15 Best Electronic Signature Apps For 2023 (Free + Paid)
Looking for the best electronic signature apps to help you sign documents online?
There are plenty of tools out there that will do the trick – but they’re not all made equal.
The best apps won’t just provide a way for you to type, draw, or otherwise digitally add your signature to a document. They’ll also ensure your signatures are legally binding and help to encrypt and protect the important documents you send and receive.
Some will even embed extra details when you sign to help to create a robust audit trail that’s more likely to hold up in court, should it ever come to that.
In this post, I’ll be listing and comparing the best eSign apps on the market so you can rest easy knowing you’ve got the best tool for the job.
Let’s get started!
The best electronic signature apps – summary
- Signaturely – Best electronic signature app for simplicity and affordability.
- signNow – Best electronic signature app for SMBs and enterprises. Ideal for those who need more complex workflows.
- CocoSign – Best eSign app to use on a PC / desktop.
- SignWell – Best free forever plan. Includes templates and document workflows.
- HelloSign – Most extensive integration options.
- DocuSign – Another good solution but plans are restrictive compared to other apps.
- SignEasy – Best for personal use.
- Preview – Best choice for signing documents on a Mac.
- Adobe Acrobat Reader – Best for occasionally signing PDFs.
- PandaDoc – Best for requesting esignatures and collecting payments at the same time.
- DocHub – Most easy to use and affordable app for signing and editing PDFs.
- Juro – Best end-to-end contract tool with built in document signing features.
- eSignatures.io – Most flexible payment plan.
- SecuredSigning – Very secure and the best choice for legally-binding signatures.
- SIGNiX – Best for real estate agents.
#1 – Signaturely
Signaturely is our #1 pick for the overall best electronic signature app and our go-to recommendation for anyone looking for a simple way to get their documents legally signed.
What makes Signaturely great is how simple it is. It’s hands-down the fastest and easiest platform to use.
A lot of other apps that come with a ton of bells and whistles that few people really need. This isn’t the case with Signaturely. Instead of adding features, Signaturely focuses on eliminating them.
It cuts out all the unnecessary steps and bloatware so that you can get your documents signed faster.
All you have to do is:
- Upload your document (or create one from a selection of 45+ professionally-designed, ready-to-use templates)
- Point and click where you want the receiver to sign
- Send it
Your recipients will get an email with a link. They click it and draw in their signature – and it’s all done and dusted in seconds. It works on any device.
There isn’t much more to it than that. It’s a simple 1-2-3 step process. If you’re running a huge enterprise and need a bunch of flashy features to match your complex signing workflow, it might not be the right fit for you. Otherwise, there’s no better option.
Pricing:
Signaturely offers a free forever plan limited to 3 signature requests per month. The free plan doesn’t include access to templates.
Paid plans start at $20 per month and include unlimited signature requests.
#2 – signNow
signNow is one of the best electronic signature apps for SMBs and enterprises.
It’s built for businesses and comes with all the tools you need to sign and send documents, generate agreements, access payments, automate and streamline processes, and manage contracts.
This platform is designed to save you time. With reusable templates, you will be able to create documents with fillable form fields. This will simplify the document sending process so you can be more efficient with your time.
A range of mobile apps takes efficiency further. You can create, send, and sign from mobile devices. Even creating complex routing workflows.
Speaking of workflows – signNow allows you to organize documents into groups, and send them based on the roles of the recipient. You can also set different actions after signing has been completed.
There are a ton of features that aid with team collaboration. For one, it’s affordable, with a low cost-per-user compared to many other plans.
You can quickly get set up and invite your team members via the Teams tab. Once you’ve done that, you can share templates and documents with each other easily.
And, an API is available in case you have need of integrating signNow with your CRM, website or a custom app.
Pricing:
Paid plans start at $8 per month and a free trial is available.
#3 – CocoSign
CocoSign is another very popular and well-trusted document signing solution. It’s used by over 1 million people and 8,000 businesses.
Unlike DocuSign, CoCoSign doesn’t have a mobile app, but their online browser app is super easy to use. If you just want to sign a document, you can drag and drop a PDF onto the relevant page.
Next, just drag and drop the signature block onto the document wherever you want to sign, and click it to type, draw, or upload your signature. You can then save your changes and download it to your device.
It’s quick and easy. You can also use CoCoSign to send, manage, and track signature requests for multiple recipients at once.
CoCoSign will provide your customers with a step-by-step guide on where and how to sign the document to make things even easier, which is great for building better customer relationships.
It can also track your requests and let you know when someone’s signed. If your recipients are dragging their heals, CoCoSign can automatically send out reminders to those who haven’t signed yet. If you want to manually send a reminder yourself, you can do that too.
CoCoSign supports both electronic and digital signatures, the latter of which is a more secure, certificate-based version that embeds signatures inside the document to prevent tampering.
Pricing:
You can sign unlimited documents with CoCoSign for free (download up to 5 files). Paid plans start at $8 per month.
#4 – SignWell
SignWell is an affordable, easy-to-use electronic signature app used by over 61,000 businesses.
It can help you to shave hours off your usual document signing processes and is fully compliant with US and international esignature laws.
The free forever plan is one of the most generous we’ve seen in that it includes almost all their features, including premium features like document tracking, reminders, and flexible workflows.
Pricing:
SignWell’s free plan includes most features but is limited to 3 documents/month. Paid plans start at $8/month.
#5 – HelloSign
HelloSign is another electronic signature app owned by Dropbox, a leading file sharing service. As you’d expect, it offers powerful integration with Dropbox, as well as many other tools you already use like Google Suite, Gmail, and more.
It’s super simple you use. Once you log in, you have the option to open a template, send a document, or sign something. The interface makes all of these processes really easy.
Naturally, it works well alongside Dropbox. You can upload and sign files directly from your Dropbox storage to HelloSign, or open your documents within Dropbox and send them out for signatures from there.
Pricing:
HelloSign offers a free version that lets you send out 3 signature requests per month.
Paid plans start at $15/month and come with unlimited signatures, plus templates and extra features. A 30-day free trial is available.
#6 – DocuSign eSignature
DocuSign eSignature is the most popular electronic signature app in the world. It’s used by hundreds of millions of users across the world.
It can be purchased separately or as part of the larger DocuSign Agreement Cloud: a suite of tools that can help you with all stages of the agreement process.
You can use DocuSign eSignature to easily send and sign documents while you’re on the move via their mobile app or by accessing their mobile-responsive web app on your phone or desktop browser.
Given that they’re so incredibly popular, DocuSign is a name you can trust.
They’re fully compliant with applicable legal and privacy regulations like the U.S. ESIGN Act and UETA, and the EU eIDAS Regulation, so you can have peace of mind knowing signatures you send and collect through DocuSign are court admissible.
They’ve also implemented tight security features to protect user data and privacy.
DocuSign isn’t quite as easy to use as Signaturely in our opinion, but it’s more flexible and powerful.
It comes with tons of templates, advanced built-in reporting, and a few premium features including SMS delivery tools, support for ID verification, and signing insights.
All that might not be of much use if you’re only sending or signing a couple of documents every month. However, if you’re running a big business and sending out and receiving contracts at volume, they can come in really useful and help you to streamline your operations.
Pricing:
A free edition of DocuSign is available which lets you sign unlimited documents but lacks the ability to send documents, as well as other premium features. Paid plans start from $10 per month and a 30-day free trial is available.
#7 – SignEasy
SignEasy is our top recommendation for individuals. It’s a great electronic signing app for personal use, rather than business use.
It’s easy to get started with: just sign up for a free trial and you can immediately start uploading documents, preparing them for signatures, and sending them out.
It comes with extensive integration support and works within your favorite apps. Open up a document within gmail, sign it, and send it across straight away – no fuss.
You can also take advantage of more powerful features like tracking, automated reminders, and serial and parallel signing sequences.
Pricing:
SignEasy plans start at $8/month. A free 14-day trial is available.
#8 – Preview
The easiest way to sign documents on a Mac OS is with the Preview app.
Unlike some Windows devices, Macs come with a built-in PDF form viewer that supports electronic signatures, called the Preview app. Therefore, there’s no need to sign up for any other eSigning platform.
All you have to do is open the PDF form on the Preview app and navigate to Tools > Annotate > Signature > Manage Signatures. From there, create a new signature by drawing it with your mouse, trackpad, or touchscreen.
You can then save your signature and drag it to the relevant field on the document, and export it to send it back.
Pricing:
The Preview App is free and comes built-in to Mac OS devices.
#9 – Adobe Acrobat Reader
Adobe Acrobat Reader is our top recommendation if you only need to occasionally sign PDFs on a Windows PC and don’t plan on sending out documents to be signed.
Windows don’t come with a built-in PDF editor that supports signatures like Preview, but you can download one for free through Adobe.
The Adobe Acrobat Reader is the leading PDF viewer for windows. You can open up your documents on it and sign them by clicking Fill & Sign, then adding your signature.
If you don’t have a touchpad, you can type it out instead of drawing and Adobe will convert it into a signature that looks handwritten.
Pricing:
You can download Adobe Acrobat Reader for free.
#10 – PandaDoc
PandaDoc is another complete document management tool that claims to enable users to “create, approve, and track eSign docs 40% faster.”
It comes with a broad feature set, but one of the things we like most about it is the way it integrates with payment gateways like Stripe, Square, and PayPal. You can use PandaDoc to set up documents so that as they sign, they can also enter their payment details.
This is ideal for contractors who need to send out contracts and take payment for jobs upfront.
Pricing:
PandaDoc’s free plan lets you send unlimited legally binding eSignatures and upload unlimited documents.
Paid plans with more advanced features start at $19 per month per user. You can also sign up for a free trial.
#11 – DocHub
DocHub is, in our opinion, the most easy-to-use and affordable app for signing and editing PDFs.
The free version is good for up to 2,000 documents and the paid plan is super cheap.
It doesn’t have as many bells and whistles as some of the other tools on this list, but it’s a great choice if you don’t need anything fancy and just want a painless way to sign documents.
It integrates really well with gmail. I actually use the add-on myself when I need to sign email documents – it literally takes seconds. If you’d prefer, you can also upload documents, manage sign requests, and create reusable forms from the online DocHub app.
Pricing:
DocHub offers a free plan limited to 2,000 documents, 5 eSignatures, and 3 sign requests/month. The Pro plan comes with unlimited everything and costs just $4/month.
#12 – Juro
Juro is much more than just an electronic signature app. It’s a complete end-to-end contract tool that comes with built in document signing features.
Aside from enabling you to sign and send documents, Juro also offers a bunch of other tools to help you manage contracts in one unified workspace.
You can use it to build automated contract templates in the template editor, streamline and automate routine contract workflows, and more. It’s a great choice for businesses with complex operations and large teams.
Pricing:
Juro offers a limited free plan for up to 10 contracts per month and 1 user. You’ll need to request a demo and get a quote if you’re interested in the paid plans.
#13 – eSignatures.io
eSignatures.io is another simple and efficient electronic signature tool that offers pay-as-you-go pricing.
It’s a powerful tool with a ton of advanced document signing and contract management features, and is as easy to use as Signaturely. What makes eSignatures.io different, though, is its pricing model.
Rather than charging a flat monthly fee, you pay per sent contract. This flexible, pay-as,you-go pricing model is ideal for fast-growing startups and businesses that need a solution that can scale alongside them.
Pricing:
You’ll pay $0.49 per sent contract on the eSignatures.io Standard plan with no extra monthly fees.
#14 – SecuredSigning
SecuredSigning is one of the most secure platforms around and the best choice for legally-binding signatures.
It’s perfect for users that take signing seriously.
Advanced features like PKI encryption helps to safeguard your business and documents so that you can prove it hasn’t been modified after it’s been signed. Time stamping features and Digital Signature support helps to ensure the documents you sign or have signed are legally binding.
Pricing:
SecuredSigning offers a free trial plan limited to 1 sender and 3 documents per month. They use a flexible pricing model for paid plans – the cost will depend on how many documents you send/sign per month.
#15 – SIGNiX
Last but not least, we have SIGNiX, a highly-trusted digital signature platform and one of the most popular choices for real estate agents.
SIGNiX is completely cloud-based, which means everything is handled online. You don’t need to download anything or install any apps.
It’s ideal for realtors as it’s very secure. They offer remote online notarization services, a straightforward document signing platform, and a flexible API.
Pricing:
Paid MyDoX plans start at $10/month. No free trial is available.
Finding the best electronic signature apps for your business
That concludes our roundup of the best electronic signature apps. As you can see, there are plenty of options – so which should you choose?
Well, if you just plan on using it to sign the occasional PDF document, pretty much any of the tools above will work.
However, if you need to sign many documents per month, you’re running a business and need a secure and legally-binding solution, or you plan on sending out documents and contracts as well as receiving them, you’ll need to weigh up the options carefully and choose one that fits your needs.
Here’s what we’d recommend:
- Signaturely is the best choice if you want to keep things simple and don’t need any fancy features.
- signNow is the best choice if you have complex document signing workflows and need premium features.
- CoCoSign is a good alternative if you need a secure digital signature solution and neither of the above are a good fit.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means we may make a small commission if you make a purchase.
