll use SignWell's modern and, honestly, really nice-to-utilise web app to add together any data and signature fields. If you turn on Propose Fields, it will fifty-fifty help y'all identify things on whatsoever blank lines or gaps in the document. Click Send, and it'southward on its way to exist signed.

Now, don't worry—SignWell is on this list because it's a skilful, easy-to-apply, and fully-featured electronic signature app. That it's got a great free programme is but a big bonus. If you need to send more than documents some months, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend upgrading to a paid programme. The $10/month Personal plan gets you five templates and unlimited documents, while the $30/month Business organisation plan has unlimited templates, up to three squad members, custom branding, and a few other dainty-to-have features similar data validation.

If you like to automate your workflows, SignWell also integrates with Zapier. That way, y'all can do things similar automatically go a Slack notification or update a Trello bill of fare when someone signs a contract.

SignWell price: Free for up to 3 documents per calendar month. From $ten/month for the Personal plan with unlimited documents.

Eversign is another eSignature app with a not bad gratis plan. It allows you to send up to five documents per month, but the app isn't as easy to use. Also, there are no templates on the free program. If yous desire to ship 4 or v documents each month, however, information technology'southward worth checking out.

All-time electronic signature app for collecting payments

PandaDoc (Web, iOS, Android)

Anybody likes getting paid: PandaDoc makes it really like shooting fish in a barrel to brand information technology part of your contract signing workflow, even on the free plan. You can fix things upwards so when someone signs whatever documents yous transport, they enter their credit carte du jour information, and get charged. If you're sending people contracts for a specific service or job, it's a peachy way to tie everything together. You lot get your legally binding agreement and the showtime installment in one get.

PandaDoc integrates with a couple of different payment gateways, including Stripe, Square, and PayPal. To ready up payments, you'll need an business relationship with any gateway y'all want to use, then head to Settings > Integrations > Payment Gateways and enable information technology. Getting started is certainly a little more involved than some of the other apps, but the Get Started sorcerer will walk you through everything.

Once you lot've got your payment gateway fix upward, you can add a credit menu information form to whatsoever certificate—whether you've fabricated it with PandaDoc'due south built-in editor or uploaded an existing contract.

PandaDoc isn't exclusively for collecting payments—it's got other bully features like allowing your clients to attach files to the document—and y'all can send contracts out to exist signed without them. Information technology's simply clear from the user interface that they're a large part of its feature set. The dashboard, for case, lists the dollar value of the contracts at every stage of the signing procedure, and there are sections for Paid and Unpaid contracts. The three sample documents are also an invoice, a sales proposal, and a sales quote.

PandaDoc works with Zapier, although you'll need to sign upward for the $59/user/month Business plan to use it. If you exercise, you'll be able to practice things like integrating your invoices with QuickBooks or FreshBooks.

PandaDoc price: Gratuitous for unlimited documents and payments. From $29/user/month for the Essentials plan with templates and certificate analytics.

All-time electronic signature app for small teams

signNow (Web, iOS, Android)

For many businesses, paperwork is a squad effort. You may need people from dissimilar departments to interact on, or at least check out, documents earlier you send them off. Many electronic signature apps charge a significant per-user monthly fee. Calculation ii or 3 extra accounts doesn't just double or triple your costs; when compared to the single-user personal plans, it tin hands quadruple or quintuple them. That'south why signNow is our favorite app for small teams—it doesn't fifty-fifty have a separate personal or individual program. The Business organization programme starts at $xx/user/calendar month when paid monthly, which puts it at the more affordable end of the spectrum. And, if you lot pay annually, it's simply $8/user/month. As long as you lot're prepared to commit to the platform and know you'll need to work on a lot of contracts with your team, that'southward as good value as information technology gets.

When you sign upwards, the first thing you'll demand to exercise is invite your other squad members. Click Teams in the bottom left corner, give your team a proper noun, and then add the email addresses of anyone you lot want to invite.

Creating a team adds a Shared Templates selection to the left sidebar. This is where you'll want to store whatsoever templates that you desire other team members to have input on or be able to use. You lot can besides create a Shared Documents folder in the Squad Settings; that way, every team member will exist able to run into any completed documents also.

In addition to its team features, signNow ticks all the boxes of a great electronic signature app. Signing documents is piece of cake for recipients, you lot get unlimited templates for different document types, and there are even mobile apps. You tin can too use Zapier to connect information technology to your other services, then you can automatically practise things like rail documents using Google Sheets or update original files in Google Bulldoze every bit they're updated or signed.

signNow toll: Starts at $20/user/month for the Business plan.

Originally published in Apr 2015 by Paula DuPont, this mail has had previous contributions from Hannah Herman.

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Source: https://zapier.com/blog/best-digital-signature-apps/