What are the best and least expensive e-signature platforms?

Anonymous

August 27th, 2014

Hello,

I used to use SignNow which was rather inexpensive, but since the Barracuda acquisition, their prices are more in line with the e-signature behemoths, Adobe's EchoSign and DocuSign, which I find rather expensive for light use.

I've just looked at SigningHub (signinghub.com/service-plans.aspx), which at least provides a reasonable, perpetual free plan, but are there any other platform that's affordable? I don't mind paying, but for the use I make of the service, I find that most plans I see are too expensive.

FYI, I paid $99/year with SignNow without any document limit restriction and was happy with the pricing. Unfortunately, I can't find that type of pricing any longer anywhere.

Kate Hiscox

August 27th, 2014

We use Docracy for single signature stuff (its free) and RightSignature for multiple signatures. Docracy only allows for one signature on a document (can have multiple people but only one area to place the signature).

Anonymous

August 29th, 2014

Cheers to everyone who has already suggested HelloSign. Disclaimer: I work there and recently relocated to the Bay Area after twenty years in Boston working in the tech startup world out there.

As long as the eSignature vendor meets the legal requirements of the ESIGN Act and UETA, then your documents will be safe and protected regardless of the cost. It really comes down to picking a solution that has the best user experience for you and it can do what you need it to do. This is why 33% of startups listed on Crunchbase have used HelloSign. Here's more info about our pricing and a tour of the product.

Raphael: HelloSign has a number of things you can include on your document beyond the signature. This includes adding text fields, initials and dates plus you can customize your document with editable text fields.

Jon A

August 27th, 2014

hellosign

Rob Weedn

August 27th, 2014

hellosign.com.

free or cheap sub

love it.

Anonymous

August 29th, 2014

Mike,

I completely get your points, but I like to run my startup as lean as possible. I plan for the future but I address the needs I have now. The software landscape changes rapidly, no company is sure they'll use the same vendors even 3 years from now. So why should I think about all the diverse integrations and advanced features I may need sometime in the future, if all goes well? As I always say, "it's always a good sign when you have those types of problems".

But for a startup, every dollar matters. Time matters for sure, but money matters probably even more (because, let's be honest, we don't necessarily use our time very efficiently anyways - the 80/20 rule applies here too).

Furthermore, I've never ran into a situation when a client or partner didn't want to e-sign a document because it was hosted on SignNow. The reality is that I (and probably most people) use signed documents only for legal reasons (basically to protect my company). In most cases, how those documents were signed rarely matters, because most startups can't afford going to court and will find a way to settle out of court. It's much more commonly used to say "look, it's written in this document and you signed it" when there's an argument, and that's usually enough to make the problem go away (at least, from a legal perspective).

Archer Hobson

August 27th, 2014

Rightsignature

Anonymous

August 27th, 2014

We've never looked back after using Echosign (https://www.echosign.adobe.com/en/home.html).

Onikepe Adegbola, MD PhD

August 27th, 2014

Love docracy. Free with free document you can use!

Anonymous

August 28th, 2014

Thank you guys. I'm giving RightSignature a test drive right now, as it provides some features I definitely appreciate (templates + editable fields).

I find their Personal plan a bit limited in terms of the number of reusable templates (1), but the price point seems right for the functionality they provide. The other recommended platforms (docracy, hellosign) don't seem to provide editable fields, so even if they're free, they're not as useful to me as RightSignature.

Thanks again,

Raphael.

Jane He CEO at Signority, secure signature workflows

August 29th, 2014

Signority (http://www.signority.com/pricing/), you should find everything you are looking for. free plan with unlimited templates, paid plan per user from $8/month to $15/month with unlimited documents, unlimited templates and full feature sets. Contact me if you have other requirements. Cheers.