The best E-signature
Every option ranked — open-source, self-hostable, and commercial — by our transparent Sovereignty Score, with honest trade-offs so you choose what fits you, not us.
Legally binding signatures on documents. Priced per envelope or per seat, for what is fundamentally a PDF, an audit trail and a timestamp.
L5Applications — layer 5 of the AI stack- 1
Documenso
Top pickOpen sourceOpen-source signing with real cryptographic signatures and no envelope cap.
Free and open source to self-host, with no envelope limits. Documenso Cloud is paid. · in our DocuSign comparison →
What is Documenso? →91sovereignty - 2
DocuSeal
Open sourceThe lightest self-hosted option — running in about ten minutes.
Free and open source to self-host. A paid pro tier adds advanced features. · in our DocuSign comparison →
What is DocuSeal? →90sovereignty - 3
Native PDF signatures
CommercialFor internal documents, your operating system may already do this.
Free — already present on most machines. · in our DocuSign comparison →
What is Native PDF signatures? →88sovereignty - 4
OpenSign
Open sourceA self-hosted signing platform aimed squarely at DocuSign's feature list.
Free to self-host. Managed cloud tiers are paid. · in our DocuSign comparison →
What is OpenSign? →84sovereignty - 5
Dropbox Sign
CommercialThe straightforward commercial alternative, at roughly half the price.
About $20/user/month for the standard tier. Checked 2026-08-04. · in our DocuSign comparison →
What is Dropbox Sign? →34sovereignty
Replacing a specific tool?
Head-to-head comparisons for each popular e-signature product.
Straight head-to-heads
Two e-signature tools, side by side — verified facts and a plain verdict.